News



Bill would regulate online drugs

Weaver a co-sponsor of House legislation

By JOHN FRIEDLEIN

Anybody with a credit card and a modem can order an array of controlled substances, including the potentially lethal painkiller OxyContin.

To help stem the flow of pills from rogue, online pharmacies, state Rep. Mike Weaver, D-Radcliff, is co-sponsoring a bill that would ban shipments to shoppers without a prescription.

Attorney General Greg Stumbo proposed the legislation.

"This bill would require Internet pharmacies to be highly controlled," said Vicki Glass, a spokeswoman for Stumbo's office. "Right now they're not."

Sgt. Billy Edwards with the Greater Hardin County Narcotics Task Force said he has not run across any controlled substances that users had bought online. Neither had his boss, Wayne Edwards, a longtime state trooper.

However, both Glass and Weaver said this is a statewide problem.

Out of 157 Internet sites selling prescription drugs in January 2004, about 90 percent did not require a prior doctor's visit, Glass said. "Basically, people can call one of these online drug pushers and say �my knee hurts.'"

Many of the sites offer drugs for customers who simply fill out a questionnaire, which, according to the Food and Drug Administration, "does not provide sufficient information for a health care professional to determine if that drug is for you or safe to use, if another treatment is more appropriate, or if you have an underlying medical condition where using that drug may be harmful."

Offering drugs without a prescription is already a violation of federal law.

The Kentucky proposal would require online pharmacies who ship to Kentucky to get a permit from the state Board of Pharmacy and comply with a prescription drug tracking system.

The post office and package companies could verify a company's legitimacy by checking a return address and seal on a package. That means law enforcement agents will work in cooperation with shipping operations.

Carrier safety is also a concern. A Teamster representative reported that UPS drivers face an increasing threat of robbery, Glass said.

"People know they've got Internet drugs on their trucks," she said.

"There's an insatiable need for drugs such as OxyContin," according to Weaver, who planned to file the legislation Monday. "Anyone old enough to operate a keyboard or use a telephone can describe symptoms that will allow them to get the drugs they want without ever having a face-to-face visit with a doctor. Those drugs are then shipped by UPS or FedEx as if it's legitimate."

In addition to the package verification system, the statute would require a toll-free number for patients to consult with a pharmacist, certification from a national pharmacy board and would forbid any prescription given with-out a physical examina-tion within six months.

Shippers charged with violating the statute would serve five to 10 years in prison. If the drugs hurt or kill somebody, the sentence would be bumped up to 10-20 years.

Authorities would not charge those who planned to receive the shipment under the new law, Glass said. They would lose their order, though.

The legislation would not affect those with prescriptions who legitimately order over the Internet.

To determine if an online pharmacy is in good standing, visit the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy at www.nabp.net.

John Friedlein can be reached at 769-1200, Ext. 237, or e-mail him at jfriedlein@thenews enterprise.com.


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Wow, five to ten years for carriers who deliver meds. Think anyone is going to risk that? I don't think so.

Angela (ghost)

No, not 10 years for the carrier.. as I understand it. I think 'shippers' refers to the pharmacy that ships the meds without a prescription registered with KASPER, not the carrier.

The thing that frustrates me most with these articles and news clips is the oxycontin references... these are ALREADY illegal to buy online. I haven't had enough coffee yet to really gather a good sorted group of thoughts on this. I will surely be watching it closely, and researching it as we intend to return to central KY in 3-4 years.

- HC

The problem I have with these types of laws is: 1) They are very intrusive of one's privacy, legitimate or not; 2) It grants government powers that when enforced will usually be more draconian than first thought; 3) The premise for passage of such legislation is based on the false boogey-man of "Oxycontin" sales; and, 4) How many delivery people have been robbed or threatened and of all the packages they deliver, what really small portion is really prescription drugs. I bet probably most of the time shippers have none of them on board. It is another straw man.
PB

Where?
Is the article saying that anyone old enough to operate a keyboard or use a telephone can describe symptoms that will allow them to get the Oxycontin they want without ever having a face-to-face visit with a doctor?

Maybe they know something we do not know!
Is there anyone on this board that knows how to do that?

Is the idea to scare people with Oxycontin to get more funds and power to pass laws that restrict other prescription drugs?

I totally agree and as far as I know based on many posts here and elsewhere regarding finding oxy online it simply does not exist / appear anywhere on any nrop or rop site i've seen or heard of. I don't think they know anything they we don't , i'd really like to see one example of this , or else they are simply using a false statement to pass a law that isn't going to help correct the oxy problem, so IMHO they should be focusing on where that med is actually coming from since it's obviously not from internet orders, as far as I can tell. Therefore , it seems they are wasting time / money focusing on a problem they don't even have the source of , causing further pain and suffering for us CP'rs while still not correcting the real problems. why ?

Right. They take the most heard about drug, oxycontin, that has been related to several deaths, not ordered on-line

and then lump it and try to associate it with being able to get it on-line, as use that as a reason for justifying banning all efforts to buy less potent pain killers.

If its the oxycontin that their concerned about, go after that.

don't try to associate all the other drugs with it.

