Online medicines sale
Online shopping is on the rise. We buy practically everything – from shoes, clothes, perfumes, through necessities, or even medicines. How to verify that a particular website is the actual website of a pharmacy and not just an imitation of a pharmacy? Where to buy medicines online? Why is it better to avoid uncertain sources?
Pharmacies can operate online only if they also run an actual stationary pharmacy. It means that it is impossible for a business to run an online pharmacy without having a stationary pharmacy.
What is more, you can buy only certain types of medicines over the Internet. First of all, you cannot remotely buy products subject to medical prescription. You can order such a medicine over the Internet, but you still must collect it at a stationary pharmacy, where the pharmacist will ask you for a prescription.
In 2014, the European Commission introduced a common logo. It allows identifying pharmacies that can legally sell medicines online.
The aim of the common logo is to help you check whether a particular website offering medicines is operated legally.
The common logo is recognised within the entire European Union and looks like that:
Under the common logo, there is the flag of a Member State. It specifies the place of residence or registered office of the entity offering medicinal products online. Beside the flag, there is a message in the language of the country, which instructs to left-click the common logo.
The Polish common logo looks like that:
After clicking the above logo on a website, you should be redirected to the entry of the particular pharmacy in the Pharmacy Register. The Pharmacy Register is a place where particular Voivodeship Pharmaceutical Inspectorates enter data relating to pharmacies operating in the market. The presence of a pharmacy in the register confirms its legitimacy and guarantees that it is duly approved.
If you cannot find such a common logo as the one described above on a particular website or clicking a sign resembling the common logo does not redirect you to the Pharmacy Register, do not make any purchases on that website. Such purchases could be extremely risky because this means the entity is operating illegally.
Buying medicines from an entity that operates illegally can lead to the following risks:
1. The medicine will not work, as entities operating illegally may, for example, sell any substance as medicine;
2. The medicine will be harmful, as entities operating illegally may, for example, sell expired or improperly stored medicines;
3. The medicine will induce a serious disease, as entities operating illegally may, for example, sell falsified medicines with unknown quality and action;
4. The medicine will cause addiction, as entities operating illegally may, for example, sell strongly addictive drugs on purpose;
5. The medicine will cause a mental disease, as entities operating illegally may, for example, sell substances recalled due to their negative impact on human mental health;
6. The medicine will cause death, as entities operating illegally may, for example, sell poisonous substances or medicines that you should not take for health-related reasons.
Do not take risks when it comes to your health. It is better to buy medicines where you can be sure of their legal origin.