Drugstore.com Campaign Warning
By George Anderson
Drugstore.com announced yesterday it was launching a public awareness campaign to warn consumers about the dangers of buying medications online, reports the Washington Post.
“The Internet is a great tool to help consumers manage their health,” said company Chairman Peter Neupert. “Unfortunately, there are a growing number of unscrupulous businesses
using the Internet to deceive the public … many times without a doctor’s prescription.”
Drugstore.com begins its campaign as consumers are increasingly turning to sources outside the US in search of less expensive prescription medicines.
Carmen Catizone, executive director of the Pharmacy Board Association says actions such as that being taken by Drugstore.com are needed because many local and state governments
are not living up to their responsibilities when they advocate, for example, selling imported prescription medicines from Canada and elsewhere.
“They’re (consumers) seeing the governments saying it’s OK to break the law and we’re (state and federal government regulators) not going to do anything,” said Catizone. “It’s
opened up a wild, wild West. We’re going backward to the snake-oil salesmen, before we had the Food and Drug Administration.”
Moderator’s Comment: Has the Internet turned the prescription drug business back to the days of snake-oil salesmen? What needs to happen to fix the prescription
medicine mess?
The problem is solved if the medicine purchased in Tulsa is the same price as it is in Toronto. [George
Anderson – Moderator]