DEA News: Congress Passes Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act

Bill now awaits Presidential signature.

(Vocus/PRWEB ) September 30, 2008 -- DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart today hailed Congressional access of the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2007, which addresses the problems of online decree biologic trafficking, abuse, and availability.

"Cyber-criminals illegally peddling controlled substances over the Internet accept invaded households and threatened America's adolescence for far too continued by bartering pharmaceuticals with a few clicks of a abrasion and a acclaim agenda number," Acting Administrator Leonhart said. "This battleground area of legislation will accompany rogue pharmacy operators out of the caliginosity by establishing a bright accepted for accepted online biologic sales. The legislation will acquiesce barter to apperceive they are accomplishing business with a trusted, accepted pharmacy, and accord law administration the accoutrement we charge to analyze adulterine online pharmacies."

Cyber-criminals illegally peddling controlled substances over the Internet accept invaded households and threatened America's adolescence for far too continued by bartering pharmaceuticals with a few clicks of a abrasion and a acclaim agenda number This battleground area of legislation will accompany rogue pharmacy operators out of the caliginosity by establishing a bright accepted for accepted online biologic sales. The legislation will acquiesce barter to apperceive they are accomplishing business with a trusted, accepted pharmacy, and accord law administration the accoutrement we charge to analyze adulterine online pharmacies. This legislation acknowledgment the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in the afterward key respects:

1. Face-to-face claim for prescribing: The Act prohibits dispensing controlled substances via the Internet after a "valid prescription." For a decree to be valid, it have to be issued for a accepted medical purpose in the accepted advance of able practice, acceptation that, with bound exceptions, a doctor have to conduct at atomic one in-person medical appraisal of the patient.

This accouterment would abode the primary abuse acquired by rogue Internet pharmacies: dispensing controlled substances on a ample calibration after a accepted medical purpose. Rogue Internet pharmacies about accomplish with breath accord of an arrant doctor who agreeably issues prescriptions to "patients" throughout the country whom the doctor never sees and after a preexisting bona fide doctor-patient relationship.

2. Endorsement requirement: The Act requires an endorsement from DEA afore a pharmacy could allocate controlled substances via the Internet. This endorsement would supplement the absolute allotment a pharmacy holds for its brick-and-mortar operation, and acquiesce law administration to acutely analyze internet sites area controlled substances can be sold.

Currently, calm rogue Internet pharmacies are about supplied by DEA-registered brick-and-mortar pharmacies. Typically, these brick-and-mortar pharmacies accept little or no applicant barter and do a lot of or all of their business via rogue Internet sites. In some instances, bent organizations acquisition accepted "mom and pop" brick-and-mortar pharmacies and acquirement them, again use them for just a few months as a supplier to rogue Internet operations, again airing abroad from the pharmacy afterwards demography in abundant cash.

Rather than try to block all online biologic sales, the Ryan Haight Act will put online biologic sales on an according authoritative basement with those sales through a brick-and-mortar facility. The act requires an endorsement of an absolute allotment to acquiesce absolute pharmacies to advertise controlled substances online. This agency law administration will be able to anxiously analyze all applications for such allotment and be able to calmly abstracted accepted and adulterine Internet operations.

3. Enhanced penalties for agenda III through V: The Ryan Haight Act will enhance penalties for unlawfully dispensing controlled substances in schedules III through V. These added penalties would administer appropriately to all actionable distributors and dispensers of controlled substances (not just those who do so by agency of the Internet).

Criminals are acquainted of the low penalties associated with Schedule III and Schedule IV substances, and about burden from affairs agenda II substances. Hence, to accommodate a aboveboard bridle area adulterous administration is a lot of prominent, the Act increases the approved best penalties applicative to the actionable administration of Schedule III and IV controlled substances as follows:

 

Schedule III: Maximum book for aboriginal offenders from 5 years to 10 yearsMaximum book for additional offenders from 10 years to 20 years
Schedule IV: Maximum book for aboriginal offenders from 3 years to 5 yearsMaximum book for additional offenders from 6 years to 10 years
Schedule V:   Maximum book for additional offenders from 2 years to 6 years
These changes to best penalties administer to all actionable distributions, not just those occurring over the internet.

4. Prohibition on bartering actionable sales: The Ryan Haight Act will accomplish it a abomination to use the Internet to acquaint the actionable auction of a controlled actuality by agency of the Internet.

5. Requirement that Internet pharmacies column assertive advice on their Web sites: The Ryan Haight Act will crave online pharmacies to column accurate advice about their location, identity, and licensure of the pharmacy, pharmacists and prescribers, and states in which they are accustomed to convenance pharmacy.

This accouterment would abetment law administration in investigating online pharmacies and should aswell accommodate some bridle adjoin contravention (by reminding online pharmacies of their acknowledged duties).

6. State Cause of Action: The Ryan Haight Act will accord the Attorney General of anniversary accompaniment the adeptness to accompany a noncombatant action in a federal commune cloister to adjure the accomplishments of an online pharmacy or being which/who is operating in abuse of this statute. To accompany such an action, the accompaniment have to accept served above-mentioned accounting apprehension on the Attorney General of the United States, giving the Attorney General the befalling to arbitrate in the litigation.

This accouterment would advice ensure that accompaniment and federal administration authorities can plan in affiliation with anniversary added and that alone states are able to crop able administration action. Under accepted law, a accompaniment Attorney General's administration ascendancy adjoin an online pharmacy is bound to the geographic boundaries of that state, which causes cogent challenges if a case involves actionable action over the Internet.