Copyright 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
January 10, 2000, Monday, FIVE STAR LIFT
EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL, Pg. E8
LENGTH: 339 words
HEADLINE:
CYBER SNAKE OIL
BODY:
THE
INTERNET
PRESCRIPTION drugs are dangerous. In the hands
of the wrong people, in the wrong dosage, in the wrong combination with other
medications or physical conditions, drugs that help us fight disease or pain can
kill. The danger posed by 400 Internet sites selling drugs without a
prescription from the patient's physician is staggering. Many of these sites
hire doctors willing to prescribe powerful drugs based on no more than a medical
history form filled out on-line. Not surprisingly, drugs have been prescribed
for minors, dead people and pets. Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has
conducted sting operations in which a pregnant woman using a man's name was
given a prescription for a baldness drug known to cause birth defects. Another
woman obtained a presc ription for Viagra. The anti-impotence drug, along with
medications for baldness and weight control, are popular cyber sales because
patients can avoid the embarrassment of talking face-to-face. But all three of
these drugs can be dangerous for certain people. For others, drugs may not harm
them, but they may be prescribed and sold unnecessarily. Often there is a
patient on-line in one state, a Web site in another state and a prescribing
physician in yet another. President Bill Clinton has offered a sensible plan to
close the loophole that allows on-line pharmacies to operate without the
approval and safeguards the Food and Drug Administration requires of
brick-and-mortar pharmacies.
On-line drugs are often cheaper, and the
convenience is a welcome develo pment for the elderly and those who are either
too ill or live too far away to easily get to a pharmacy. But as we know from
other incidents, the Internet is a haven for predators.
Illinois already
has passed model legislation that requires state regist ration and approval of
mail-order pharmacies that ship drugs into the state. Mr. Nixon has taken some
out-of-state purveyors to court. But the Missouri Legislature should act quickly
to enact laws similar to Illinois'.
LOAD-DATE: January
10, 2000 
