A new white paper reports that despite a decline in the number of Web sites advertising or selling controlled prescription drugs in the past year, 85 percent of the sites selling these drugs don't require a prescription.
"'You've Got Drugs!' V: Prescription Drug Pushers on the Internet," the fifth annual white paper on this subject, was released by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. The controlled prescription drugs examined in the paper included OxyContin, Valium, Xanax, Vicodin, Ritalin and Adderall.
The report indicated CASA researchers found 365 Web sites advertising or selling controlled prescription drugs during 210 hours of research in the first quarter of 2008, compared to 581 sites during the same period in 2007. Only two of the 365 sites were certified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy as Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites, the same number found certified in 2007.
The CASA report identified an emerging practice of Internet sites selling prescriptions for controlled drugs that can be filled at local pharmacies. The report also found sites selling online "medical consultations" which enable Internet users to get controlled drugs online without a proper prescription.
Of those sites not requiring prescriptions, 42 percent explicitly state that no prescription is needed, 45 percent offer an "online consultation" and 13 percent make no mention of a prescription.
"This decline in the number of Web sites advertising or selling controlled prescription drugs may reflect efforts of federal and state agencies and financial institutions to crack down on Internet drug trafficking. Nevertheless, in spite of those efforts, anyone of any age can obtain dangerous and addictive prescription drugs with the click of a mouse," said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA's chairman and president and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. "This problem is not going away. It is morphing into different outlets for controlled prescription drug trafficking like Internet script mills and membership sites that sell lists of online pharmacies, and different payment methods like eChecks, COD and money orders."
Among the findings noted in the report:
• Of the few sites that require prescriptions, half permit the prescription to be faxed, allowing significant opportunity for fraud.
• Benzodiazepines (like Xanax and Valium) continue to be the most frequently offered drugs for sale, with 90 percent of sites selling them, followed by opioids (like Vicodin and OxyContin), at 57 percent, and stimulants (like Ritalin and Adderall), at 27 percent.
• According to DEA estimates, 11 percent of prescriptions filled by traditional pharmacies were for controlled substances in 2007, compared to 80 percent of prescriptions filled by Internet pharmacies.
•There are no controls blocking access to these sites by children and teens.
Last year, the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), held hearings on The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008, introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to control Internet trafficking of controlled prescription drugs. The Senate passed the bill in April of 2008. The Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security of the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the topic last month.
"We congratulate the Senate, urge the House to take prompt action and the President to sign the bill into law," said Califano. "Further delays cannot be justified since these rogue Internet sites put a drug dealer in any home or college dorm room with a computer or laptop."
The CASA report includes recommendations that Internet search engines block all advertisements for controlled prescription drugs that do not come from licensed and certified online pharmacies and that the United States negotiate treaties with foreign governments to help shut down Internet trafficking of controlled prescription drugs.