How People Buy Antibiotics Without A Prescription?

How People Buy Antibiotics Without A Prescription?

Believe it or not, our investigators were able to obtain generic Cipro generic, Levaquin and generic Zithromax without a prescription within minutes. Report reveals how and why people disregard prescription regulations.

Introduction

We wanted to determine if it was possible to obtain antibiotics without a prescription and how people do it.

In the United States, there are 4 ways to obtain antibiotics without a prescription: buy them in a pet store, drive down to Mexico, buy them in an ethnic market/convenience store or buy them on the internet.

Pet Store

Here is a loophole I learned about when I began training as a pharmacist thirty years ago. If you walk into aquarium section of any well stocked pet store and you may be surprised to learn 2 things:

(A) Fish diseases are treated with human antibiotics.
(B) You don't need a prescription to purchase antibiotics for fish.

We visited 6 pet stores in the New York City Area - 2 national chains, a regional chain and 3 independently owned pet shops.

Both national chain pet stores we visited had antibiotics for sale. Most of the formulations were available as liquid gel drops or powders that are difficult for people to take. However we were able to obtain tablets of triple sulfa (a cocktail of 3 broad spectrum sulfa antibiotics) and tetracycline tablets on the websites of these chains.

The regional chain pet store and all three mom and pop pet stores sold tetracycline, erythromycin and ampicillin in tablet and capsule form.

On the internet, it was easy to find amoxicillin, ampicillin, tetracycline, cephalexin, metronidazole and erythromycin for sale without a prescription by searching Google for the term "fish antibiotics".

It is a bad idea for people to take veterinary medicines but chemically the drugs are the same as what you find in a human pharmacy.

According to anecdotal reports the fact that one can obtain antibiotics in this manner is common knowledge among branches of the armed forces.

Internet

Importing non-prescription antibiotics over the internet into the United States is a low priority for the authorities compared to narcotics and controlled substances. When was the last time you read about someone being arrested for importing Cipro or Augmentin into the USA?

Here's how it works: As long as the pharmacy is located in a country that does not require a doctor's prescription for a drug, they are happy to sell you whatever you need (other than controlled substances) without a prescription. You might be bending the law, but the authorities look the other way.

We don't recommend you do this but if you do, the key is to buy from a trustworthy pharmacy. Word of mouth is the best way to choose one. Otherwise you must screen them carefully.

Bodega

Many ethnic grocery/convenience stores such as bodegas (small grocery/convenience stores found in Latino neighborhoods), sell antibiotics.

Since I live in New York City, we conducted our experiment in Washington Heights, a vibrant immigrant community with a large Spanish speaking population.

Our undercover investigator (a middle aged woman) went into several bodegas and explained that she had a sore throat and needed antibiotics. Two out of seven stores had antibiotics for sale.

One store had "Gimalxina", a brand name for amoxicillin. She bought 20 capsules for $10.00. Another store had generic ampicillin and tetracycline for $0.60 per pill. They also had other medicines for sale (such as diuretics and birth control pills but that's another story).

People who buy medicine from ethnic markets are usually poor and originate from cultures where buying antibiotics over-the-counter is the norm.

A 2002 NY Times article indicated that Chinese and Russian immigrants easily purchase antibiotics and other prescription drugs in small markets.

Mexico: