WNCN from Raleigh, North Carolina has featured a story highlighting the recent efforts of a partnership with CSIP to make residents of the state more aware of online pharmacy safety through VerifyBeforeYouBuy.org, a newly launched website which features a search tool where consumers can test their online pharmacy to learn whether it is safe or illegitimate.
The story reads in part:
“The FDA Believes 97 percent of pharmacies online are rogue pharmacies that are not what they say they are,” says North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall.
These rogue pharmacies use tactics like sending customers’ placebos and pills with minimal amounts of the active ingredient, as well as more directly harmful methods like sending pills containing toxic or otherwise dangerous components.
“If we stick a pill in our body, we expect it to do what the doctor wanted it to do,” says Marshall.
Marshall has taken a personal interest in the issue.
“I’ve talked to people who’ve had spouses unfortunately die from not receiving the right medicines,” Marshall said.
So how do you save money and get real drugs from a legit internet pharmacy?
North Carolina is now collaborating with the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies, a nonprofit founded with the goal of helping consumers keep themselves and their families safe by avoiding rogue pharmacies while purchasing medication online.
North Carolina is now the first state in the nation to offer an online verification website for internet pharmacies.