Order Your RX Online?

I came across an article the other day with a warning for those who order prescription medication online. Apparently, buying prescription drugs on the Internet can save both time and money, but there is a potential risk that you may not consider.

Carnegie Mellon University, a private, internationally ranked research university, conducted a study and found that when searching for drug information, they were redirected to questionable and/ or illicit pharmacies almost a third of the time.

Using estimates of the popularity of drug-related search terms and the payment-processing websites used by pharmacies, Carnegie Mellon researchers report that search-engine manipulation is considerably more efficient than email spam.

According to SELF magazine, 25 percent of medication errors are caused by mix-ups with drugs that have similar names.

Safe surfing is certainly the lesson here if you want to avoid contaminated, counterfeit or dangerous medications. In a time when so much online information is questionable, it is not a surprise that shady sites could show up during any search.

But how do you know? Who do you trust?

It is recommended that you search the website of a particular online pharmacy instead of typing in the name of the drug in large search engines. To verify a legit pharmacy before ordering, log onto the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy at http://www.nabp.net/

Once into the site, there is a consumers tab that will make information available at your fingertips including lists of recommended and non-recommended sites for buying medicine online.

If the online pharmacies are operating in conflict with the pharmacy laws and practice standards, they will not fall under the recommended list. Only 4 percent of the sites NABP reviewed are potentially legitimate, based on the criteria.

Do not place orders through any drug site that doesnt require a prescription or has prices significantly lower than anyone else.

The rest is here:
Order Your RX Online?