If you are the one who shops almost every item on the list online, you should take note of everything you purchase as there are counterfeit websites that sell fake items claiming that they are genuine.
The same goes for medicines as well. Counterfeit pharmaceuticals are dangerous and can be fatal for your health. According to a study by the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 10 medical products that are circulated in low and middle-income countries are either substandard or falsified.
These products endanger the lives of a million people. We generally buy medicines from our local pharmacy but never tend to verify their authenticity.
As a woman of the family, it becomes your responsibility to check the medicines that your husband has been taking all this while and verify whether it’s genuine or not. While husbands often try to be secretive about their health conditions and don’t like to discuss it openly, you should try to bridge that communication gap and ask him where he’s getting his meds from.
Not Every Medicine Being Sold in the Market is Legitimate
Talking about the biggest problem of concern i.e. cancer, an estimated 596,000 patients passed away from cancer in 2016. And the same year, there were roughly around 15.5 million Americans with a history of a terrible illness for whom it wasn’t fatal at all.
This is only due to the fact that with the medical advancements and people being given hopes about breakthroughs, new and innovative medicines for cancer have been made more available than they were before. Now, this particular topic becomes a cause of concern especially because there are counterfeit medicines for cancer and other conditions being sold on the market.
While everything may seem normal to you as these medicines look identical to the legitimate ones, it may act as a warning sign for a potential danger that may be coming your way. It’s pretty common for people to purchase medicines online at the snap of their fingers these days.
The process is quick, hassle-free, and keeps you anonymous without you having to talk about your personal health with anyone. The same would be the case with your husband too.
However, you should know ever since the drug market has gone online, it has given rise to shady businesses that sell counterfeit medicines that fail to treat patients or harm them. Taking a look at the statistics, it is estimated that around 100,000 to 1 million consumers die every year as a result of counterfeit medicines.
So, who’s at fault here? Obviously, it becomes hard to regulate and verify the pharmacies that are selling products online. And people who choose to save some pennies on their pocket end up buying from these illegitimate pharmacies.
But is there anything that you can do to make sure that you buy medicines from a legitimate source? Yes, obviously!
What Can You Do About It?
Susan, a 34 YO woman living in the UK talks about her husband who often purchases his anxiety medications online. She says that she was skeptical at first and warned her husband about the counterfeit websites online and that there was a risk of putting both their money and health at risk.
However, her husband who had often been buying medications online found some legitimate ones he had heard about.
“My husband finds online shopping to be convenient and he even gets great discounts. He often gets his dose of Diazepam online as brand ones cost us a fortune”, she adds on.
While she’s aware of the risks of buying medicines online, she says that she keeps a check on the packaging, label, expiry dates, manufacturers, and other details to check the authenticity of the drug.
Valium which is often used to treat anxiety, alcohol withdrawal, and seizures is sold illegally in the black market and is at a higher risk of being tampered with. Therefore, if you’re looking to buy Valium online, make sure that you buy it from a reputed pharmacy with the help of a doctor’s prescription.
There are certain telltale signs that indicate whether an online pharmacy is legitimate or not. With the help of these telltale signs, you can identify whether your husband is using real medicine or not.
A legitimate online pharmacy would ask you for a prescription, provide a phone number and an address. Furthermore, pharmaceutical companies have their own teams that work closely with federal law enforcement to track down counterfeit manufacturers and distributors.
While online shopping is convenient and hassle-free, it isn’t always worth the risk. Therefore, it becomes your responsibility to take into account the steps that should be taken to verify the authenticity of the medicines that you buy online or even from your local pharmacy.
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