Over-priced drugs are driving people to "rogue" online pharmacies -- sometimes with deadly results

[marmar]

Over-priced drugs are driving people to "rogue" online pharmacies — sometimes with deadly results
The high cost of medications and a lack of health care access is driving a surge in shady online pharmacy sales

By ELIZABETH HLAVINKA
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 4, 2023 1:30PM (EST)


(Salon) When 14-year-old Alexander Neville got into a funk in June of 2020, his mother, Amy, figured it was a symptom of puberty. A global pandemic had just been declared, and she allowed Alexander to get on Snapchat so that he could stay in touch with friends, with whom hangouts fewer than six feet apart had been prohibited. It was a tough time to be a teenager.

....(snip).....

When Alexander told Amy he was acting differently because he was taking oxycodone obtained through someone on Snapchat and that it was starting to have a “hold on him,” she called a local treatment center the next day to try and get him seen by professionals who could help. But during the next 24 hours, while the center was putting together recommendations for him, Alexander took a pill that was contaminated with fentanyl, a powerful opioid, which caused him to fatally overdose.

....(snip)....

A growing number of people are ordering medication through illicit online sources, sometimes with fatal consequences. Last month, the FDA issued a statement warning against the dangers of potentially laced or fake drugs purchased from “rogue” online sources, claiming "Buying prescription drugs from rogue online pharmacies can be dangerous, or even deadly."

But there’s still a long way to go in apprehending illicit sellers, let alone tackling the root causes driving folks to the internet to buy medicine in the first place. The problems spurring people to self-diagnose and self-medicate stem from pharmaceutical price-gouging, drug shortages and an overall lack of medical access and stigma toward those who struggled with mental health or substance use. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/12/04/over-priced-are-driving-people-to-rogue-online-pharmacies--sometimes-with-results/

[Stargazer99]

1. Killing the poor and low income is what the well to do and rich want

the monied are perfectly happy with the problem

[area51]

2. "... let alone tackling the root causes...."

Let me make it easy for the salon reporters: the cause is the US's refusal to convert to universal healthcare, which would include negotiated drug prices.