It is true that you can buy virtually anything on the Internet. This great medium has truly created a global economy. But it does have its downside. The lack of regulation being one such negative.
While abuse of prescription drugs has reached epidemic levels, many physicians are often unaware of the availability of controlled substances over the Internet.
Experts, according to psychcentral.com, say awareness and new policies to combat the trade are critical to halt the growing abuse of prescription drugs. Measures are necessary to address the availability of these drugs on the Internet and increase physician awareness of the dangers posed by Internet pharmacies.
How can it be that controlled prescription drugs like Oxycontin, Xanax, and Ritalin are easily purchased over the Internet without a prescription? Abuse of medications purchased from websites can pose unique challenges to physicians because patients who abuse these medications may not fit clinical stereotypes of drug abusers.
Get this - abuse of controlled prescription drugs now exceeds abuse of all illegal drugs combined, except marijuana.
How bad is the prescription drug problem? In November, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the death toll from overdoses of prescription painkillers such as Oxycontin has more than tripled in the past decade.
How can our government which so tightly regulates the rest of our lives allow this to go on? What is the FDA and the US Congress currently doing about this? How can these illegitimate pharmacies even obtain the drugs in the first place?
All these questions need answers which I cannot seem to find answers. I have written to my congressman and not gotten a response. If you have any information on how to stop this nonsense or what is being done to prevent it, I encourage your response.