Rogue Pharmacies in the US

[nurz2be]

OMG! I was just reading this and for some reason this is very shocking to me. The numbers are quite frightening. Did anyone of you realize this was SUCH an issue inside the US? I know the hot topic has been people buying drugs outside the US, but wow.

The following was taken from todays Florida Today online newspaper....

For people addicted to prescription medications like the painkiller hydrocodone - sold mostly as Vicodin - the days of "doctor shopping" are over, as long as they have Internet access. With the help of unscrupulous doctors and pharmacists, hundreds of Web sites dispense prescription narcotics to customers in exchange for nothing more than a credit card number.

Even as law enforcement agencies and state governments respond, rogue pharmacies continue to grow, filling hundreds of prescriptions a day, according to a recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The Web sites approach doctors, often those who are in debt or retired and are seeking extra income. The doctors write prescriptions after they review online questionnaires filled out by customers. They are usually paid between $10 and $25 for each prescription.

The sites approach small pharmacies and persuade them to fill the prescription and ship the pharmaceuticals to the customers. The Web sites target pharmacies struggling to make ends meet, and usually pay an additional fee on top of the cost of the medication.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, which reported the additional parcel delivery trucks in southeastern Kentucky, says about 95 percent of products sold by online pharmacies are controlled substances. By comparison, controlled substances amount to roughly 11 percent of the dosages dispensed by legitimate pharmacies.

The DEA found that 34 rogue pharmacies dispensed more than 98.5 million dosage units of hydrocodone products last year - enough to give 410,000 patients a one-month supply.

Rest of the Story

[fultzymom]

I have had many unsolicited e-mails from these pharmacies sent to me to try to get me to get online meds by their doc just by filling out a questionare. And they are for prescription narcs, sleep meds, psych drugs. You name it, they will get it for you.

Leslie

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

That is very scary indeed.

[nurz2be]

That is very scary indeed.

I was actually kind of frightened when I read it. Then I was reading about the numbers of prescriptions sold and that REALLY concerned me. I guess part of me wants to believe physicians would not sell out like that, but the reality part of me knows there are some who have a very thin line between morality and desperation......quite sad indeed.