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Online Prescription
Drug Sites Attract 26 Percent of Americans
Only 4 Percent Actually
Buying Drugs Online, But Most Plan to Do It Again
Oct. 11, 2004 The
Internet has become Americas number one source for information and 25
percent say they have used it to search for information about
prescription drugs but not necessarily to buy them. Only four percent
say they actually made a drug purchase online, according to research
released yesterday by the Pew Internet Project.
The prescription drug
market is enormous and now includes millions of Americans who go online
to get information about the medicines they consume. According to a
May-June 2004 telephone survey of 2,200 American adults, 64% of American
households contain a regular user of prescription drugs.
More Americans go
online for health information than see a doctor on a typical day. Now
that the cost and safety of prescription drugs have come to the
forefront of policy debates, we see that significant numbers of
Americans are turning to the internet to get information and explore
drug purchases, said Susannah Fox, director of research at the Pew
Internet & American Life Project and author of the study,
Prescription Drugs Online.
The price of
prescription drugs has become an important political and policy issue in
the past year. In the spring of 2004, the federal government announced
changes to the Medicare system, including the publication of
prescription drug prices online. In addition, there has been a recent
effort in states and localities to help Americans import prescription
drugs from Canada, where prices are significantly lower.
At the same time,
there is strong opposition from the pharmaceutical industry, and the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, both of which claim that they cannot
guarantee the safety of imported drugs.
This survey finds
that most Americans do not fully trust the online prescription drug
marketplace. Sixty-two percent of Americans think purchasing
prescription drugs online is less safe than purchasing them at a local
pharmacy. Twenty percent of Americans think such online purchases are as
safe as local purchases. Eighteen percent of Americans responded that
they did not know or that it depends on the situation.
Few Americans buy
prescription drugs online:
· Just 4%
of Americans have ever purchased prescription drugs on the internet.
·
Three-quarters of online prescription drug purchasers say the last time
they purchased prescription drugs online, they bought a drug for a
chronic medical condition such as high blood pressure or arthritis.
· One
quarter of online prescription drug purchasers say their last purchase
at an online pharmacy was for some other purpose, such as weight loss or
sexual performance.
· Nine in ten online
prescription drug purchasers plan to go online to fill a prescription in
the future.
Prescription drug
spam plagues many internet users especially men:
· 63% of
internet users say they have received an unsolicited email advertising a
sexual health medication such as Viagra. (71% of male internet users
have received such pitches, compared to 56% of female internet users.)
· 55% of
internet users say they have received an unsolicited email advertising a
prescription drug. (60% of male internet users have gotten that kind of
email, compared to 50% of female internet users.)
· 40% of internet users say
they have received an unsolicited email advertising an over-the-counter
drug. (49% of male internet users have been spammed about that, compared
to 32% of female internet users.)
The Pew Internet Project is a nonprofit,
non-partisan think tank that explores the impact of the internet on
children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care
and civic/political life. The Project aims to be an authoritative source
for timely information on the internet's growth and societal impact. The
project is part of the Pew Research Center and support for the project
is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The project's Web site:
www.pewinternet.org
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
