President Signs Bill To Bolster Web Rx Safeguards
President Bush on Wednesday signed a bill into law to stop rouge pharmacies from operating online by amending the Controlled Substances Act. The Senate unanimously cleared a House version of the legislation shortly before lawmakers left Washington to campaign. The bill, which passed the House a week earlier, requires Web pharmacies to display information identifying the business, pharmacist, and any physician associated with the site and a health practitioner will have to conduct an in-person examination of a patient for a prescription to be considered valid.
The statute would increase penalties for illegal distributions of controlled substances. For certain drugs, existing maximum penalties would be doubled, up to 10 years for a first conviction and 20 years for a second conviction. There are also new penalties of up to 30 years if death or serious bodily injury results. Under the changes, state attorneys general could shut down a rogue site anywhere in the country rather than limiting their authority to stopping sales only to in-state consumers. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., first drafted legislation and Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., sponsored the House version.
Internet hosting firm GoDaddy.com, which championed the legislation in congressional testimony, said the illicit online pharmacy business is a serious problem. Last year, GoDaddy's abuse department suspended more than 1,300 different sites tied to rogue pharmacies and this year, without the new law, the firm was on pace to see that number increase by nearly tenfold. (Photo Credit: Hillary H via Flickr)
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