The vast majority of people in the world are online. We do everything online like shopping, paying bills, communicating, and even seeing a doctor via video chat. That being said, it makes sense that a lot of people use the internet to order their prescription medications. There is a huge problem with this due to a large number of illegitimate sites advertising prescriptions drugs. The .pharmacy initiative has been making headway by educating and informing the masses about these risks. I want to join this cause and share what I’ve learned and how to avoid false medication sites and the .pharmacy initiative.
Let’s begin with what the .pharmacy initiative is and what it is all about. First, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) is an “impartial professional organization” that is concerned with ensuring the public health and safety of online consumers. The NABP is heading up the .pharmacy initiative and along with endorsers, advocates, supporters, and contributors (like Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co, Inc) are fighting against the dangerous false pharmacy sites. The .pharmacy initiative is set up to protect consumers and aim to ensure only safe and true sites have the .pharmacy domain name in their site.
The dangers of unofficial pharmacy sites are numerous and very dire. After much research and analysis, the NABP went through 11,000 websites and found that 96% of the sites did not meet the standards set up by the .pharmacy initiative and NABP.
Here are some top dangers of these false pharmaceutical sites:
- False Rx – The medications being offered are not approved by the Unites States FDA and could contain too much, too little, or no medicine at all.
- Dangerous Meds – Along with not know the medicine content, prescription drugs on these sites have often been found to contain rat poison, arsenic, paint thinner and even lead.
- Info Threat – These false sites aren’t required to maintain a secure network for payments and personal information exchange, leaving a huge possibility of identity theft and other things.
Luckily, with the NABP and the .pharmacy initiative, there are guidelines and regulations that need to be met by sites offering pharmaceutical drugs. Each site has to adhere to these requirements to earn the .pharmacy domain and be considered safe and legitimate vendors of medications.
These are just a few of the many guidelines that the NABP requires sites to meet before granting them the .pharmacy domain:
- Licensure – The site or entity needs to have necessary licenses or permits for all the areas involved. This includes the location of the entity itself, any other party linked to or referred by the entity, and the location of their customers.
- Acceptable Record – The site up for approval must not have any significant nor repeated offenses or disciplines in their past.
- Valid Rx – A valid prescription from a certified professional must be required for all medications requiring a written Rx from a doctor or health care professional.
These measures are put into place to make sure that we, the consumers, are protected from false sites and harmful prescription drugs. There is definitely an additional comfort knowing that the NABP and a lot of other big names have our back. It is always smart to know some of the signs and dangers of false sites as well.
To begin, here are some warning signs of a false or illegitimate pharmaceutical site:
- No Rx – The site doesn’t request a prescription from a doctor
- Rx Questionnaire – “Prescribed meds based on questions only”
- No Info – The site doesn’t provide a phone number or address for their entity.
- No Consultant – Fake sites often don’t offer the aid of a consultant, pharmacist, or health professional.
The internet is really a helpful tool, but we have to be smart when we use it for certain things. Purchasing our medications online is convenient, quick, and easy. There is no doubt about it. The .pharmacy initiative and the NABP are diligently working to make it safer for us as consumers and patients. There are, unfortunately, still dangerous sites that have no regard for our safety. Keep yourself, your loved ones, and your livelihood safe by staying educated and informed and always have your eyes open for the possibility of illegitimate sites.
There is a lot more information on the .pharmacy website, safe.pharmacy, to read up on and view. Also, there is an interview on Youtube with Dr. Carmen A. Catizone and Libby Janey, J.D., both direct sources for the .pharmacy initiative. Head to safe.pharmacy to find all this information and more to keep everything and everyone you love safe. I definitely learned a huge amount of information and feel much better about choosing trusted sites and I hope this was helpful for you as well.
