How to Avoid the Dangers of Buying Your Prescriptions from Online Pharmacies

The Internet has made the need to stand in line at your local drugstore to buy prescriptions obsolete. Now, armed with only an Internet connection and a credit card, anyone can log online and purchase the medications they need. Unfortunately, virtual pharmacies aren't always what the doctor ordered. For this reason, you need to know how to avoid the dangers of buying your prescriptions from online pharmacies.

Just like other online retailers, online pharmacies aren't always legitimate. Unlike conventional brick-and-mortar businesses you can actually see and walk into, pharmacies that set up a store front on the Internet can set-up their own business practices to suit themselves. Then, they can freely operate under these substandards until they're finally caught. Being there were an estimated 80,655,992 websites on the Internet in March of 2006, (Geekpedia News), with that number increasing each day, it leaves the authorities scrambling to catch, arrest, convict and shutdown scam pharmacies.

That's the bad news. The good news is, there are ways you can protect yourself from these unscrupulous con artists. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautions consumers to buy their prescription medications only from online pharmacies who are state-licensed. Deal with one of the well-known drugstores that construct buildings as well as web sites, and you're sure to avoid the dangers of buying your medications online. That way you can be sure you will receive what you ordered. Examples of these pharmacies include CVS, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Rite Aid, Eckerd and The Medicine Shoppe.

Some of the FDA's biggest concerns are online pharmacies that:

1) Sell controlled medicines without a legitimate prescription from a doctor. Some websites require consumers to merely fill out a questionnaire in order to get prescription drugs. This is in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. There are no diagnoses from a qualified medical doctor, no checking into possible drug interactions with medicines you're currently taking and no considerations given to possible side effects.