Prescription Drugs From Online Pharmacies: Is It Legal?

Since the inception of the internet, the modern marketplace has gone from walking around the corner to buy something, to globetrotting the ends of the earth with a mouse click. Anything can be found on the internet, from movies and electronics, to clothing and dating services. The modern day entrepreneurs of marketing, are utilizing the internet in ways that no one could have ever imagined. Nothing is too big or too small, to be sold in the cyber marketplace. Today, this even includes prescription drugs from online pharmacies.

Online pharmacies are certainly the wave of the future. More and more online pharmacies are springing up every day. Normally an individual would get into their car and drive to a doctor's office, to get a prescription for medication. Nowadays, one only needs to turn on the computer and get onto the internet, to get a prescription medication.

Today's modern online pharmacies have employed doctor's that can prescribe prescriptions to patients, right over the phone. Imagine, no more waiting for hours in a doctor's office, for your name to be called, while listening to cheesy elevator music. Just about every medication imaginable, can be acquired on the internet. Anything from high blood pressure medication, to allergy medication, to medications that treat sexually transmitted diseases, are available online.

So one has to ask the question: are these online pharmacies legal? Well, the answer is really not that simple. For example, in Mexico, one can obtain nearly any type of medication possible, without a prescription. Say you wanted Xanax, all you would have to do is to go down to the local pharmacy and buy it. In the United States, however, you would have to go to a doctor's office and have the doctor prescribe it to you, because you cannot purchase Xanax in the United States, without a prescription. On the other hand, if you live in the United States, then you can order Xanax online from a pharmacy, that is located in Mexico, without a prescription, and usually pay substantially less than what it would cost in the United States.

One way that online pharmacies circumvent the prescription requirements in the United States and other countries, is buy employing staff doctor's, to prescribe medications to consumers, who wish to purchase them. So, if you contacted an online pharmacy in an attempt to purchase medication which you didn't have a prescription for, then all they would do, is have you speak with one of their staff doctor's. This doctor could then prescribe the medication for you, thus making the purchase legal.

Many opponents of the online pharmacies, say that this is an unethical way of doing business. However, the laws of the United States, don't govern other countries where the online pharmacies are located, and the online pharmacies that are located in the United States, are complying with the laws by having doctors prescribe the controlled medications.

Many proponents of online pharmacies, say that it gives consumers who don't have the money to purchase expensive drugs in the United States, a way to get the drugs that they need for a substantial discount. The truth is, that medical care costs in the United States, have skyrocketed in recent years. Many financially strapped individuals, can't afford health insurance, much needed medications, and expensive doctor visits. So whether you are for or against online pharmacies, the bottom line, is that they are certainly here to stay.