"No Prescription? No Problem Online"

[GreenPartyVoter]

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Drug shipments from illegal online pharmacies were once so frequent in Appalachia that delivery companies had to add trucks to their routes.

Police have cracked down on such deliveries, but are still confronted by a booming global network of so-called rogue pharmacies operating online.

For people addicted to prescription medications like the painkiller hydrocodone - sold mostly as Vicodin - the days of "doctor shopping" are over, as long as they have Internet access. With the help of unscrupulous doctors and pharmacists, hundreds of Web sites dispense prescription narcotics to customers in exchange for nothing more than a credit card number.

Even as law enforcement agencies and state governments respond, rogue pharmacies continue to grow, filling hundreds of prescriptions a day, according to a recent study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20070823/D8R6M4580.html