A recent ABC News investigation on “20/20” shed light on illegal activities involving the sale of counterfeit prescription drugs across the U.S. Working with U.S. Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department, the L.A. Sheriff’s department and other law enforcement bodies, the story highlighted how prescription drugs are being sold by unlicensed sellers in locations across the country, ranging from flea markets to fake websites.

ABC news writer Eamon McNiff worked with investigator Brian Wong with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, who is also a trained pharmacist, and uncovered medications ranging from unapproved prescription vitamins to pain medication in a Los Angeles flea market.  The immediate danger was drugs being sold in unregulated temperatures in the sweltering LA heat, making the medications ineffective or dangerous to a consumer.

Authorities say customers are drawn to these unlicensed sellers instead of their local brick-and-mortar pharmacy because of the greatly reduced price of the medicines. However, counterfeit drugs can be dangerous because the pills are not comprised of the correct chemical compounds, and the sellers are often substituting the real medicine with unsafe substances as “fillers.”

View the “20/20” excerpt:

When it comes to counterfeit prescription drugs, there are life-threatening risks to consumers. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacies (NABP) released research, which found that 97% of reviewed online pharmacies are out of compliance with US laws and regulations. If consumers do not use a legitimate online pharmacy, there is no way verify where the drugs originate. Further, of the 10,521 “Not Recommended” sites, 91% can be traced to affiliate networks of rogue Internet drug outlets.

Since 2011, CSIP has been working to educate consumers on how to buy medications safely online, and its members are collaborating to eradicate illegal online pharmacies and to set a precedent for other companies around the globe. Our members include advertising service providers (such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook), payment system operators (Discover, American Express, MasterCard, Visa and PayPal), & registries and registrars (Go Daddy, Neustar and RightSide). These companies engage in voluntary best practices and collaborate with government leaders, regulators, law enforcement, and health care providers with the goal of educating consumers about how to find safe medicine online. It is through these partnerships that we make consumers aware of the issue and facilitate private/public cooperation to eliminate illegal online drug sellers.

We also provide access to online tools to assist consumers in verifying online pharmacies and health care products. If you are planning to purchase drugs online make sure you check all online pharmacies using LegitScript’s Pharmacy Verification Tool.

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The Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP) and our 13 member companies have the shared goal of helping to address the growing problem of consumer access to illegitimate pharmaceutical products on the Internet. Continue to read this blog for updates on our education, enforcement and information-sharing efforts.

For more information about CSIP, please contact us.

This item was highlighted in CSIP’s May 2015 newsletter.