Shady Online Pharmacies Just Signs Of A Deeper Problem
from the bad-pills dept
A Canadian woman recently died after taking pills that she acquired through the internet. It's not clear what pills, exactly, proved fatal, but apparently she bought a sedative that's illegal in Canada and some anti-anxiety medication that typically requires a prescription, which she did not have. According to investigators, the pills were bought through one of the gray-market prescription drug sites that proliferate online. So naturally, we can expect politicians to direct their ire at these sites, and propose new (ineffective) laws aimed at stopping them from doing business. After all, it usually takes just one high-profile death to make lawmakers leap into action. Obviously, it's a problem if people are buying ersatz pills, spiked with dangerous elements. Ideally, people would get their medicine through reputable pharmacies with the advice of a medical professional. But instead of blaming the underground pill sites, perhaps lawmakers should ponder why people turn to those sites in the first place. In both the US and Canada, it can sometimes be an arduous process to get the medicine you need. At a minimum, one needs to make an appointment with a doctor to obtain a prescription, whereas in several European countries one can get prescription drugs with just the advice of the pharmacist. For things like painkillers, sedatives, anti-depressants, or anti-anxiety drugs, the process is often much more difficult. There's a thriving market for these shady online pharmacies because the traditional health care system has shut people out. Of course, politicians much prefer to go after the visible symptoms of the problem rather than address its root causes, which would be a more difficult task.
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Europe is heaven?
As for traditional health care restricting access to painkillers, sedatives, anti-depressants, or anti-anxiety drugs, this is to prevent irresponsible usage. Should we give morphine to babies to shut them up?
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Re: Europe is heaven?
Plus, don't forget that you still have a choice to see someone on your own dime as well as a State sanctioned physician.
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Re: Re: Europe is heaven?
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For once...
The level of incompetence is astounding; not so much from the medical people but from the admin beaurocrats. When people complained about three-year waiting lists for treatment, the Gov't mandated a maximum of six months on the waiting lists. So now the GPs are refuse to put you on the list... yet. Effectively, you are on an "unofficial" waiting list before you can be put on the "official" one.
If it takes months to see a Physician here in the US, it is because there are not enough to go around; the Medical Establishment likes it that way.
The system here has room for improvement, but in my experience socialized medicine simply does not work. I don't trust the Government with my retirement; I sure don't trust them with my health.
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Re: For once...
It's also amusing that you would agree with dorpus when he quotes non existent facts. Doesn't help your argument.
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Re: Europe is heaven?
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If free markets are so great
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/world/asia/20kazakhstan.html
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Re: If free markets are so great
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Of Course, They're To Blame
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Sometimes it's not all that clear...
It took 5 years of diagnosis and then Neurosurgery before most doctors stopped calling me a "drug seeker". I'm not saying there aren't people out there that are "DRUG SEEKERS" but, why should those who are doing wrong make it so difficult for those of us that really need the medication?
I mean, should we suddenly stop selling ALL Alcohol because drunk drivers kill people? Should we stop using Credit Cards because Identity Thefts occur? The Medical system has "guarded" pain medications to the point that many states have enacted laws that require doctors to prescribe them if their only objection is that "they might cause addiction".
The FIVE long years of my life that it took to get to where I am today was not any fun, and certainly could have been treated a lot better by the medical profession, and I personally understand why SOME PEOPLE turn to these "Shady Pharmacies" to get some relief; truth be told, I even considered them myself when I wasn't given ANY medication for the pain I was suffering. I chose instead to keep fighting in the system, but trust me, not everyone can keep fighting like I did, and some people just give up and take their chances elsewhere.
If the MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS would start treating patients like people, instead of criminals, it might go a LONG way to closing down these "Dark Pharamacies"
Bob
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Re: Sometimes it's not all that clear...
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overdose?
The quality of drugs coming from the internet pharmacies is an issue and cost is not necessarily what drives people there. British Columbia pays for doctors visits and has subsidized drugs for low income people so she may not have turned to the grey market for the drugs for financial reasons. The sense I get is that not many legitimate customers in Canada buy their drugs from the internet stores.
Anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs are powerful psycho active chemicals - no one should be self medicating with those things.
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I say government, because - anymore, I have trouble telling the differance between corporations and government anymore...
When's the merger?
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Re:
The government has been using private corporations to do its dirty work for years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_National_Detective_Agency
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Re:
The government has been using private corporations to do its dirty work for years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_National_Detective_Agency
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What the article doesn't say
Let's over react and make sure all of these sites are not operated on US or CA soil.... Oh wait....
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There is a reason some of this stuff is not OTC...
Yeah, what we really need is for people to avoid seeking advice from a medical professional and go around self-medicating for whatever they happen to think ails them at the moment. Because we all know that modern medicine is just a rigged game meant to keep us from the wonderful pills we all think we need.
I am not really sure what color the sky is in Joe's world, but here in the real world we force people through medical gatekeepers because people who are not medical specialists are not equipped to determine what their problem is (no matter what they happened to have read about on the internet last week...) and they do not have the training to know what the consequences of a particular pharmaceutical might be, especially in combination with other drugs or depending on specific doses.
And no, you are not smart enough to figure this out on your own and the rest of the sub-morons clicking on Ph@rma-N0w ads are certainly not up to the task.
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Darwinism
As for dorpus' comments: as usual his arguments are so out of sync with reality he might as well write about his kitten, mittens, for all the sense it makes.
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medicine in europe
If you argue that Europe has a different population base, you can look at Canada, which is closer to our heterogeneous population, again with much better outcomes at lower cost.
This business about wait times for service and bad outcomes doesn't show up in the statistics, so while some of it is true, my guess is that it's mostly a red herring designed to frighten people into accepting our really crummy system.
On drugs, I was in Barcelona last week and many items that are available only as prescription drugs here are available over the counter in Spanish pharmacies for much less. An example: RetinA. It costs over $100/tube here with a prescription. In Spain, it is available over the counter for 10 Euro and offered with a smile. Protopic, a rash medication is half the us price and over the counter.
Reform in the US will only come when business decides that it can no longer afford the health care system and dumps it on the government. The only thing that's preventing that from happening is that most business is run by Republicans who have ideological blinders in this area.
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