11:34 AM PST on Tuesday, March 2, 2004

By JIM KLOCKOW / KING5.com

AP

Like many other purchases made on the Web, it's buyer beware when it comes to prescription drugs. But getting your prescriptions online doesn't have to be a crap shoot.

For those who buy drugs online for convenience, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Web site offers tips for consumers. These include avoiding online pharmacies that promise to dispense drugs without a prescription and checking to see that the pharmacy is legitimate.

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy has established the VIPPS (Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Site) program to help consumers who want to buy from online from pharmacies in the U.S.

But the Food and Drug Administration also warns consumers against buying from pharmacies outside the U.S., a practice that is becoming increasingly popular as a way to save money. Drug prices in neighboring Canada can be as much as 80 percent compared to the cost of drugs bought inside U.S. borders.

On top of that, the FDA says it cannot guarantee the safety of imported drugs, and a 2003 law dealing with Medicare sealed the deal by making the practice of importing prescription drugs illegal for states and individuals.

But the truth is that pharmacies in Canada are held to standards very similar to those in the U.S.

The result is that several states and cities have begun openly defying the ban or finding ways around it.

Wisconsin and Minnesota have both set up Web sites that link up residents with Canadian pharmacies for online purchases.

In fact, as many as 20 states, from Alabama to Vermont, are considering creating laws to allow importing drugs from Canada in 2004. An effort to do the same in Washington State appears to have died in the State Senate this year.

Rep. Geoff Simpson. D-Covington, sponsored the bill and says that if it dies in the legislature, he will ask Gov. Locke to set up the Web site anyway.

"We know that Washington residents are buying drugs online," Simpson said.

So how can people who want to buy from a Canadian pharmacy reduce their risk?

Minnesota and Wisconsin strike out ahead

Minnesota and Wisconsin have identified three pharmacies between them that they feel safe enough to point their residents to:

• Granville Pharmacy in Vancouver, B.C. (onlinecanadianpharmacy.com),
• Total Care Pharmacy in Calgary, Alberta (crossborderpharmacy.com) and
• Canadadrugs.com in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The Web site for Vermont Rep. Bernie Sanders, a vocal advocate for allowing citizens to get cheaper prescriptions from Canada, offers tips and some links for consumers who want to travel across the boarder to get prescriptions.

Two other organizations have also jumped in with efforts to help U.S. consumers differentiate legitimate from bogus online drug sellers:

• The Canadian International Pharmacy Association, a private group begun about a year and a half ago provides a seal that its members can use to assure consumers that they are licensed by the provincial authorities. CIPA Vice President Andy Troszok advises consumers to go one step further and call the licensing authorities, known as pharmacy colleges, to get another measure of assurance about a Canadian pharmacy they would like to deal with. Troszok says that there are now 35 online Canadian pharmacies that carry the seal, but they account for about 85 percent of the prescriptions drug volume going to the United States.
• The Internet and Mail Order Pharmacy Accreditation Commission seeks to take CIPA's effort one step further by evaluating not just Canadian pharmacies. To date, the group has given its accreditation to just one pharmacy: Canadadrugs.com