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What are the Dangers of Buying Roxicodone Online
Many online “pharmacies” sell prescription drugs to those who don’t have prescriptions. These are illegal operations.
While they may sell Roxicodone at cheap prices, you may receive fake pills or Roxicodone that has been cut with cheaper substances like fentanyl. If you take pills that have been cut with more potent, dangerous substances, you risk overdose and even death.
What Is Roxicodone?
Roxicodone is a brand name for a medication that contains the powerful opioid oxycodone.
Medications that contain oxycodone are all classified in the Schedule II category of controlled substances by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). This means that these medications can only be legally obtained if you have a written prescription from a physician for them.
Schedule II opioid drugs are powerfully addictive substances that do have important medical uses, but they are also significant drugs of abuse.
Online Sales of Counterfeit Medications
In February 2018, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) reported that the online sale of counterfeit medications and the illicit sale of controlled substances were exacerbating issues with opioid abuse in the United States. NABP evaluated 100 websites that sell medications to patients in the United States and determined the following:
- More than half of the sites were selling controlled substances like Roxicodone. Buying controlled substances over the internet is not recommended or approved by most major pharmaceutical and medical organizations.
- All but two of the websites that were selling controlled substances did not require a valid prescription for them to be purchased.
- More than three-quarters of the websites offered medications that were not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or medications that were produced overseas where there is little supervision in the manufacturing process.
- Nearly 40 percent of the websites were selling medications that were commonly laced with the dangerously potent opioid fentanyl.
Why Is It Dangerous to Buy Prescription Drugs Online?
According to NABP, many online pharmacies do not market controlled substances like oxycodone properly. Many of these pharmacies are getting their medications from illicit sources where there are few if any, standards and quality control measures.
- Prescription opioid drugs sold online may contain too much or too little of the active ingredient in them. In the case of Roxicodone, this means the pills may have too much or little oxycodone in them. They may not work effectively, or they may be more likely to cause extreme side effects or overdose.
- Many prescription drugs purchased from these websites may not contain the right active ingredient. It is not uncommon for overseas manufacturers to substitute ingredients that have similar physical effects but are potentially dangerous or ineffective.
Many prescription drugs purchased from online sources contain other ingredients that can be potentially harmful, including rat poison, dangerous controlled substances, and toxic chemicals used to bind the pills.
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Potential for Harm
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the majority of opioid overdoses occur from heroin, although there has been a rise in the rate of prescription opioid overdose. Many of the cases of prescription opioid overdoses involve substances that have been tampered with, which are contaminated with other drugs.
NABP repors that the proliferation of illicit online pharmacies that market controlled substances like oxycodone contributes to the opioid epidemic in the United States.
What to Look Out For
When investigating online pharmacies, avoid sources that:
- Allow people to buy prescription medications without having a valid prescription for them.
- Do not have a licensed pharmacist, based in the U.S., who is immediately available to answer questions.
- Send unsolicited emails offering cheap medications.
- Offer extremely low prices that just seem too good to be true.
- Are located outside the United States or ship their products worldwide.
Only buy Roxicodone from licensed pharmacies that are based in the U.S. These pharmacies will all require a valid prescription from a doctor.
What About Buying Medications And Testing Them Yourself?
Most people do not have the means to test the purity of prescription medications they purchase. These types of tests typically require specialized equipment. There are numerous tests that need to be performed to determine the quality and amount of the active ingredient in a prescription pill or if there are any potentially harmful adulterants in the pill.
Instead, it is much safer to purchase these medications from a pharmacy that is registered in the United States.
Avoid Legal Trouble
Buying controlled substances from overseas pharmacies can get you into serious trouble.
According to the DEA, anyone who is not registered with them to ship, acquire, and market controlled substances can be prosecuted.
The charge is typically a felony with a potential for 10 years in prison and/or a fine of $250,000.
People buying controlled substances online from overseas companies that are not registered with the DEA are subject to prosecution by federal authorities. States may also prosecute such offenders in some cases.
How to Check the Pharmacy
NABP offers a resource to check registered pharmacies within each state in the U.S. You can check the qualifications of any site selling controlled substances or other prescription medications through this resource.
Only purchase Roxicodone and all prescription medications from registered pharmacies within the country to avoid many of the problems associated with buying drugs and/or controlled substances online. The risks of purchasing Roxicodone from illegitimate sources are just too dangerous, no matter how cheap the price.
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Sources
(August 2018) Roxicodone. RxList. Retrieved March 2019 from from https://www.rxlist.com/roxicodone-drug.htm
Drug Scheduling. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Retrieved March 2019 from from https://www.dea.gov/drug-scheduling
(August 2018) Information Sheet on Opiate Overdose. World Health Organization. Retrieved March 2019 from from https://www.who.int/substance_abuse/information-sheet/en/
Consumer Alert. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Retrieved March 2019 from from https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/consumer_alert.htm
(2019) Boards of Pharmacy. National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. Retrieved March 2019 from from https://nabp.pharmacy/boards-of-pharmacy/