From time to time my office distributes press releases and written statements on state and national issues, debate in the Senate, and legislation that I am working on. For your convenience, I post these documents on my site for your review.
 print | |
 email |
| |
Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Bill to Improve Safety of Online Pharmacies
Thursday, September 27, 2007
WASHINGTON – The Senate Committee on the Judiciary today unanimously approved legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that would hold accountable those who operate unregistered pharmacies on the Internet and protect the safety of consumers who wish to fill legitimate prescriptions online.
The bill cleared today, originally drafted by Sessions, is designed to stop Internet pharmacies that sell controlled substances without a valid prescription, not pharmacies that sell drugs at a low cost to individuals who have valid prescriptions from their U.S. doctors.
“I am pleased that my colleagues on the Judiciary committee joined Sen. Feinstein and me in support of this important legislation.” Sessions said. “Law enforcement officers in Alabama have expressed their concerns to me that a growing number of people, particularly minors, are obtaining controlled substances over the Internet. We are seeing great abuse by unscrupulous individuals who sell drugs without valid prescriptions and without verifying the age or the identity of the buyer. As a result, some of the most addictive painkillers are easy to obtain without a valid prescription. This legislation will take steps necessary to stop this worsening problem.”
Prescription drug abuse is growing in the United States, with 15.1 million adults admitting to abuse of prescription drugs in a 2003 study. That number represents a 94 percent increase in the last decade.
“Today, controlled substances are just a click away on the Internet. And instead of a prescription, it’s often just a credit card that is required,” Feinstein said. “Passing this bill out of the Judiciary Committee is the first step toward stopping the dangerous practices of rogue pharmacies. This legislation would require all controlled substances purchased on the Internet to be done with a legitimate prescription and a medical examination.”
Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that deaths from accidental drug overdoses nearly doubled from 1999 to 2004, increasing from 11,155 in 1999 to 19,838 in 2004. Accidental drug overdoses are now the nation’s second-leading cause of accidental death. The CDC has attributed the rise in drug overdose deaths to a higher use of prescription painkillers and increasing numbers of overdoses of cocaine and prescription sedatives.
The bill would:
· Bar the sale or distribution of a controlled substance via the Internet without a valid prescription. A practitioner must conduct an in-person examination of a patient in order for a prescription to be considered valid.
· Require Online Pharmacies to display information identifying the business, the pharmacist, and any physician associated with the website. Pharmacies must also clearly display a statement of compliance on their homepage. This will allow consumers to clearly identify which pharmacies are safe—and which are not.
· Create tough penalties for online pharmacies that continue to operate outside the law, by clarifying that such activities are subject to the current federal laws against illegal distributions, and are subject to the same penalties applicable to hand-to-hand sales. Internet distributors, like other drug dealers, could be prosecuted in our federal courts, and if convicted would face sentences of up to life imprisonment, as well as forfeiture of their criminally-derived proceeds.
- Increase the penalties for illegal online distributions of controlled substances categorized by the Drug Enforcement Administration as Schedule III, IV and V substances. For Schedule III substances, existing maximum penalties would be doubled, up to 10 years for a first conviction, and to 20 years for a second conviction, and new penalties of up to 30 years would be added if death or serious bodily injury results. The bill adopts similar increases for Schedule IV and V substances, with longer periods of supervised release also available to follow prison terms ordered on these drug distribution convictions.
· Allow a state attorney general, after giving the U.S. Department of Justice notice and an opportunity to intervene, to shut down a rogue online site across the country, rather than only bar sales to consumers of his or her state.
The legislation now proceeds to further consideration by the full Senate.
 |
You will need to have Real One Player installed on your computer to be able to listen or watch the clips above. Real One Player is free software that lets you play audio and video files. Download Real One Player |
