Buying Ecstasy online in Belize

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Buying Ecstasy online in Belize

Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Counterfeit drugs comprise an increasing percentage of the US drug market and even a larger percentage in less developed countries. Counterfeit drugs involve both lifesaving and lifestyle drugs. To review the health and economic consequences of counterfeit drugs on the US public and on the healthcare system as a whole. The issue of counterfeit drugs has been growing in importance in the United States, with the supply of these counterfeit drugs coming from all over the world. Innovation is important to economic growth and US competitiveness in the global marketplace, and intellectual property protections provide the ability for society to prosper from innovation. Especially important in terms of innovation in healthcare are the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. In addition to taking income from consumers and drug companies, counterfeit drugs also pose health hazards to patients, including death. The case of bevacizumab Avastin is presented as one recent example. Internet pharmacies, which are often the source of counterfeit drugs, often falsely portray themselves as Canadian, to enhance their consumer acceptance. Adding to the problems are drug shortages, which facilitate access for counterfeits. A long and convoluted supply chain also facilitates counterfeits. In addition, the wholesale market involving numerous firms is a convenient target for counterfeit drugs. Trafficking in counterfeits can be extremely profitable; detection of counterfeits is difficult, and the penalties are modest. Counterfeit drugs pose a public health hazard, waste consumer income, and reduce the incentive to engage in research and development and innovation. Stronger state licensure supervision of drug suppliers would be helpful. Technological approaches, such as the Radio Frequency Identification devices, should also be considered. Finally, counterfeit drugs may raise concerns among consumers about safety and reduce patient medication adherence. Intellectual property represents original, creative works and innovations who belonging to inventors, artists, musicians, and authors who, and businesses that, create something or acquire rights to a creation. The exclusive rights and legal protections of intellectual property come in the form of copyrights, trademarks, and patents. These protections encourage innovation and creativity, but the rewards for innovation and creativity can be undermined by widespread theft associated with counterfeiting and trafficking of pirated goods. The Internet has become an important and convenient means for consumers to shop and save money. However, websites that traffic counterfeit goods have flourished on the Internet, creating confusion between which sites sell authentic goods and which do not. When reflecting on counterfeit and pirated goods, knockoff luxury handbags, fake watches, and free music and videos may come to mind. The counterfeiting and pirating of goods may seem to be a victimless crime, where no one is harmed by imitation goods sold at much lower prices than brand-name products. However, the world of counterfeiting and piracy stretches to nearly every product on the market and has often led to considerable harm to consumers, including death. Medicines have often been counterfeited, sometimes with dire consequences to patients. The issue of counterfeit drugs has been growing in the United States with the supply of these counterfeit drugs coming from all over the world. Counterfeit drugs not only take income from consumers, by having them pay for products that have little or no medical value, but they can also lead to unresolved health problems, and even death. Especially significant, counterfeit drugs may raise concerns among consumers about safety, and may therefore reduce patient adherence. In this review, we examine how the legitimate supply chain has been infiltrated by counterfeits, as well as the role of the Internet in facilitating the distribution of counterfeit drugs, and the impact on patients, drug innovation, and the pharmaceutical industry. Counterfeit medication is a problem in the United States, and even more so worldwide. Counterfeit medications are a waste of income of patients, and they often endanger the public's health and safety. One case that illustrates this problem is that of a patient who was treated with injections for anemia, after a liver transplant. After 8 weeks of injections, the patient was still not responding to treatment. The treating physicians discovered that the medicine the patient used was counterfeit. A particularly serious case involved counterfeit versions of bevacizumab Avastin , a cancer-fighting medication. Avastin's manufacturer, Roche, notified physicians in February of a counterfeit version of bevacizumab that contained salt and starch, but not the active component of the drug. In this case, the active ingredient was replaced with a cheaper substance that caused patients to have adverse reactions and resulted in a nationwide recall of heparin. The US company that sold heparin was subject to lawsuits and eventually sold the division that produced the medicine. The rise of Internet pharmacies makes regulation of drug safety more difficult. Detecting counterfeits is often difficult, because many of these goods pass through a long and complicated distribution network, thereby creating opportunities for counterfeits to enter the legitimate supply chain. Drug shortages, a long and convoluted supply chain, and Internet