Web Pharmacy Rules Take Effect
New interim federal rules aimed at helping prevent Internet distribution of certain government-controlled prescription drugs took effect Monday, less than six months after former President George W. Bush signed into law the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act. The legislation, championed in the House by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and in the Senate by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., was named for an 18-year-old who died after overdosing on a prescription painkiller he obtained on the Internet from a doctor he never saw. The statute amends existing laws governing controlled substances by adding new definitions for "online pharmacy" and "deliver, distribute, or dispense by means of the Internet." It also requires at least one face-to-face patient medical evaluation prior to issuance of a prescription drug and imposes registration, information disclosure and reporting requirements for online pharmacies.
"Now that this law has been put into force it will be harder for cyber-criminals to supply controlled substances over the Internet and easier for us to prosecute them," DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart said in a press release. Controlled substances such as narcotics, stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, and anabolic steroids and covered by the statute. Implementing the rule "will increase Internet safety and help prevent tragedies like Ryan Haight's death from happening again," Leonhart said. Nearly one in five teenagers has used a prescription medication to get high, according to a 2008 survey by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The same survey found that two in five teens believe the fallacy that prescription medicines obtained without a prescription are "much safer" to use than illegal drugs. For more information on DEA implementation, click here.
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