"By confronting the safety issues associated with online drug access," the Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act "is a big step in the right direction ... but it needs to go much further" and "require online pharmacies to be certified so customers can recognize which pharmacies are legitimate," Bryan Liang, executive director of the Institute of Health Law Studies at California Western School of Law, writes in an opinion piece in The Hill (Liang, The Hill, 9/14). The bill (S 3834), sponsored by Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), would prohibit the online sale of prescription drugs and controlled substances without a valid prescription. In addition, the legislation would, among other provisions, establish criminal penalties for the unlawful dispensation of prescription drugs and allow the federal government to seize property used illegally by online pharmacies (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/7). Liang writes that the bill is inadequate because many "unscrupulous online businesses will sell whatever to whomever, as long as they are paid." Such online pharmacies market counterfeit medications to "vulnerable patient populations, including the elderly and minorities," who "don't know they are not getting the real thing," Liang writes. He adds that "these online drug peddlers feast upon an ever increasing demand" for "drugs of abuse" sought by a "distressing ... bulk of new abusers ... in the 12- to 17-year-old age range." According to Liang, the legislation should include a provision that would require online pharmacies to obtain Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites accreditation from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy or accreditation through some other program. He concludes, "Strong, targeted regulatory means must be used to ensure that criminal drug dealers cannot use the Internet to exploit our children and our sick for their own nefarious ends" (The Hill, 9/14).

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