pharmacies are contributing factors. US consumers are largely unaware of the dangers of purchasing counterfeit drugs from Internet pharmacies: an estimated 36 million Americans have bought drugs online without a valid prescription. This review of the literature investigates the implications of how the legitimate supply chain has been infiltrated by counterfeits. Real-world evidence from several cases, including the case of bevacizumab Avastin , are presented as recent examples of the serious harm drug counterfeiting can cause patients and the cost to manufacturers and drug innovation. Controlling the availability of counterfeit drugs is not simple, but necessary, given the serious public health issues they pose. The threat to the safety of American patients and drug innovation merit strong sanctions regarding counterfeit drugs. Counterfeit medications are also a worldwide problem. Patients can experience a variety of problems from the use of counterfeit drugs. The various scenarios depend on the ingredients that make up the counterfeit drug. The first scenario is a counterfeit drug that contains no active ingredient or no harmful ingredients. In the case of antibiotics, for example, this can promote antibiotic resistance and the use of stronger antibiotics, because physicians would believe that the first-line drug was not working, not knowing that the patient had been taking a counterfeit drug. A second scenario is that the counterfeit drug has no active ingredient and may have any number of harmful ingredients, including bacteria-laced water, toxic yellow paint, floor wax, colored dye, powdered cement, boric acid, and antifreeze. Another scenario is that of a wrong drug used in the counterfeit agent. Counterfeit versions of GlaxoSmithKline's over-the-counter weight-loss medication orlistat Alli have been distributed in the United States. The counterfeit contained the controlled substance sibutramine instead of orlistat. One other scenario involves a counterfeit drug that contains the wrong concentration or wrong dose of the drug. One example of this is the case of a physician who was supplied with a research version of onabotulinumtoxinA Botox that was much more concentrated than the real medicine, and is not intended for human use. The legitimate supply chain has many stages in which counterfeits can enter, starting with providing ingredients for manufacturing of the drug. Subsequent stages for infiltration include storage, transportation, and finally distribution. In one instance, counterfeit epoetin alfa Epogen , which was purchased from a pharmacy, had at least 13 chains of owners and caused considerable health issues for a young patient who had undergone a liver transplant in the United States. In addition to the manufacturer and the major distributor, this drug was handled by 3 different wholesalers, 2 pharmacies, 4 unlicensed go-betweens, and 1 suspected counterfeiter. A problem area is the wholesale market, which comprises 3 types of wholesalers—primary wholesalers; several large, regional wholesalers; and many thousands of secondary wholesalers. The primary and large, regional wholesalers interact with the manufacturers, and they are usually not the avenue of entry for counterfeits. Conversely, secondary wholesalers do not deal directly with drug manufacturers, and they buy and sell drugs in response to market shortages and surpluses. In addition, they package and repackage the drugs, which provide an opportunity for counterfeits to enter the market. The issue related to decreasing the number of people and routes in the supply chain must be addressed. This type of tracking system was implemented in Turkey in On November 28, , President Obama signed the Drug Quality and Security Act into law, which provides for a national track-and-trace system that would allow a specific drug to be followed from the manufacturer to the pharmacy. The law provides for a national system of electronic tracking of drugs and is expected to be implemented by The technology for the track-and-trace system most likely to be used is the Radio Frequency Identification RFID device, which uses information stored and remotely retrieved on transponders to provide automatic identification. Another factor exacerbating or at least contributing to the problem of counterfeit drugs is the recent shortages of several drugs in the United States. In the second quarter of , there were drugs associated with shortage issues in the United States. The insulin used by these patients had been stolen and was not stored or handled properly, thus losing its potency. For drugs in short supply, hospitals and other providers search beyond normal sources to obtain the drugs, increasing the ability of inserting the counterfeits into the market. Drug shortages lead to increased prices for a legitimate drug and increase the opportunity and ability for unscrupulous people to make financial gains by introducing counterfeit drugs into the market. Consumers or patients in the United States are largely unaware of the dangers of purchasing counterfeit drugs from Internet pharmacies. In most cases, counterfeit drugs are neither safe nor effective. The use of these drugs can lead to greater sickness, or even to death. Although counterfeit drugs sometimes end up in the pharmaceutical supply chain, the primary source of counterfeit drugs is online pharmacies. The FDA has the task of making sure that pharmaceuticals are safe and effective, but this task is becoming increasingly difficult, with patients bypassing traditional sources of medication and purchasing them from rogue Internet pharmacies that pose as legitimate