Drugs in the United States are exorbitantly priced. That is particularly problematic because more people in the country are dependent on pharmaceuticals to maintain the quality of their lives than ever before. This might explain the recent explosion of pharm store reviews on the internet. Today, everyone knows that medicine is so much cheaper in places like Canada. And it has become the norm for Americans to order for drugs from internet pharmacies operating on foreign soil. The average consumer understands the attraction of online medical suppliers. If you play your cards right, a medical website could help you save up to 90% on the cost of your prescription and non-prescription drugs. But the average consumer also understands that the internet is chockfull of fraudulent websites looking to sell counterfeit drugs to unsuspecting patients.
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy carried out a study in 2011 which determined that more than 90% of all internet pharmacies in the US were unreliable and trustworthy. The World Health Organization also determined in a study that up to half of all websites whose physical addresses were concealed sold counterfeit drugs. And this problem was prevalent with both generic and branded products. The United States government has endeavored to educate its citizens on the dangers that online pharmacies pose. Most consumers understand the extensive risks they take every single time they buy a pill from the internet. But most consumers have no choice but to rely on internet pharmacies to meet their medical needs.
How Do I Check Whether An Online Medicine Supplier Can Be Trusted?
You won’t find that many people today voicing their concerns over the rising cost of drugs in the US. This is because internet pharmacies are quickly becoming one of the most commonly utilized means of accessing medicine in America. For that reason, all the average consumer wants to know is how they can go about separating an authentic online medical supplier from a scam. And to be honest, there is no full proof method of determining the authenticity of an online pharmacy. However, there are ways to improve your chances of avoiding counterfeit drugs, signs that you can keep an eye out for, including:
Accreditation
An internet pharmacy is no different from a traditional pharmacy. In other words, they are both businesses which require licenses to operate legally. Any online medical supplier worth their salt should have verifiable accreditation. In the case of American suppliers, you need to look for a VIPPS accreditation seal. VIPPS seals are assigned by the NABP, an American body that monitors and evaluates the operations of internet pharmacies in the country, providing VIPPS accreditation to those suppliers that meet their high standards. Any American website that doesn’t have a VIPPS Seal or which doesn’t appear in the NABP database is an illegal entity. European nations are even more diligent when it comes to monitoring online medical purchases. They encourage consumers to only transact with internet suppliers whose homepages feature the European Logo. In Canada, all legitimate internet pharmacies have CIPA accreditation.
Pharmacist
An internet medical supplier doesn’t require the presence of a pharmacist to operate in a reliable and trustworthy manner. However, simply for the sake of caution, you are better off only transacting with suppliers that have a licensed pharmacist on hand. Every medical store requires a licensed pharmacist to guide patients. More importantly, the presence of a pharmacist augments a medical website’s credibility. It proves that there are real people behind the online resource, flesh and blood personnel that care about your wellbeing and who you can trust to properly vet your orders. The pharmacist’s qualifications and accreditation should also be verifiable.
Prescriptions
A legal internet medical supplier will demand valid prescriptions for prescription drugs. This is where so many internet pharmacies fail. The majority can’t be bothered to create avenues for receiving and authenticating prescriptions from consumers over the internet. So they create businesses that allow consumers to acquire even controlled substances in the absence of proper prescriptions. Even though some people appreciate online pharmacies specifically because they remove the burden of acquiring a prescription, you need to realize that any medical site that doesn’t demand a prescription for prescription drugs is untrustworthy. Steer clear.
Price
Price tags are a great indicator of quality. People prioritize internet medical suppliers because they are cheap. And indeed, you can save so much money by sourcing your pharmaceuticals over the internet from countries like Canada. However, drugs are still a pricy product that requires extensive resources to produce. In other words, there is such a thing as medical prices that are too good to be true. If your internet supplier of choice is eager to part with expensive cancer drugs for only a fraction of the price that traditional pharmacies charge, you should know that you’re probably purchasing counterfeit drugs. Pay close attention to drug prices.
Manufacturers
If you visit the websites of the manufacturers that make the drugs you use, you will find that they publish regular posts regarding the counterfeit versions of their products that have emerged on the market and their possible sources. Organizations like the FDA in the US also frequently publicize the drug scams they come across. Of course, they can’t catch everyone. But you can trust them to keep you updated on some of the bigger and more dangerous internet medical suppliers.
Conclusion
There is no way to guarantee the legitimacy or illegitimacy of any medical supplier on the internet. Some people argue that every legitimate website must have a physical address. But there are ways to concoct fake websites and fake physical premises. Of course, that won’t stop consumers from using internet pharmacies. Just look at all the “Pharm Reviews 2019” searches that Google fields every single day. People want cheap drugs and the threat of counterfeit pharmaceuticals won’t stop them from pursuing medical suppliers on the internet. That means they can only depend on luck. Once they have done their due diligence, once they have verified every license, sought out the physical addresses and analyzed user testimonials, all that is left is for them to trust that they have done enough to separate the reliable internet pharmacies from the scams.