Thats like saying because someone died of a herion overdose...lets go after the guy who smokes marijuana

you can't buy oxycontin on-line, why do they say you can?

If they would be honest about the story up-front, and stop trying to scare people using a more dangerous drug as the reason to restrict the less potent drugs that have a legitamate place in our society, people would be more educated.

Oxycontin CAN NOT be obtained unless you go through an IOP!!! This is just a scare tactic to frighten the public! It's sad really that us CP'ers will have to be the ones to suffer.

No CII drugs can be legally obtained without prescription from a face-to-face - including Oxycotin. It is already illegal so the law makes no sense if referring to Oxy. It's just the usual "Reefer madness" approach to a problem. This law would apparently also make Wilford Brimley an accessory for touting diabetes drugs on TV. Very strange indeed.

- Gekko

I agree. Buying OxyContin on line, or the ability to in any way, shape, or form, with or withoout records, is IMPOSSIBLE. Either the "journalist" who wrote that article got told to write that, or like someone above mentioned, OxyContin is such a BAD WORD that everyone will support a bill that supposedly helps curb its use and/or distribution, especially in an area so affected by it.

I'm not surprised by the wording, though. It is not unlike the FDA, law enforcement, or media to lie to gain public support.

I have to disagree with the comparison you made with Heroin & marijuana. Oxycontin is an opiate as is hydrocodone. If you take enough Hydrocodone at one time it can be the same effect as Oxy. They are both in the exact same family. Heroin & marjuana are not even close. If you crush Oxy up it will release at once, this is the problem with it. Please do not say that a person can not become addicted to hydro as easily as Oxy. They both are both very addictive.

It wasn't me that said a person cannot become addicted to hydro as oxy...

I understand what you are saying, herion vs. marijuana...bad comparision.

You understand where I was going with it though...

If a person overdoses from Oxy, and it makes the news and the media picks up on it...Im saying they put their own twist to the story and throw in the word hydrocodone and its availability on-line, detracting from the original drug that caused the od...people twist the story and the next thing you hear from someone else is..A person died from vicodin they bought on-line through a questionare...see what I mean?

To much of any drug can harm you.

If a person was shot outside a bar...don't report that they were stabbed in front of a restaurant.

Hey, I am not trying to take this to far but do not think for one minute that no one has died from an overdose of hydro bought on-line. I guarantee you someone has. I am not saying that this should prohibit access but hydro is the most abused drug in the U.S. It is a silent killer for many that enter the depths of abuse, It needs very tight controls. It is a very seductive drug.
Note: I am over 3 weeks clean of a bad hydro addiction. I just want people to be protected from the abuse from easy availability on the internet. I fully understand that it is free choice of every person to abuse but we have to keep this availabilty options from teenagers. They can order from NROP at will. We ahve got to end this !!!!

Hey, I understand what your saying and agree with it.

I was referring to a story about an oxycontin overdose, and reporting it as something other, leading people to beleive that a different drug caused it. I know its just as dangerous and the same type of opiate, and could happen with either drug.

I just don't like the fact that stories get reported wrong, and it comes to pass as it being truth, thats how laws get erroneously passed by fear tactics. Its not the way to go about it.

If the Attorney General wants to ban or stop the import of hydrocodone into Kentucky through internet pharmacys, say it, don't tell people that have heard horror stories about one drug and make em think its all drugs in the same family that do the same thing at the same doseage, a 5/500 hydro is not the equvilent of a 20 or 40 mg oxycontin, thats what Im talking about.

They are not being clear and up front when it comes to reporting stories exactly as it happened

If I told somebody that their 5 year old could buy oxycontin on-line with only a questionare, that would not be truthful, however it may be easier to buy a less potent drug, with possibly the same effects in a larger dose on-line, still as potentially dangerous, but not the same drug, its a case of misleading intentionally,by trying to get something done, that may and should be done, regardless of the outcome, thats all.

Just a little correction Bossman, I am not picking bones with you as your posts are usually on the money, but.. alcohol is the number one abused drug across America. I can get in my car, drive down the street, go through the drive through (not even have to get out.. ain't that convenient), buy a bottle of liqueur with a high enough alcohol content to either kill or comatose myself if I so chose to do so. Alcohol, is responsible for 1 of 4 drug related deaths across the country, either directly or indirectly.

However:

Quote:

---

... more money is spent promoting the use of alcohol than that of any other�product. Perhaps through its elaborate and creative marketing, the most basic, yet important fact about alcohol is often overlooked alcohol is a drug the most commonly used and widely abused psychoactive drug in the�world.

---

- as quoted from the GDCACA Home Page.

I am not arguing that 13 year old kids should be able to get online and order whatever they want, but there are already checks in place to prevent this from happening; such as you must be 21 years of age and sign for this delivery. I have NEVER been asked for my ID when receiving a delivery from an OP.. and it says right in the front of the package... 21 year old signature required. My point is, by attacking the OP industry via the use of fear, while over looking a nice pocket lining industry such as that of the alcohol industry (how many Bud Light commercials did we see during the Super bowl?) is political rhetoric.

For more information on drugs of abuse and addiction research: NIDA: National Institute for Drug Abuse

- HC