Online Pharmacies Under The Gun to Prevent Prescription Drug Addiction

Economic problems seem to dominate the headlines, yet advances being made in the areas of drug addiction and drug abuse prevention are making progress.

“This week President Bush signed a law that could be the beginning of turning around a situation that has gone very bad – online drug pushing under the guise of online pharmacies,” comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director for Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia.  “This new law intends to crack down on shady online prescriptions and prohibits the dispensing of drugs by a pharmacy unless the patient has been examined by a doctor.”

Given that a recent National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) survey revealed that teens 12-17 find it increasingly easy to obtain prescription drugs online, any action that thwarts the illegal flow of prescription drugs does show that at least someone understands that there is a problem.

John Walters, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, commented: “Online pharmacies have become a source of prescription drug abuse. If you have an email account, in the last several years you've undoubtedly been spammed by somebody offering controlled substances without the control. Some of these are -- not all of them are frauds. Some of them are real. In calendar year 2006, just 34 known or suspected rogue Internet pharmacies dispensed over 98 million dosage units of hydrocodone, all of which was diverted. The maximum amount of legitimate prescriptions, on average nationwide, is about eight pills per day.

“Therefore, these 34 pharmacies dispensed enough hydrocodone to supply over 410,000 patients for a month. The average pharmacy dispenses about 88,000 dosage units of hydrocodone. Therefore, it would take the entire annual sales of hydrocodone from 1,118 pharmacies to equal the amount dispensed by just these 34 rogue Internet pharmacies. The damage can be done on a wide scale, in other words, by a relatively small number of criminal actors here.”

The measure signed into law by President George W. Bush is intended to make it easier to prosecute rogue online pharmacies that accept prescriptions for controlled drugs written by affiliated physicians who only consult with patients over the Internet or phone, if at all.
Some shady pharmacies only require patients to fill out an online form to get drugs, and employ doctors to approve hundreds of prescriptions daily.

“Let’s stand behind actions like these and those who promote them,” comments Ms. Rieser. “Web searches on how to buy Xanax online along with Lunesta and Ambien will be a thing of the past and the future will be much brighter.”

If you know someone who is drug addicted, then call Narconon.  We have a 76% success rate.

Call Narconon Drug Rehab 1-877-413-3073 for more information on effective drug treatment.

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