Users of pharmacyreviewer.com who wish to purchase non-controlled substances over the internet should be aware of whether they are breaking the law by doing so. The short answer is they are probably not. Non-controlled substances make up the majority of internet purchases, they include most drugs which do not have an obvious potential for recreational abuse, including, antidepressants, antibiotics, viagra etc., hair loss drugs, antiviral drugs, basically almost everything except some sleeping pills, some powerful painkillers, slimming drugs and steroids. For more information check out the full list on the DEA’s website.

The sale of non-controlled substances is regulated by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act. This makes it an offense for a pharmacist or other company or individual to dispense non-controlled substances without a prescription. Under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act dispensing of medicines without a prescription is called “misbranding” and carries criminal penalties for the dispensing pharmacist. It does not, to my knowledge, make it an offence for consumers to buy noncontrolled substances without a prescription. I am unaware of any cases of citizens being prosecuted for buying non-controlled substances over the Internet, and considering that the only cases where citizens are prosecuted for buying controlled substances over the Internet seem to involve anabolic steroids (and even they are rare) it's pretty unlikely that there have been any cases of citizens being prosecuted for contravention of any law for buying noncontrolled medicines for delivery to, or within, the US. The emphasis of all these laws is on prosecuting the distributors of medicines, not on prosecuting consumers. This can be witnessed most clearly in the language of the Ryan Haight Pharmacy Protection Act, (which is an amendment to the Controlled Substances Act and so does not appear to affect non-controlled substance transactions.) The Ryan Haight Act’s emphasis is all on raising the penalties for the distribution of controlled substances, it says nothing directly, from my reading, about penalties for consumers, and certainly not for consumers of noncontrolled medicines in the US. So, after April 15th 2009, it appears that consumers will be able to continue buying noncontrolled substances for delivery to, or within, the US. The only difference will be that websites selling noncontrolled substances , which are based in the US, are required to inform the government of their address, and display an acknowledgement of their legal status on the website. There is no sign yet however there are many online pharmacies have made plans to implement this. In summary, the buying of noncontrolled medicines on the Internet by US citizens is likely to continue as normal for the foreseeable future.

Further reading: http://internetdruglaw.com/2009/01/29/noncontrolled-substances-internet-pharmacy-law/

- Jack A. Wilson, 13th February 2009

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