businesses. The FDA notes that nearly 1 in 4 Internet users has bought from online pharmacies. Some Internet pharmacies give the impression that they are located in Canada and are selling legitimate brand-name drugs that have been manufactured in Canada, but many of these legitimacy claims are blatantly false. They are often not even approved by the Canadian government. The fact is that many so-called Canadian Internet pharmacies are not Canadian at all, but are actually based in places such as Belize, Russia, and Vietnam, to name a few. One Canadian online pharmacy has been linked to counterfeit bevacizumab. As noted before, in most cases, these drugs can harm consumers, because they do not contain the active ingredients to resolve a health issue, and instead they can contain harmful ingredients, such as bacteria and toxins. Of note, in the case of lifestyle drugs, such as sildenafil, the counterfeits often contain some of the active ingredient, 29 because the effect of the drug is obvious. Although it is possible to obtain legitimate drugs from overseas at considerable discounts, 30 the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act makes it technically illegal to import prescription drugs into the United States. Moreover, some of these Internet sites are linked to terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah and Al Qaeda, and others are linked to organized crime—posing a threat to national and international security. Caveat emptor —let the buyer beware. One hopeful sign is that of increased international cooperation. In June , the United States, along with almost other countries, collaborated in the Operation Pangea VI—a global action against online trading of counterfeit and illegal drugs. Counterfeit cancer drugs first appeared in the United States in February and 2 subsequent cases were reported in June and February Physicians purchased the counterfeit bevacizumab from unapproved suppliers, at prices below the going price for bevacizumab. Although seeking lower-priced drugs is desirable, prices substantially below customary levels should raise questions. Thus, physicians need to perform due diligence to make sure that they are buying from legitimate suppliers to avoid putting their patients in harm's way. In 1 case, counterfeit medicines should have been easily detected, because the writing on the box was in French. There have been other incidents of physicians supplying patients with drugs from unauthorized suppliers. Detection is difficult because medical personnel attribute the problem of drugs that produce poor clinical outcomes to patient variation. Often, drug packaging is thrown away, which makes it difficult to test for bad drugs, particularly because the drugs may be undetectable in the bloodstream after a few days. Therefore, the probability of a counterfeiter getting caught can be very low. The criminal penalties for the sale of counterfeit medications can be far less than the criminal penalties for the sale of illegal narcotics, thus making it more profitable and less risky for criminals to sell counterfeits. There is a steeper penalty for counterfeiting a designer purse under the Federal Criminal Code than a drug product under current FDA law. By contrast, the penalties for selling narcotics can be life in prison and millions of dollars in fines. One person involved in the bevacizumab case received 6 months of house arrest and 5 years of probation. A recent survey by the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research showed that consumers strongly believe that the sale of counterfeit medicines can pose serious health risks to American consumers. Innovation is important to economic growth and US competitiveness in the global marketplace. Intellectual property protections provide the ability for society to prosper from innovation. As President Obama has stated, if we are to win the future and to be successful in an increasingly competitive international market, the United States must innovate. In , intellectual property-intensive industries accounted for Especially important in terms of innovation are the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. However, the attraction of counterfeits is their low prices, and the loss to the industry is presumably less than the estimated sales of the counterfeit drugs, because some consumers would likely not have purchased the drugs at the standard price. Nevertheless, the loss is significant and imposes a cost to society in the form of reduced incentives for innovation. An example of the loss from counterfeit drugs comes from the experience of Pfizer. In , authorities in 53 countries confiscated 8. Brian Donnelly, PhD, Director of Pfizer's global security team the unit that battles counterfeiters is a pharmacologist who had worked as an FBI special agent for 21 years and is now leading the work on counterfeit drugs. Such security officers investigate, and then seek cooperation, from public authorities to make arrests. The prevalence of counterfeit drugs is increasing, especially with the expansion of the Internet. It is estimated that 36 million Americans have bought drugs online without a valid prescription. The counterfeit problem is especially acute in less developed countries. Counterfeiting involves both lifestyle and lifesaving drugs. Counterfeiting drugs is extremely profitable, and current penalties are insufficient to deter this practice. A survey of US consumers showed that there is strong support for criminal penalties to combat counterfeit drugs. Shortages of drugs exacerbate the problem by increasing prices and enabling counterfeits to enter the market