Websites Driving Prescription Drug Addiction
By Will Iredale and Steven Swinford
The Times Online
The rise of “internet pharmacies” has been blamed for an epidemic of prescription drug addiction in a report by the United Nations.
The study warns that easy access to powerful sleeping pills, antidepressants and painkillers is leading to heart attacks, blindness and even deaths.
The findings have led to calls from leading British doctors for a ban on online consultations, in which patients are given prescriptions without seeing or speaking to a GP.
The concerns in the report have been highlighted by the case of Robbie Williams, the pop singer, who is in an American rehabilitation clinic reportedly being treated for a series of addictions to legal substances including Seroxat, an antidepressant.
Most of the report concerns illegal drugs but it identifies the scale of addiction to legal substances obtained by unregulated means as a rapidly emerging problem. It likens the scale to the problem caused by people taking class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
The report, produced by the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board, says:
“The unregulated market exposes patients to serious health risks by providing access to poorly or incorrectly labelled medicines that are ineffective, substandard and, in some cases, even lethal. Websites that provide advice and consultations with so-called ‘cyberdoctors’ . . . are a matter of increasing concern.”
In Britain the National Audit Office has estimated that at least 600,000 people have used the internet to buy prescription medicines. A report by Envision, a web analysis company, suggests there are nearly 2,300 sites selling prescription-only drugs direct to the consumer.
Popular drugs include Viagra, the antiimpotence pill; Lorazepam, which is used to treat anxiety but can cause memory loss, dizziness or even hallucinations, and Valium, the highly addictive antidepressant. Lipitor, a cholestorol-lowering drug, can cause problems if not used correctly.
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