Recent times have seen a huge rise in the popularity of online pharmacies. It is more convenient to buy something online than go around looking for it from store to store. This is especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic, where people are specifically required to stay indoors in order to prevent the spread of the virus. Not to mention that the international pharmacy has a whole lot of medications that may not be available in the store on your block. What could be better than a service that delivers medication to your doorstep during these times, right?
The problem, however, is that online pharmacies are not always authentic. The bigger issue is that it can be very difficult to spot the authentic ones from a website selling fake drugs.
Risks of Buying Medicines From Untrustworthy Websites:
Here are a few dangers of buying medication from sites that are unregulated or even illegal.
- You may end up with counterfeit medication without knowing. These medicines may contain active ingredients that are different than the ones you need, and that could be very harmful.
- It could also have no active ingredients at all, which means that it would be useless.
- It is also likely to have the wrong concentration and combination of active ingredients, which again can only do harm and no good. Can you mail weed in Canada? This depends on whether the pharmacy or dispensary from which you bought your medical cannabis is legal or not.
- The wrong concentration and combination directly results in the wrong dosage of the medication. This could have an adverse reaction and increases the risk of damaging side effects which can be downright fatal.
- These unauthentic online pharmacists have little concern for the patient’s health and are only trying to make money by illegal means.
- They even provide drugs without prescription. This increases the risk of ordering a drug in bulk quantities if they are addictive, even if you don’t need them.
All of these can be very big issues if you end up with medicines that aren’t authentic. You aren’t even likely to notice the side effects of consuming these medicines until it is already too late.
Which is why it is necessary to know how to spot an authentic online pharmacy if you plan on buying your medications online.
Signs of an Unauthentic Online Pharmacy:
To be able to tell the difference between authentic and unauthentic online pharmacies, you should be aware of the signs that point towards an unauthentic online pharmacy. Some of these are:
- The prices these websites offer can be much cheaper than in stores.
- Fake online pharmacies offer deals to buy your medicines in excessive bulk.
- Their focus is on sales instead of your health care.
- You will not be able find any regulatory details, listing for certificates, or licensing on the site.
- The site may not have a registered pharmacist or healthcare consultant that you can talk to before purchasing the medicines.
- They allow you to buy prescription medications without asking for a prescription.
- No one will ask you any question prior to selling you a prescribed medication.
- You will be unable to find any contact details or store addresses on the site.
- There won’t be a verified registration of the company.
- The site would offer to ship anywhere in the world at cheap costs.
- After you visit the site, you start to receive spam or unsolicited emails from the domain which offered you low-cost medicines.
- There is little to no information on the website aside from the products being sold.
If any of the above is true for the website you are planning on buying your medication from, then it is better to steer clear of it and opt for a different website. It is a better option to search more than to put your life at risk.
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Signs of an Authentic Online Pharmacy:
However, not all online pharmacies are illegitimate. There are some online pharmacies that can be a better alternative to going to store and can save you some money. Here are some signs of an authentic online pharmacy that you should be aware of:
#1 – Requires a Prescription:
Not only will an authentic website require a prescription before selling you any medication, they will also talk to you beforehand. The site will have pharmacists or healthcare professionals that would be available around the clock for consultation. Ideally, they will be asking you the same questions your doctor would before giving you the prescription.
#2 – Licensed Pharmacy:
You will easily be able to find the licensing details of the company on their website. Since legitimate businesses have no concerns of being caught, they will have strong paperwork to back them up. This will not only satisfy them, but their customers can also be stress-free while buying anything from them, which will only help their business flourish.
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#3 – Proper Contact Information:
Any pharmacy that is authentic will have a proper contact number that you can call with any concerns you may have. They will also have a registered address on the web page, and any other contact details that you may need.
#4 – Customer Reviews:
Just like any other thing, you can learn a lot about the authenticity of the website from the reviews their previous customers leave. But this can be a little tricky to figure. Fake websites can have a lot of fake reviews on their page. The difference however would be that those comments will be very generic. Whereas, on an authentic website, you will see that the people are talking from personal experience. They will be talking about the quality of the product more than anything else due to the nature of the product. This may take more tough to figure out, but if the above points check out along with good reviews, then it is more likely to be an authentic website.
A small defect in medicines can cause your health a lot of damage, and you may not even be able to catch it in time. Always keep these in mind while buying medicines from an online pharmacy. It is much better to be safe than to be sorry.
About Medications Canada:
Medications Canada is Canada’s leading Canadian pharmacy with many gratified patients since early 2002. Through our prescription drug program, our Canadian drug pricing offers patient’s savings of up to 80% as opposed to shopping at local pharmacies.
Medications Canada is licensed, certified and trusted by Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) and International Pharmacy Association of British Columbia (IPABC). It follows the same prescription process as U.S. mail-order companies, requiring a valid and signed prescription from the patient’s doctor or health care provider.
