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Legislation Approved: Shut Down Rogue Online Pharmacies
Measure Will Help Protect Teens from Unscrupulous Online Vendors
Recent studies show that controlled substances are readily available via the Internet. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University earlier this year identified 365 websites that advertise or sell controlled substances online. Eighty-five percent of the sites did not require a prescription by the patient’s physician.
Sessions’ legislation will require online pharmacies to obtain a valid prescription, issued by a health practitioner that has conducted an in-person examination of the patient, before conducting a transaction. Under the legislation, vendors must obtain proof of the patient’s age and identity before selling controlled substances. Additionally, the legislation clarifies the law and provides new penalties for Internet vendors who sell to patients without a valid prescription.
“Congressional approval of the Online Pharmacy Protection Act is a critical step toward blocking the sale of illegal prescription drugs over the Internet,” Sessions said. “Controlled substances are too easily obtained without valid prescriptions and without proof of the buyer’s age or identity. The law enforcement community reports that this is a growing problem among children and adolescents, and it is important that we take steps to shut down these unscrupulous vendors. I am pleased Senator Feinstein and I have worked together to see this important piece of legislation to fruition, and I look forward to President Bush signing it into law.”
Senator Feinstein first drafted legislation to stop the dangerous practices of rogue online pharmacies after Ryan Haight, a California high school honors student and athlete, died in 2001 from an overdose of the painkiller Vicodin. He had purchased the painkiller from an online pharmacy after filling out a simple online questionnaire describing himself as a 25-year-old male suffering from chronic back pain. The doctor prescribing the drug never met or personally examined Haight.
Sessions was the lead sponsor of the measure in the 109th Congress.
Passage of the legislation comes after a series of talks between Senate and House negotiators. The Senate originally cleared the legislation on April 1, 2008. A companion bill in the House Judiciary Committee, H.R. 6353, was modified to ensure the committee’s approval, leading to passage by the full House yesterday.
The Senate unanimously approved the House-passed version last night. The legislation will now go to President Bush for his signature.
Bill Summary
The legislation will:
• 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.
• Create tough penalties for pharmacies that continue to operate outside the law.
• Increase the penalties for illegal distributions of Schedule III, IV, and V substances as categorized by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
• Allow a state attorney general, after giving the U.S. Department of Justice notice and an opportunity to intervene, to shut down a rogue site across the country, rather than limiting their relief to stopping sales only to consumers of his or her state.
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