Buying Foreign Drugs Can Be Dangerous

With the economic recession people have been looking for ways to save money and some have even resorted to visiting Mexican and Canadian pharmacies to buy prescription drugs.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not recommend that people buy their drugs from Canadian pharmacies however, according to the Arizona Republic.

Some Arizona residents have taken to crossing the border to get their prescriptions, a practice that one pharmacist in east Mesa, Arizona, says can be dangerous.

Tricia Patterson runs a medication-management clinic at Banner Baywood Medical Center and said some medications bought in foreign countries can be dangerous and urges people to buy their drugs from local pharmacies.

Patterson also told the news source that she is seeing more patients using high-risk drugs obtained from foreign pharmacies.

“We’ve had to put them back on American brands to get (the right) effect,” she said of some patients who took drugs from Canadian pharmacies.

Americans should be sure to get their medication from a reputable place such as licensed brick and mortar pharmacy or an online pharmacy that has been certified by the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites, or VIPPS, program . Use legitscript.com to verify your pharmacies legitimacy.