Copyright 1999 Denver Publishing Company
DENVER
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
December 29, 1999, Wednesday
SECTION: Editorial; Ed. Final; Pg. 41A
LENGTH: 396 words
HEADLINE:
PRESCRIPTION FOR WEB SALES
BODY:
Online commerce
has grown so fast and furiously that it has, with the exception of a few stabs
at child pornography, largely escaped federal regulation. That may soon change.
The Clinton administration has unveiled a proposal to extensively
regulate and control the sale of prescription drugs over the
Internet. Like so much about the Internet, data and hard facts
about online sales of pharmaceuticals are sparse. The White House, however, is
convinced it is a problem:
''Unethical doctors can illegally prescribe
pills online to consumers they have never met in states where they are not
authorized to work. Unscrupulous, unlicensed pharmacies can ship pills across
state lines.'' As with other online transactions, the benefits of filling
prescriptions over the Internet are cost and convenience; the drawbacks are that
consumers cannot always be certain with whom they're dealing. The White House
says the unregulated sale puts buyers at risk from such hazards as contaminated
or outdated drugs, dangerous drug interactions and quack medicine.
Under
the Clinton plan, the Food and Drug Administration would, in effect, license
online pharmacies (coincidentally extending federal writ into an area previously
reserved exclusively to the states) and, backed by subpoena power, be able to
impose fines of up to $500,000 for infractions such as selling
drugs without a prescription. Online pharmacies would be required to be licensed
in all the states where they do business.
The White House is asking for
$10 million for the FDA to identify and prosecute
pharmaceutical Web sites that violate the new regulations.
The Clinton
plan must be approved by a Republican Congress that has been critical of the
FDA's performance and is philosophically skeptical, or at least claims to be, of
greater federal regulation.
The government has a legitimate interest in
the purity of drugs and the honesty of pharmaceutical transactions, and the
administration will have a chance to make its case that there are problems with
online drug sales and that this proposal is the best way of solving them.
But Congress should give this proposal great care and consideration for
another reason: It would be the first real precedent for federal regulation of
Internet commerce and likely the prototype for further regulation and, perhaps,
eventual taxation.
LOAD-DATE: December
30, 1999 
