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RYAN HAIGHT ONLINE PHARMACY CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 2008

By IBLS Editor

On October 15, 2008, President George W. Bush signed the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008. The purpose of the Act is to regulate rogue online pharmacies and their sale of drugs, particularly to youngsters.

On September 30, 2008, the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008, which amended the Controlled Substances Act, won final approval from both houses of Congress. On October 15, President Bush signed it into law. The legislation is a response to the heightened concern regarding the ease of purchasing controlled drugs over the Internet without a legitimate prescription, particularly by high school students.

The Act, which came into force in April 2009, prohibits United States online pharmacies from supplying controlled substances to anyone without a valid prescription. The Act also requires that the medical doctor writing the prescription personally sees the patient at least once.

For a prescription to be valid, it must have been issued for a legitimate medical purpose in the usual course of professional practice after at least one face-to-face medical evaluation of the patient. A "covering practitioner" may also issue a prescription if the practitioner who has conducted the in-person physical exam is temporarily unavailable.

The Act imposes stringent registration requirements on those pharmacies dispensing controlled substances online. Such pharmacies must be registered by each state in which they operate or sell controlled substances and must modify their existing Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registrations to include the authority to dispense controlled substances on the Internet. It is expected that the latter requirement will enable the DEA to scrutinize each application to determine whether a rogue Internet site is involved in the operation.

On their Web sites, online pharmacies must identify their location and list the states in which they are authorized to sell medicines.

The law also increases maximum sentences for the illegal sale of certain drugs (Schedules III, IV and V) and enhanced penalties in cases where death or serious bodily injury has resulted.

The Act also empowers the Attorney General of each state to bring a civil action in a federal district court, following notice to the U.S. Attorney General, to enjoin the actions of any Internet pharmacy allegedly violating the law. These powers allow the state Attorney General to collect damages and other compensation, including civil penalties, where the actions have threatened or have adversely affected a state resident.

The Act is named after Ryan Haight, an outstanding high school student and star tennis player from Laguna Beach, CA. In February 2001, Haight died of an accidental overdose of Vicodin, Valium and morphine. A doctor had prescribed him these drugs over the Internet, and a pharmacist had filled the prescription online. The 18-year-old had never met either of them personally.

The Act specifically exempts telemedicine practitioners who are licensed by the state in which the patient resides, when the patient is being treated by, and physically located in, a registered hospital or clinic, and where the practitioner is acting in the usual course the profession and in accordance with state practice.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) has been documenting the rise of Internet pharmacies since 2004. In its July 2008 report, CASA identified 159 sites offering prescription medications for sale. Of these, only 2 were certified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy as legitimate Internet pharmacy sites.

Conclusion:
The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 was signed into law in October 2008. This legislation arguably attempts to strike a balance between ensuring that consumers can purchase needed and prescribed medication online and protecting others, particularly teenagers and young adults, from purchasing controlled substances over the Internet

Full post as published by IBLS Internet Law Blog on January 03, 2010 (boomark / email).