Law enforcers are on alert each day for any signs of illegal drug deals on the streets. Little do they know, these drug deals today happen online –through registered pharmacies. Modern technologies really make our lives easier from communication to shopping online. But as we are blessed with such convenience, it can also play as a cursed. A new investigative report discovered that people with drug addiction can get potent opiate painkillers just by ordering online.

The loophole

The Guardian revealed that a lot of online pharmacies, not he shabby looking ones, but those operating legally and regulated by the law do have flaws. Not having any kind of alert system in place, people can order multiple prescription medications delivered at the same address. It really alarming that such preventive measures were not taken into consideration and people with addiction can easily access their fix with just one click of the button.

Call for action

“The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), calls for stricter measures against abusive people using the loophole in the system.

The online pharmacy regulator, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), is calling for stricter measures to be introduced and says it is consulting on whether online pharmacies should stop supplying opiates unless further checks are carried out.

“People with addiction problems are able to order hundreds of powerful opiate painkillers by taking advantage of a lack of proper checks with registered online pharmacies, the Guardian can reveal. A number of online pharmacies that are regulated and operating legally have no alert system in place to identify when someone makes multiple orders to the same address.

The safeguarding loophole means people can order hundreds of tablets a month. The online pharmacy regulator, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), is calling for stricter measures to be introduced and says it is consulting on whether online pharmacies should stop supplying opiates unless further checks are carried out.

David (not his real name) told the Guardian that his wife, who had an opiate addiction, this year made four orders in a month for the strong opiate dihydrocodeine from the website Doctor-4-u after setting up multiple accounts. Hundreds of pills were delivered to the same address, but the unusual activity was not flagged on its system.”

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