Health Tip: Buying Prescription Drugs Online

(HealthDayNews) -- Consumers who want to buy prescription drugs online are faced with the daunting challenge of finding the right provider, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concedes. The FDA offers these suggestions:

• Check with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy at www.nabp.net to see if a Web site is backed by a licensed pharmacy in good standing.
• Don''t buy from sites that offer to sell a prescription drug without a medical doctor''s prescription.
• Don''t do business with sites that have no access to a registered pharmacist to answer questions.
• Avoid sites that do not identify the pharmacist whom you are dealing and do not provide a U.S. address and phone number to call if there''s a problem.
• Beware of sites that advertise a "new cure" for a serious disorder or a quick cure-all for a wide range of ailments.

-- Anne Thompson