Drugs online... without prescription?

[Calli]

I get emails all the time from them, don't know why. You can get valium, xanax, Tramadol.... and there are plenty more sites to order from without having to have a doctors prescription.

Anyway, what do you think about this online drugstores? I don't know if I would ever buy from them, its not really safe, is it? As a lawyer I must say its even illegal. But if my doctors wouldn't give me enough or wouldn't want to give me any pain medication, and I wouldn't live in Holland where I can get cannabis legally, I would even maybe consider it, you know?

[Kathi]

I get those all the time too. Here in the US, I just assumed they were from Canada. We have many Canadian drug stores here in Florida that sell drugs at a great discount. I think if I had to pay full price for some of my meds I might go to one of these stores.:hmm: I just can't understand why drugs are so expensve. Maybe if they stopped advertising it would save money to the comsumer. Oh well, Kathi:rolleyes:

[Dixiefireball]

I have heard that don't buy from these companys because you don't know what your really getting it could be just plain out suger pills if your doctor doesnt give you the prescription. my life is more important to me then getting something from online i really know nothing about.
who knows what the heck they will send you.

[ICNDonna]

First of all, this is absolutely not legal. This type of drug dealing has recently been in the news. What they found out is that the pharmacies that are selling drugs illegally are not in Canada --- most are in the good old USA.

There are many significant dangers to this kind of purchase:

First of all, they are being ordered by a questionable physician, who does not know you, has never seen you, had never seen your medical records, has not talked with your physician --- basically, a bad news doc!

Secondly, you don't know how the medications might interact with what you are already taking --- and some combinations of medications can be extremely dangerous.

And finally --- there is no way to verify that you are getting what the label says

We order medications from a Canadian pharmacy. One of the requirements I chose for selecting a mail order pharmacy is that they do not sell narcotics by mail --- another, extremely important, requirement is that they require a written prescription from our local physician, who has seen us, as well as a list of all of our current medications.

Donna

[jen_dahling]

GREAT ADVICE DONNA!!!!!!!
When it comes to prescriptions or pain meds, why mess with your health by taking things that could possibly harm you? Frankly, I'm kinda suprised that the question of ordering illegal drugs over the internet was suggested. There are impressonable under age ICers here on the board! Let's try to be a little more responsible when it comes to our posts. I know that a lot of us are in a lot of pain and have a few doctors who maybe don't listen or aren't willing to prescribe some pain meds. The last thing I think anyone here wants is to have a bad situation occur because of an idea from these boards.
Sorry to sound so conservative on this issue, but I have seen the effects of overdose and not taking meds prescribed to you!
Jen
:hi:

[SheriG]

Donna, I think your post hit it on the head, and included everything. Thanks for sharing those important facts. Especially the part about the doc ordering doesn't know you, what you are taking already and how you will react to any given new med without your doc's supervision. As a registered nurse, I plead with all of you to really think before you order from one of these online drug marts...be safe...if you cannot get these meds from your doc, there has to be a reason why. Be good to yourselves, and take Donn's advice. NO MAILORDER DRUGS!!!!!!

[creatingkarma]

I agree with everyone else. You just don't know what you are getting or how that med will interact with a med you are already taking. I don't even like to take my samples from doctors without checking with my pharmacy for any drug interactions. People can die from drug interactions!

As a side note, even my vet told me not to buy my pet meds through the internet or mail for the same reasons.

Karma

[Pain_Man]

It's illegal to import pharmaceuticals from foreign companies via mail or shipping companies. Don't try it, if you get caught you could easily end up with a Federal felony, even prison time.

Many states and the Feds are working on ways to combat this. It doubly dangerous because you can't know if you're getting what you think, you can't know how old it is, or if it's effective at all.

[blue]

I've recently heard on the news where teenagers are using this method to get their hands on prescription drugs.

I don't think I would be willing to purchase mine this way.

[chicky78]

I would just like to put my two cents in here!! Being from Canada, I take somewhat offene to Kathis post where she says "Here in the US, I just assumed they were from Canada."

Why would you make such an assumption?

[sue041]

Hello, I just wanted to say I get some Medicines from Canada with my doctors perscription and have not had any problems with them. I do not understand how they can sell them so much cheaper, someone is ripping us off.

Someone once told me if I ever get caught I could be put in jail and fined,has anyone ever hear that before?

Take care and good luck in getting the medicines we need.
Sue :dogrun:

[ICNDonna]

Actually I feel very safe taking my medications purchased from a pharmacy in Canada. The pharmacy we use requires a prescription from our physician and a complete medical history. Just as occurs in our pharmacy here in Oregon, if there is a potential problem with interaction with a medication taken with something we are already taking, the information is provided by the Canada pharmacy.

The drug companies don't like people purchasing medications out of the country and they do say that it isn't safe. My thought on this is that if you are working with a reputable Canadian pharmacy you are just as safe as if you purchase from your neighborhood drugstore. So far nobody has shown me the dead Canadians from purchasing meds there.

