


In choosing rogue online pharmacies, consumers opt out of medication counseling, monitoring, and drug-drug interaction checking that pharmacists and health professionals offer. Still, illegitimate online pharmacies remain challenging to control because there are innumerable URLs under which they can operate.ĭespite these organizational attempts, rogue online pharmacies remain pervasive and many consumers remain unaware of the associated dangers. 18 LegitScript has also partnered with the FDA to identify and close illegitimate online pharmacies. Department of Justice (DOJ) has led to the removal of thousands of illegitimate online pharmacies. Operation Pangea, a cooperative effort led by Interpol in conjunction with FDA and the U.S. 17 Moreover, beyond raising public awareness, regulatory and legal actions are ongoing against illegitimate online pharmacies. LegitScript allows consumers to enter a uniform resource locator (URL) to determine a pharmacy’s legitimacy.
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16 NABP also offers a verification service for legitimate online pharmacies through which they can receive a “.pharmacy” domain, increasing consumers’ visibility of legitimate pharmacies. 14, 15 The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) lists accredited digital pharmacies on its website. The BeSafeRx campaign of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Buy Safe Rx campaign of the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP) empower consumers by raising awareness of the dangers of purchasing medications from illegitimate online pharmacies, as well as providing information on the warning signs that an online pharmacy might be operating illegally. National organizations have been combating the proliferation of illegitimate online pharmacies.


12 Given the high prevalence of rogue online pharmacies, the ease of access to medications with abuse potential is of particular concern. 13 According to LegitScript, a verification and monitoring service, 96% of the accessible online pharmacies are illegitimate, of which 92% are rogue, meaning that they sell drugs without a valid prescription. 12 Online pharmacies can be defined by whether they operate as legitimate and registered pharmacies or whether they are illegitimate and in violation of U.S. Although the overall volume varies on a daily basis, 30,000-35,000 online pharmacy websites were found to be accessible in 2016. Online pharmacies have emerged as a popular destination for the purchase of prescription drugs. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as a schedule II medication. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Owing to its high potential for abuse, which could lead to severe psychological or physical dependence, Adderall is classified by the U.S. 4 Inherent to the abuse of amphetamines are risks including weight loss, cardiovascular events, psychological dependence, and morphologic brain changes. 1, 2, 3 The overall nonmedical use of prescription stimulants has been estimated at approximately 8% in adults. Although effective in its treatment of ADHD, Adderall carries a high potential for abuse and dependence-its nonmedical use among college students for neurocognitive enhancement has been well documented, with a prevalence estimated from 9% to 23%. Adderall (amphetamine/dextroamphetamine ) is a central nervous system stimulant medication commonly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
