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Contextualising the Online Pharmaceutical Trade

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Respectable Deviance and Purchasing Medicine Online

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity ((PSCYBER))

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Abstract

This chapter explores the online pharmaceutical trade setting the background for the rest of the book and presents the research questions that drove the study. The chapter starts by considering how medicines came to be available to purchase online and why this is seen as problematic via the associated risks. A critical discussion is then presented, unpacking these risks and how the discourses surrounding them are intertwined with authoritative challenges. The chapter concludes with an empirical examination of the online pharmaceutical trade.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Examples of campaigns warning of the dangers of purchasing medicine online can be found here: http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Pharmaceutical-crime/The-dangers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=290jb9hV2vU

  2. 2.

    According to WHO: A generic drug is a pharmaceutical product, usually intended to be interchangeable with an innovator product, that is manufactured without a licence from the innovator company and marketed after the expiry date of the patent or other exclusive rights.

  3. 3.

    Oxfam: Eye on the ball: medicine regulation- not IP enforcement - can best deliver quality medicines. 2011. https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/eye-on-the-ball-medicine-regulation-020211-summ-en.pdf

  4. 4.

    Further information about the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control can be found here: http://www.who.int/fctc/protocol/about/en/

  5. 5.

    Safety and security on the Internet survey document can be found here: http://www.who.int/goe/publications/goe_security_web.pdf

  6. 6.

    Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hr6353#

  7. 7.

    Ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion. http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/documents/whozip08e/whozip08e.pdf

  8. 8.

    Draft guidance for registered pharmacies providing internet and distance sale, supply or service provision. http://pharmacyregulation.org/sites/default/files/draft_guidance_for_registered_pharmacies_providing_internet_and_distance_sale_supply_and_service_provision.pdf

  9. 9.

    Further information regarding the 2013 conference discussing the role of organized crime in the production and trade of fraudulent medicines can be found here: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2013/February/conference-focuses-on-the-role-of-organized-crime-in-the-trafficking-of-fraudulent-medicines.html

  10. 10.

    International Narcotics Control Board warns of illegal online pharmacies selling drugs to youth. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2012/February/narcotics-control-board-warns-of-illegal-online-pharmacies-selling-drugs-to-youth.html

  11. 11.

    Further information regarding the IGF can be found here: http://www.intgovforum.org

  12. 12.

    UNODC Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice reconvened 20th session. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/commissions/CCPCJ/session/20Reconvened_Session_2011/CCPCJ_20Reconvened.html

  13. 13.

    Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/psychoactive-substances-bill-2015

  14. 14.

    European medicines Agency report on the suspension of marketing authorisation for Sibutramine 2010. http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/news_and_events/news/2010/01/news_detail_000985.jsp

  15. 15.

    EMCDDA report on the Mephredone ban across the EU. http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/drugnet/online/2011/73/article2

  16. 16.

    MHRA Report on the reclassification of Tramadol 2014. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150113032946/http://www.mhra.gov.uk/Howweregulate/Medicines/Medicinesregulatorynews/CON421308

  17. 17.

    Antidepressant use on the rise in rich countries. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/20/antidepressant-use-rise-world-oecd

  18. 18.

    CNN Transcript regarding online pharmacies selling fake medicine. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1306/30/hcsg.01.html

  19. 19.

    Global Drug survey 2014 findings. http://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/facts-figures/the-global-drug-survey-2014-findings/

  20. 20.

    Guide to Paypal accepted drugstores and pharmacies. http://www.ppaccepted.com/pharmacies.html

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  1. University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

    Lisa Sugiura

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Sugiura, L. (2018). Contextualising the Online Pharmaceutical Trade. In: Respectable Deviance and Purchasing Medicine Online. Palgrave Studies in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74485-8_2

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