The Kaiser Foundation reported that Drugstore.com, the largest online pharmacy in the United States, warns that there are sites on the Web that sell medications that may be dangerous to your health. These sites often sell diluted, contaminated, or counterfeit medications and may be operated by illegal, offshore companies. They do not require a prescription from a physician, but instead they hire physicians who write thousands of prescriptions based on brief telephone conversations only.

Avoid Web sites that do not list their addresses or do not require that you visit your doctor to obtain a prescription.

Drugstore.com is planning a “Safe Shopper” campaign to warn people about these sites and to help in identifying legitimate online pharmacies. Until this information is available, you should not purchase your medications from an online distributor who does not require a prescription from your doctor.

This article appeared in the March 2004 issue of Looking Out for Your Legal Rights^®.