Illegal Narcotics Sold Online By Bangkok Pharmacy

[george]

Illegal narcotics sold online by Bangkok pharmacy

Original story and video clip

It's the newest battle in the war against drugs and perhaps the toughest challenge yet. The online sale of potent painkillers without a doctor's prescription.

For abusers, getting the drugs is as easy as a click of the mouse.

For law enforcement, it's a difficult task chasing drug dealers through cyber space.

Just how easy is it to get these drugs illegally over the internet?

You're about to find out but this story comes with a warning.

If we were able to do it, so could your kid.

You want Vicodin, Percoset, even Oxycontin? Just search the web. There are dozens of web sites offering to sell those powerful, and addictive drugs, without a prescription.

One site even saying up front "we cannot verify your prescription, therefore it is useless for us to ask for it." And that alarms the director of the Connecticut Department of Drug Control.

"We view it as a very serious problem. It's accessible to anyone who has had access to the internet that would include children," says John Gadea.

Pharmacies like the one at Yale New Haven Hospital are so careful about securing narcotics, they keep them locked up in a vault. So the idea of being able to order narcotics over the internet is scary to those who work here.

"The reasons these and other medications are so tightly controlled in this country is because of the danger they represent to patients who are unaware of the effects of these medications. it's a huge risk if these medications get into the wrong hands," says Lisa Stump, Yale New Haven Hospital.

And how do you know what you're getting? We wanted to find out. So we went to "Interpharm.cc," an on-line pharmacy out of Thailand, offering a wide variety of pain killers.

We ordered beprenorphine which the company claims is similar to the narcotic Vicodin for a hundred bucks. A week later, we received this non discript blue envelope from Thailand inside a birthday card.

"You have a good reason to dance all night, it says."

And taped to the card, a plastic bag of 50 tablets with only vague instructions about dosage.

"This is clearly not packaged in any way that helps you know what you've purchased and understand how you take this," says Stump.

We asked Yale New Haven Hospital pharmacist Lisa Stump to test the tablets.

"It showed a direct match."

"The medication you purchased is a very potent pain medication that also has a side effects of causing euphoria or hallucinations."

So yes, we got a potent drug but despite the company's claim Stump says it's not similar to Vicodin. And that, experts say can cause huge problems.

"You may be allergic to this product not really knowing what's in the product," says Gadea.

Ordering drugs over the internet is not only dangerous, it's illegal but very tough to stop.

"Is this a difficult challenge for law enforcement?"

"Well it's extremely difficult," says Gadea.

After all, the drugs are mailed in plain packages by internet company's hard to locate.

Computers servers may be in one country, company owners in another. But the drugs they're peddling are very real and very dangerous.

"Narcotics can cause your breathing rate to slow down in some cases to the point of death so an overdose of that substance can be fatal," says Stump.

We contacted Interpharm and asked if they had any concerns about youngsters buying drugs from them.

In an e-mailed response they said they "will consider asking the age" of those purchasing drugs but "so far" it "considers the payment process difficult enough to keep out non adults.

Source: WTNH

[sabaijai]

Sloppy reporting. It's not interpharm.com but interpharm.cc ...

[george]

Thanks for heads up, I corrected the original article.

[Never Never land]

what has this to do with Thailand visa.com? Nothing new on the visa?

[Agent_005]

Illegal narcotics sold online by Bangkok pharmacy

Original story and video clip

It's the newest battle in the war against drugs and perhaps the toughest challenge yet. The online sale of potent painkillers without a doctor's prescription.

For abusers, getting the drugs is as easy as a click of the mouse.

For law enforcement, it's a difficult task chasing drug dealers through cyber space.

Just how easy is it to get these drugs illegally over the internet?

You're about to find out but this story comes with a warning.

If we were able to do it, so could your kid.

You want Vicodin, Percoset, even Oxycontin? Just search the web. There are dozens of web sites offering to sell those powerful, and addictive drugs, without a prescription.

One site even saying up front "we cannot verify your prescription, therefore it is useless for us to ask for it." And that alarms the director of the Connecticut Department of Drug Control.

"We view it as a very serious problem. It's accessible to anyone who has had access to the internet that would include children," says John Gadea.

Pharmacies like the one at Yale New Haven Hospital are so careful about securing narcotics, they keep them locked up in a vault. So the idea of being able to order narcotics over the internet is scary to those who work here.

"The reasons these and other medications are so tightly controlled in this country is because of the danger they represent to patients who are unaware of the effects of these medications. it's a huge risk if these medications get into the wrong hands," says Lisa Stump, Yale New Haven Hospital.

And how do you know what you're getting? We wanted to find out. So we went to "Interpharm.cc," an on-line pharmacy out of Thailand, offering a wide variety of pain killers.

We ordered beprenorphine which the company claims is similar to the narcotic Vicodin for a hundred bucks. A week later, we received this non discript blue envelope from Thailand inside a birthday card.

"You have a good reason to dance all night, it says."

And taped to the card, a plastic bag of 50 tablets with only vague instructions about dosage.

"This is clearly not packaged in any way that helps you know what you've purchased and understand how you take this," says Stump.

We asked Yale New Haven Hospital pharmacist Lisa Stump to test the tablets.

"It showed a direct match."

"The medication you purchased is a very potent pain medication that also has a side effects of causing euphoria or hallucinations."

So yes, we got a potent drug but despite the company's claim Stump says it's not similar to Vicodin. And that, experts say can cause huge problems.

"You may be allergic to this product not really knowing what's in the product," says Gadea.

Ordering drugs over the internet is not only dangerous, it's illegal but very tough to stop.

"Is this a difficult challenge for law enforcement?"

"Well it's extremely difficult," says Gadea.

After all, the drugs are mailed in plain packages by internet company's hard to locate.

Computers servers may be in one country, company owners in another. But the drugs they're peddling are very real and very dangerous.

"Narcotics can cause your breathing rate to slow down in some cases to the point of death so an overdose of that substance can be fatal," says Stump.

We contacted Interpharm and asked if they had any concerns about youngsters buying drugs from them.

In an e-mailed response they said they "will consider asking the age" of those purchasing drugs but "so far" it "considers the payment process difficult enough to keep out non adults.

Source: WTNH

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

intresting article, but you need to mention that all of those links are generally MISLEADING, if anyone was to provide a legitimate source it would be removed quickly... just a little FYI

[dr_Pat_Pong]

what has this to do with Thailand visa.com? Nothing new on the visa?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The pills were allegedly mailed from Thailand.

[stroll]

"beprenorphine" is an opoid type drug, information about it is readily available on the internet. People searching for websites to order it are equally capable to find specific information about it. I'd say people looking for these drugs are not 'patients', but recreational users who are wellinformed about the variety of prescription meds and their uses.

So the argument of danger because people don't know what they order goes out of the window. The fact that it's illegal makes it dangerous to suppliers and consumers, but unlike street variety substances, these meds generally are of certified quality and packaged in a way that even an unknowledgable teenager cannot harm themselves from taking a singular unit.

Whether these presciption medicines should be available to the general public is a different issue, I suggest the answer may well be in the fact that a doctor's precription is required, in some instances only hospitals have lisence to suspend.

[astral]

The pills were allegedly mailed from Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So much for that Thai and US customs procedures.

I thought with all the hoo haa about Homeland security the US would be

checking incoming mail a little more carefully?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The pills were allegedly mailed from Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So much for that Thai and US customs procedures.

I thought with all the hoo haa about Homeland security the US would be

checking incoming mail a little more carefully?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You'd think that they were on top of it by now wouldn't you ?