Online pharmacies have become very popular. People choose to buy medications online for a number of reasons including:
- Convenience: You don’t even have to leave your home and can have your medications delivered to you.
- Privacy: Medications are shipped discreetly in unmarked boxes.
- Cost-savings: Many online pharmacies offer competitive pricing.
While buying medication from an online pharmacy has advantages, it’s important that you make your purchases from a licensed pharmacy and not a fake online “storefront”. Unfortunately, some websites that offer deeply discounted medications and don’t require a prescription are not real pharmacies. These fake online pharmacies are illegal and unsafe. These websites are dangerous because:
- They sell medications that are not safely manufactured and do not meet health and safety standards.
- The products they are selling are not what they say they are.
- They can misuse your personal and financial information.
Before Ordering from an Online Pharmacy
There are about 35,000 active online pharmacy websites. About 95% of them do not comply with laws or safety standards for pharmacies. Many of these illegal online pharmacies sell medications that are counterfeit, or fake. Buying medications from an unsafe online pharmacy can be dangerous – and even deadly.
Signs that an online pharmacy may not be safe include:
- Not requiring a prescription.
- Not being licensed in the US or by your state licensing board.
- No licensed pharmacist on staff to answer your questions.
- Deep discounts and pricing for products that seem too good to be true.
Unsafe pharmacies may offer dangerous medications that:
- Have too much or too little of the drug’s active ingredient you need to treat your disease or condition.
- Do not contain the right active ingredient.
- Contain the wrong ingredients or other harmful substances.
Signs of Safe Online Pharmacies
Pharmacies that are legitimate and safe to use will always:
- Require a prescription for prescription medications.
- Provide a physical address and toll-free phone number in the US.
- Have a licensed pharmacist staff available to answer your questions.
- Be licensed by a state board of pharmacy.
Finding a Safe Online Pharmacy
There are a couple of ways you can check to see if an online pharmacy is safe before you buy.
- Enter the pharmacy’s web address into the National Association of Board of Pharmacies website to verify that it is safe.
- Search Connecticut’s list of licensed out-of-state pharmacies to see if they are licensed in Connecticut. For best results, search by the pharmacy’s full name.