Purchasing Prescription Drugs from Foreign Online Pharmacies

Is it legal to purchase prescription drugs, such as birth control pills, painkillers, sleeping pills, etc. from a foreign online pharmacy (which is located outside the U.S.) with a questionnaire-based prescription?

Which law or provision is governing such issue?

Please advise.

The legality of "questionnaire-based" prescriptions is being challenged all over the country.

Several questions come to mind--why would someone WANT an Rx from a doctor they have never seen, from a doctor who has never diagnosed them, and evaluated their actual medical condition? There is an old adage that is true--He who thinks himself a doctor thinks his doctor a fool. (pause for weighty silence).

Web sites all over the INTERNET provide "medical" diagnoses, treatment, etc. to the point where virtually EVERY profession for which you must go to school and spend thousands of dollars and years of your life has been reduced to WANNA BE's who have neither the passion for the profession, nor the mental ability to actually achieve the degree. The result is the public at large is offered a dangerously diluted, alarmingly inaccurate, prostituted result. Not only is this laughably offensive to those who have chosen the medical field as a profession, (i.e. money, classrooms, exams, graduations, degrees, licensure) it is dangerous for the consumer.

Aside from the criminal element implicit in all of this, you run the risk of not only receiving misinformation from every charlatan with a keyboard calling themselves a real licensed professional doctor, but you also run the risk of misdiagnoses which can cost you your health. You have no verifiable idea what is actually IN the bottle you are "ordering", and no way to vouch for its contents.

Why risk it?

You get what you pay for. And the proliferation of insipid medical sites offering you licensed professional medical care and Rx's for little or no money are a dime a dozen.

If you need low cost health care, look at your yellow pages. Virtually every city has low cost or free health care through the Department of Social Services, or some other non-profit agency. You can also apply for Medicaid, if you qualify.

In answer to your 1st question, it appears to depend on whether or not the drug is currently approved by the FDA. among other factors. Some federal information on your question (in particular #12 and #13) can be found at Buying Medicines and Medical Products Online FAQs, from the FDA web site. Be sure to check your state's statutes; not all have current legislation in place. If you're considering drugs not already approved by the FDA and you're doing so without a current prescription, I think you're taking a very big chance.. not only with potential legal problems, but with your health as well. Before you do anything, you may want to take a look at Buying Medicines and Medical Products Online for additional information/suggestions. This is current policy and information and there's a telephone number on the site for general information as well, but again, I'd suggest you double-check your state laws for any variations. If you're the slightest bit unsure after your research, by all means contact an attorney for clarification.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Hi-

This is a very slippery slope legally and in terms of personal safety. If you go to the federal importing page, you will find that on a federal level, it is illegal to import any type of drug whatsoever. However, several states actually flout that law rather openly. Some states have even put there employees on programs of obtaining drugs from Canada. If you are going to flout the federal law, definitely make sure you are in a state that is doing so as well, and make sure that you are obtaing your drugs from a pharmacy that has been in business for a long time, with phone numbers, fax numbers, and someone you can actually speak to. Please be wary of non-FDA approved drugs, or those coming from China or Mexico, and please do not EVER take anything that has not previously been prescribed to you. Check all bottles/packaging to make sure medication is correct, pills are correct in shape/size/color/markings, expiration dates are correct.

Be smart, be safe, and be a savvy consumer.