I do stress that any pharmacy, regardless of where they are, who will sell medications without a valid written prescription from a physician who has actually seen you --- is engaging in a dangerous practice.

Donna

[ICLori]

Sue, I am not 100% sure but I had read before that it is legal to import medicine for personal use, up to a 3- month supply of medicine, but of course you must have a prescription for the medicine, it would be illegal to try to buy anything without that prescription and since some pharmacies (Mexican, etc.) do not require prescriptions, that's where some people could get into real trouble unfortunately.

Blessings, Lori

P.S. I also read that the reason some drugs are cheaper in other countries is that their governments subsidize the medicines (partially pay the cost for the medicines) so the medicines will be cheaper for their citizens. In the U.S., traditionally our government does not subsidize for this but maybe with the new prescription drug plan for the seniors, we might be seeing something like this in our country? I don't know, I don't know enough about the discounts etc. to know if our government is doing what other governments of other countries are doing.

[chicky78]

Lori, what you have said is true. Here (in Canada), our government subsidizes the cost of the medicines dispensed through prescriptions. I know a lot of people from the states get their medicine through here because it is cheaper, it is the exact same medication and my theory is get the best price you can. However I also see the other side of the coin, which says why should the Canadian government subsidize medication for citizens of other countries....always two sides to every story right!

[chicky78]

Pain Man, many of the statements you have made are correct, however many of them are exceptionally ignorant, and unfortunately this is how the majority of Canadians view the Americans because of consistent comments that are made such as what I have just read.

I may have taken this the wrong way, but it seems to me that you are saying that Americans do ALL the research and the other countries are benefitting from it. I am sorry to burst your bubble, but this is not true.

By the things you have written it seems like you would like it if all American research stayed in America and each country stays to their own. Well imagine what a world we would be?

Canada would take all the insulin depended on by diabetics everyday, why? well we invented it. So we should keep the rights to it so other countries cannot be a part of it. Or how about the fact that infants under one can have heart transplants regardless of blood type donor....maybe we should keep that a secret and let all the infants desperate for heart transplants outside of Canada die because after all, it was researched and realized at Torontos Sick Childrens Hospital so we should keep it here.

I can appreciate you may be upset because you feel that other countries are benefitting off the back of "sick Americans", however I think you need to be a little more careful in the things you say, because you for sure have offended me, and I would assume any other Canadians on this site who read your post.

And by the way, we are not the "Great White North" as you have so kindly referred to Canada as. Canada has the same weather as the New England and many of the other northern end states. Or maybe I should go outside and get on my dogsled.....!!

[Dixiefireball]

I don't think anyone ment to hurt anyone feeling i'm so sorry you felt that way. We try to be a family here.
Hope you are doing well
sending you hugs and prayers
Rhonda

[jen_dahling]

Hey Chicky78!
I saw a health special about those infant transplants with different blood types. What a miracle that the Dr. put her neck on the line to try the procedure! I can't remember her name, but she is a true pioneer in the heart transplant medical community. I have never heard of an internship that had such promise that she adopted her procedure from. I'm sure your country takes great pride in the medical accomplishments it has achieved, both in procedure and medicine.

[icnmgrjill]

Personally, and having attended a number of medical conferences, I believe that the key barrier to much research and product development is the arrogance found in some of our "American" companies/researchers.. who believe that American research is better than that done in other countries. I, personally, have seen outstanding Canadian researchers virtually ignored at American conferences. Not surprisingly, we also see that in patient groups as well and I spend a lot of time apologizing to my international colleagues for the behavior of certain "Americans."

I think that it's extremely arrogant for anyone to believe that the cure for IC (or for more effective therapies) is going to come exclusively from the USA when, in fact, a number of critical and promising studies have originated from Canada, England, Sweden, India, Germany and a host of other countries.

Furthermore, what you may not understand about the pharmaceutical industry is that a great percentage of research on humans are done in other countries (primarily europe) where there are fewer research requirements, therefore those foreign patients become guinea pigs to meds that have not met the basic requirements here in the USA. So, let's not position the American's as being the white knight here. At it's very core, pharmaceutical and medical device companies are in the business to make money and will do whatever takes to do so, regardless of their country of origin. If the price of a generic pill is only 25cents, many companies will still charge you $50 for each pill.

Jill :yikes:

[chicky78]

Jen Dahling, what you have said is true, the discovery for infant heart transplants was an amazing one and one that will no doubt save thousands of lives that wouldn't have been saved before this discovery. Each country can take crdit for their own medical research and its funny, I was watching a special on Torontos Sick Childrens hospital recently and they interviewed a doctor there who I beleive was a neurology specialist who had come to work there from the States and he said he is constantly asked why he would come to work in Canada where the dollar is lower, and his response was, there is no other specialized hospital for children in the world that could remotely compare to this one and the research that is done here, that why wouldn't I work here?. However we are kinda off the topic of IC.....

Jill, I was SO pleased to read your post, because in a nutshell it descirbes everything perfectly. Good wording!!