Pubdate: Wed, 01 Jun 2005
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: James D. Zirin
Note: James D. Zirin is a lawyer in New York.

IT'S EASY TO GET HIGH IN CYBERSPACE

Law Enforcement Has Failed to Keep Pace With Rogue Drug Websites.

The illegal drug trade, one of the last free markets in the world, has 
taken to the Internet, where it is possible to buy prescription drugs 
without a prescription or consultation with a physician. All you need is a 
predilection to get high, and the drugs are virtually as easy to come by as 
candy.

According to a recent study, conducted by the Partnership for a Drug-Free 
America, there is a welcome decline in the use of Ecstasy by teens, with 
marijuana use holding steady. The alarming figures, however, concern the 
abuse of Vicodin, Oxycontin and other opiate-like painkillers that are 
offered online.

The Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found 
illicit sales of controlled prescription drugs were booming online. In one 
week last year, CASA investigators identified 495 "portal" websites 
offering dangerous and addictive opiates, central nervous system 
depressants (such as Valium) and stimulants on the federal list of 
controlled substances. These portal sites refer the potential consumer to 
separate "anchor" sites that do the selling. All you need do is type "buy" 
and the name of the desired drug into Google, click on the website with 
your credit card ready, and it's yours two days later in a plain, unmarked 
package. Of the selling sites located, 90% did not require a prescription 
or ask the buyer's age.

In the past, pushers met addicts in darkened hallways. Today, the pusher 
may be in Canada or elsewhere. It is as easy as buying a book on 
Amazon.com. Internet drug sites typically require only a shipping address 
and payment method to complete a sale. If you don't have a prescription, 
the seller will give you a free medical "consultation" online or, more 
typically, waive the requirement altogether. Some sites offer three 50 mg. 
codeine tablets free with the first purchase. Investigators found no sites 
offering heroin or cocaine, but some offered marijuana seeds, opium poppies 
and coca leaves. Controlled prescription drugs, when pulverized and 
snorted, can produce euphoric mind states similar to those associated with 
heroin and cocaine. Demand is high worldwide for controlled 
pharmaceuticals. They are the drug of choice for substance abusers who now 
find virtual access only a mouse click away.

The United Nations' drug watchdog, the Vienna-based International Narcotics 
Control Board, recently estimated that "billions of [doses of] controlled 
substances ... are being sold by unlicensed Internet pharmacies." The U.S. 
remains the largest market in the world for illegal drugs, with 8.2% of its 
population using them.

Like terrorists, drug peddlers have conscripted computer technology to work 
their nefarious deeds. Technology readily permits drug websites to go up, 
move or be taken down in a trice, making it all the easier to elude detection.

Last fall, the INCB warned that online pharmacies "are used as a source by 
drug addicts and provide the means for large-scale dealing to a practically 
unlimited number of customers."

In the United States, the Internet transcends state laws regulating 
prescription drugs, and the states cannot solve the online-sales problem 
without federal assistance.

The danger convinced the Clinton administration in its closing days that 
there was a need for new laws to meet the problem. In late December 1999, 
President Clinton proposed an initiative to protect consumers from the 
illegal sale of pharmaceuticals on the Internet. The measure would provide 
new requirements for Internet pharmacies to comply with laws relating to 
controlled substances and prescriptions, impose new civil penalties for 
violations, give broader investigative authority to federal agencies, and 
create an awareness campaign to alert the public to the dangers of buying 
prescription drugs online. But six years later, the measure is still 
pending, and while Congress dithers, the sales go on.

Although many may go to the Internet for legitimate, low-price prescription 
drugs, law enforcement has not kept pace with technology and has failed to 
weed out the rogue websites. Internet drug sales are a serious loophole in 
our enforcement policy. Strong legislation, vigorous enforcement and 
parental vigilance are necessary to extend the rule of law to cyberspace. 
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