as providers seek to obtain drugs in short supply. The long supply chain, through which some drugs pass, facilitates the entry of counterfeits. Furthermore, the fact that most active ingredients for drugs come from foreign sources adds to this problem. Several public policy changes would help to improve the situation. Some of these are listed in the Table. Overall, technological approaches should be utilized when appropriate and feasible to help ameliorate the counterfeit problem. Drug manufacturers need to improve the quality of the production process to decrease drug shortages. Higher fines, loss of medical license, and jail time should be implemented for physicians who knowingly give counterfeit drugs to their patients. Increase due diligence by physicians when purchasing drugs and stiffer penalties for those who knowingly provide counterfeit drugs to their patients. Encourage more voluntary cooperation from companies along the Internet chain, such as credit card companies, domain registrars, Internet service providers, and couriers. Penalties for counterfeiting should be increased. Given the difficulties and low probability of detection, penalties would have to be substantial to deter the practice. A year sentence and a life sentence for anyone selling drugs that lead to death is appropriate. More information concerning the hazards of purchasing from Internet pharmacies should be provided so that consumers can make more informed choices. Tracking of drugs is already being enhanced. Additional technological steps, including the possible insertion of radio chips, should also be considered as a way of tightening the supply chain. The recently enacted drug security law is an important step in the right direction. Physicians should purchase drugs from only authorized distributors, which would reduce the ability of counterfeits to enter the market. Greater international cooperation to confront counterfeiting in countries like China should also be considered. Internet-access companies should be encouraged to make their algorithms list the approved online pharmacies first. These would be pharmacies that meet the standards of recognized industry organizations or licensing authorities. More voluntary cooperation from companies along the Internet chain, such as credit card companies, domain registrars, Internet service providers, and couriers would make counterfeiting less profitable. Consumers should be encouraged to know where the online pharmacy is actually located, and the actual source of their drug supply. In addition to scrutinizing the location of an online pharmacy, consumers should also be leery of any company that will distribute prescription drugs without a prescription. Consumers should also be informed about the extent of counterfeit drugs and the harm they cause. Finally, consumers should be encouraged not to buy prescription drugs without a valid prescription. When it comes to buying drugs from online pharmacies, consumers should heed the old Latin phrase, caveat emptor —let the buyer beware. Solving the counterfeit drugs problem is important to ensure that patients do not lose faith in the benefits of pharmaceuticals and become nonadherent with their treatments. The expansion of the Internet, and the difficulty in controlling drug suppliers from the Internet, have greatly increased consumer purchases of counterfeit drugs. Controlling the availability of counterfeit drugs is not easy, but it is necessary, given the tremendous public health issues concerning counterfeit drugs, which can harm or kill people. Cooperation is necessary among all the stakeholders involved. Health plans pay pharmacies for prescription drugs through pharmacy claims via a pharmacy benefit manager, and they pay physicians and other providers for drugs in the medical benefit through a variety of medical claims systems. In either case, the claim requires that a code that identifies a particular drug be submitted to the plan. The problem is, however, that the code would be the same for a legitimate or a counterfeit agent. The burden of determining whether a drug is counterfeit lies with the ultimate dispenser of the drug to a patient. Health plans credential physicians before adding them to their networks, and they work with pharmacy benefit managers to ensure that the pharmacy network is of the highest quality, by denying access to or removing from the network pharmacies that have demonstrated fraudulent or unethical behavior in the dispensing of pharmaceuticals. A bigger issue for health plans is the potential negative effects from patients obtaining and using counterfeit medications without getting the clinical benefit of the drugs. The risks for disease progression, side effects, or the need to change the treatment approach because of a poor response all present issues for the health plan, and can lead to poor patient outcomes and increased costs. PATIENTS: An educational approach would be an effective way for health plans to communicate to patients regarding the risks of counterfeit medications. Patients need to be educated on the potential risks of using Internet pharmacies to obtain prescription drugs. Health plans usually have a preferred mail order pharmacy in their network, and ordering prescriptions on the Internet is generally allowed for that particular pharmacy. PROVIDERS: When patients are concerned about the out-of-pocket costs of pharmaceuticals, providers and health plans need to be aware of the risk associated with the use of a secondary market to obtain their medications in an effort to save money. Providers can make patients aware of patient assistance programs or