Drug dealers are using the Internet to sell their drugs. Some people believe that ordering drugs on the Internet --- particularly prescription pharmaceuticals (pills) --- is a safe, legal and easy way to get high. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There are millions of websites offering drugs such as Vicodin™ and Xanax™ to Internet users. Spam messages to user’s emails advertise that these drugs are available with the click of a mouse and a credit card number. Many sites claim you don’t need a doctor’s prescription to buy these powerful drugs. And some ask you to fill out a bogus questionnaire to make their drug dealing look more legitimate. What you don’t know can really hurt you.

Here's a few things to be aware of:

• Selling or buying controlled substances without a legitimate doctor’s prescription is a violation of law.
• Many of the websites offering controlled substances are located overseas. Usually, there are no doctors involved in these enterprises. You have no idea where the drugs are made, what’s actually in them, or who’s behind the drug ring selling you controlled substances. This kind of a transaction is a felony (a violation of Sections 957 and 960 of Title 21, United States Code) --- very serious stuff.
• You might think that these pills come from a sterile factory overseas. Think twice: often these products are stored in trucks, cars, bathrooms, or homes with unsanitary conditions. Why would anyone put this in his or her body?
• People have died from taking controlled substances without a doctor’s prescription. Many of these pills were ordered over the Internet.

	Ryan Haight died from an overdose of Vicodin™ he ordered over the Internet. He was eighteen years old. Read more about Ryan and how his death has affected his family and friends. READ MORE>>
Jason Surks was nineteen when he died from an overdose of Xanax™. After his death, his parents discovered that he had been ordering controlled substances from an Internet pharmacy in Mexico. READ MORE>>

They say you don’t need a prescription, or that filling out a questionnaire will get you what you want. What they don’t tell you is that under either of those circumstances, ordering controlled substances such as Vicodin™ or Xanax™ over the web is against the law. READ MORE>>

“The websites we targeted today gave an illusion of safety and legitimacy, displaying photos depicting professional pharmacists in white lab coats in a sterile environment. But in fact, the drugs they marketed were smuggled from India and Europe and stashed in cars and homes, and stuffed in plastic bags. What arrived on customers’ doorsteps were drugs in the proverbial plain brown wrapper with unreadable labels, no dosage directions or warnings, and worse, sometimes with the wrong dose or even the wrong drug. “
– Administrator Karen Tandy, April 20, 2005