With the rising cost of prescription medications in the United States, and lack of affordable prescription plans, the popularity of online pharmacies is tremendous.  The United States is literally one of the only countries that do not control its drug prices.  Making their debut around the year 2000, the internet hosts hundreds of online pharmacies.  Aside from the convenience of not having to drive and wait, is the privilege of anonymity.  The medical industry regulates your confidence as a priority, but you still go to your neighborhood pharmacy to pick up prescriptions.  If a case of herpes is held in confidence, wouldn’t you want your prescription to Valtrex to be held to the same standard?  This is mentality of a lot of online pharmacy users. 

Aside from the given reasons above, you also have the pharmacies online that do not require a prescription, they have their doctor review your symptoms and decide what medication is needed.  This can be very dangerous when there is little or no medical history given.  Even more dangerous is the pharmacies that offer drugs with no prescription or no doctor review.  You have just decided that you need a certain medicine, and they ship it to you.  Unless you have a medical degree this could be deadly.  The majority of people taking advantage of these websites are patients that cannot get what they want from their doctor.  There is a reason the drug is being denied, and that needs to be respected.  These pharmacies can be held accountable for fraud.  These pharmacies are not only violating the FDA but federal regulations in the United States.

With the availability to get either needed medication or even controlled substances, there lies a huge possibility for fraud.  A 90 day supply of Vicodin could cost on average $132 without a prescription needed.  What classifies a pharmacy as a high risk merchant, is the association of Visa or MasterCard’s name to the possibility of distribution of illegal substances.  It is difficult to monitor the enormous supply of prescritption medication coming into the United States.  Even the government itself cannot control it, so they use scare tactics to enforce the laws.  Only in this day and age can someone buy illegal drugs and put it on their credit card.