http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2012/12/state_fines_online_pharmacy_wi.html
State fines online pharmacy with Portland ties, Oregon shipments blocked
From the article:
Since 2004, the 35-year-old Portland businessman, Hayden Hamilton, has shipped medicine from India and other countries to customers in the United States and around the world. But he agreed last week not to sell drugs in Oregon, after the state Board of Pharmacy fined him $50,000 for operating without an Oregon pharmacy license and other violations.
The Oregon pharmacy board also fined a Tigard-based online pharmacy this summer. Such actions are not unusual for state boards, according to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
For most medicines, Hamilton requires only a photo of a pill bottle label–even if it says “no refills.” He says his customers are adults: they shouldn’t need to go to a doctor to refill a prescription.
Does this action have anything to do with the fact that the Oregon BOP has a new head/exec of the board… who just came from a regional pharmacy chain where he was a REAL – LIVE practicing Pharmacist?
Since the article indicated that Hamilton ships prescriptions to “customers” in the United States… where is the other 50 BOP’s, NABP and the FDA?
Filed under: General Problems
Read the comments in the linked article. Appears there’s some of a grassyroots base that supports purchase of drugs wherever they’re available.
Personally, I did not know that fining someone in the US would impact internet sales, as I assumed that both the middleman and source of the drug were overseas. And, not Indian drugstores with some Oxford-educated dude with multi-million start-up entrepreneurial ambitions extending from sapphire-edged razorblades to green jobs to finding cheaper alternatives to the domestically pedigreed products for his sick relatives..
The Oregon BOP may just be leading the way to restoring sanity to an out of control profession. If only other state BOPs would grow a pair!