Internet Pharmacies

'Internet Pharmacy' is an extension of e-commerce in the pharmacy industry, whereby medicinal preparations are sold against orders placed on the Internet, instead of being bought at a conventional pharmacy, the so-called 'brick and mortar pharmacy'. Orders are solicited online from prospective customers through websites. Once these orders are received, they are downloaded and passed on to the suppliers, who may be based in different countries. The suppliers then source the drugs and execute the orders through courier parcels and pass on the tracking number of the individual parcels to the website operators. Payments are received online.

The Internet pharmacies have opened wide the doors to an unregulated system in which any person who has access to the Internet can buy any drug without a prescription for licit use or for abuse. Many pharmaceutical preparations which are advertised, ordered and bought using the Internet are controlled and strictly regulated (import, export and distribution) under laws of different countries. Such 'pharmacies' do not have any elements of examination by a doctor, or any prescription or the involvement of a pharmacist to vouch for the integrity of the medication. This is a dangerous circumvention of the safeguards which are in place to prevent drug abuse.

Some of the reasons for the spread of illicit Internet pharmacies are:

•    Limited access to healthcare facilities. Issues which are relevant include long distances to hospitals, short supply of drugs, unusual working hours of the patient, inability of the patient to move or a long waiting period to consult a doctor.
•    High cost of drugs. The Internet provides not only a mechanism for comparing costs but also sourcing the medicine from another part of the world where the medicine may be much cheaper.
•    The Internet provides privacy as there is no interaction with any doctor or pharmacist.
•    Lack of awareness. Individuals in various countries are not aware of the illicit nature of most of the Internet pharmacies and they may not be aware that their purchase is illegal.
•    Demand for drugs for abuse is easily met by ordering the preparations over the Internet.

There are many dangers inherent in the sale of medicinal preparations over the Internet. These include promotion of certain drugs using incorrect health claims, sale of fake or counterfeit drugs, sale of drugs without proper handling, packaging or transportation, sale of expired drugs, sale of non-specified drugs, commercial and credit card frauds and identity theft.

India has a huge pharmaceutical industry producing most drugs at a very competitive price. This attracts the traffickers to source such drugs from India. The most popular drugs sold over the Internet are anti-depressants and anxiety relieving drugs such as diazepam, lorazepam, alprazolam, etc.

Drug law enforcement agencies in India are aware of the dangers posed by illicit Internet pharmacies. The first case detected in the country wherein the Internet was being used to solicit orders and receiving payments was in the year 2002. Four persons connected with the case were arrested.

The next major case was detected in the year 2004 wherein in Chennai over 2.59 lakh tablets of various regulated drugs were seized. The persons involved were soliciting orders on the Internet and supplying the same through courier services to various customers spread all over the world, especially in the USA and UK.

In April 2005, in a joint operation with DEA, an illicit Internet pharmacy was busted in Agra and Jaipur. In this well coordinated operation, over 20 persons were arrested in India, USA and Costa Rica. Properties and cash over US$ 2 million in USA and US$ 4 million in India were seized. The mastermind of the illicit pharmacy was based in US who used to obtain orders through websites, Internet bulletins, chat rooms, e-mails and blogs. Orders were processed in India and packages were shipped in bulk to the USA, where they were supplied to individual customers as per their orders. All payments for the drugs were received over the net against credit cards.

In another operation in 2006, an illicit Internet pharmacy was busted in the city of Baroda in a well coordinated joint operation with DEA of the USA. Five persons were arrested in India and six arrests were made in USA. The Indian firm was supplying the drugs to customers in the USA.

In the month of February 2007, a software company in the city of Kolkata was identified, which was offering consultancy and total software solutions for illicit Internet transactions of pharmaceutical drugs. A BP° employing over 350 persons and operating 24/7 was also detected. The company, apart from software solutions, also looked after overseas financial transactions and investment of financial gains made. As part of the working of the company, complete secrecy was maintained within the company and information was available on a need to know basis. Digital signatures of over seven doctors were being misused in the process. The Managing Director of the company has been arrested.

Experience gained in tracking, busting and investigating of illicit Internet pharmacies points to the need for well coordinated and simultaneous action amongst the agencies since there are no paper trails, the financial transactions are instantaneous and the money transfers often involve complex banking channels.