copay coupons that may defer some of the costs of prescription drugs. A majority of patients in a health plan have drug coverage, and physicians have many drugs to choose from with reasonable out-of-pocket costs for their patients. Physicians need to be aware of patients who do not have drug coverage and who may be looking for lower-cost pharmacy options. Physicians and pharmacists need to apply common sense and sound business practices when purchasing medications and acknowledge that any discounts will usually come directly from the drug manufacturers and not from a secondary wholesaler, unless there is something potentially wrong with the medication. At the end of the day, all healthcare providers need to help educate patients on the dangers of ordering medications over the Internet, and especially ordering drugs without a valid prescription. In particular, if drugs are in short supply, the potential for counterfeit drugs increases, and all purchasers and policymakers need to be aware of the risk of fraud when drug supply is a problem. Blackstone and colleagues are absolutely correct in their warning to patients regarding the purchase of drugs online: caveat emptor —let the buyer beware. As a library, NLM provides access to scientific literature. Am Health Drug Benefits. Find articles by Erwin A Blackstone. Find articles by Joseph P Fuhr Jr. Find articles by Steve Pociask. Increase public awareness, especially concerning Internet pharmacies Improve management of supply chain Apply stiffer fines and jail sentences for convicted sellers of counterfeit drugs Increase due diligence by physicians when purchasing drugs and stiffer penalties for those who knowingly provide counterfeit drugs to their patients Improve controls of secondary drug markets Improve cooperation with foreign governments regarding counterfeiting drugs Improve quality control by drug manufacturers to avoid drug shortages Encourage more voluntary cooperation from companies along the Internet chain, such as credit card companies, domain registrars, Internet service providers, and couriers Improve use of technology to track and trace counterfeiting drugs Sell drug supplies only to licensed manufacturers Construct Internet search algorithms so that legitimate online pharmacies appear first. Open in a new tab. 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Signal: UK online pharmacies selling prescription drugs without proper checks

Buying Ecstasy online in Belize

Some UK online pharmacies are selling high-risk prescription drugs based on online questionnaires, a BBC investigation has found. The news organisation was able to buy over 1, pills from 20 pharmacies without challenge, raising concerns over the level of regulation these companies face. The BBC found that unnamed prescription-only drugs including painkillers anti-anxiety medication and benzodiazepines a depressant drug group including Valium were available by providing false information and without the need for a video consultation or medical records. Find out more. Online pharmacies in the UK are regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council GPhC and are unable to prescribe drugs without approval from a qualified pharmacist. This should in theory make these sites safe, but it also allows them to operate without heavy oversight. The GPhC gives guidance, and is able to take regulatory action should breaches be deemed dangerous enough, but pharmacist and former chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Thorrun Govind told the BBC that it is vague, leading to varying degrees of compliance by online pharmacies. UK online pharmacies also hit the headlines last year when they were found to be distributing diabetes drug Ozempic off-label for weight loss despite the National Health Service facing shortages for patients with the intended condition. This problem is far from exclusive to the UK, however. Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge. We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form. Despite the concerns raised by this investigation, consumers and experts do not seem overly worried by the apparent lack of oversight. A GlobalData analysis of social media posts by select experts in the sector shows that over the last year, posts relating to regulation did not make it to the top ten most discussed themes, crowded out by economic matters. These signals enhance our predictive capabilities, helping us to identify the most disruptive threats across each of the sectors we cover and the companies best placed to succeed. Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights. Pharma Technology Focus : Focus monthly. Thematic Take monthly. I consent to Verdict Media Limited collecting my details provided via this form in accordance with Privacy Policy. View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network. Benzodazepines are among the drugs found to be purchasable without background checks. Photo: Getty Images. Go deeper with GlobalData. Data Insights The gold standard of business intelligence. How well do you really know your competitors? View profiles in store. Company Profile — free sample Thank you! Your download email will arrive shortly. Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form By GlobalData Submit. Tick here to opt out of curated industry news, reports, and event updates from Pharmaceutical Technology. Submit and download. Sign up for our daily news round-up! Sign up to the newsletter: In Brief. I would also like to subscribe to:. Thank you for subscribing View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network.

Buying Ecstasy online in Belize