Beware of prescription meds on Amazon

Five months ago, my doctor prescribed me the medication Adderall. Adderall is a drug that is taken by many people today to help them focus and concentrate if they, like me, have a problem with their mind wandering while working.

One the first day I took the drug, I found that I was writing my column for WND. Whereas it often takes me as many as three or four hours to turn out a WND column, on this particular day, it took me only an hour and a half.

The next day, I was working on a magazine article. The piece was on the downfall in the quality of rock music today. As I had formerly made my living as a musician, I was familiar with my subject. So when it took me less than an hour to finish the article, again I wasn't particularly surprised.

However, this time I noticed that as I worked on the story, I felt strange. It took me only a few moments to recognize the feeling. It was the same feeling I used to have back in college when I took amphetamines to study for final exams.

A third day. Another article – this time for an online publication. Once again, I was able to finish the article in record time. However, this time I paid attention to my feelings. After completing the story, I felt jittery and nervous – as if I'd drunk five cups of coffee. (For the record, I do consume a lot of coffee.)

I decided it was time to do some research. With only a little bit of Internet hunting around, I found that Adderall is also sold under the name Amphetamine Salts.

I called my doctor, and asked him point blank. "They're exactly the same thing," he assured me.

But I wasn't so sure. Since I had been taking the Adderall, I noticed that my sleep had become fitful. Whereas I normally wake up about 9 a.m., relax (with a cup of coffee) and read the paper, now I couldn't sleep past 4 a.m. Upon waking, I would rush to my computer and begin writing. And whereas before, I often had trouble focusing, now I was able to write straight through a piece without my mind wandering all over the place.

Moreover, I now had to take 10 milligrams of the drug to get the same effect I had gotten from splitting the pill in half, as I had at the outset.

Moreover, as I was now paying attention to my symptoms, I also noticed a distinct nervousness, plus a feeling of being rushed. I immediately recognized the symptom. It was that same old feeling from my college days – the feeling of being on speed.

Also, I noticed something else happening in my body. Whereas I had been taking five milligrams of Adderall to start my day, now – only several weeks later – it now took me 10 milligrams to get the same effect. I was still able to crank out my writing at record speed. But when I'd finish the piece I was working on, I noticed that my hands were shaking and that my mind was rushing around in circles.

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Another month passed. I was now up to a dose of 15 milligrams. And even with 15, I wasn't getting quite the same benefit that I had gotten in the beginning.

I called my psychiatrist back. I told him I now had to take 15 mg of the drug to get the same effect I was getting with 10.

Now he seemed concerned. He told me to check the label of the drug I was taking.

When I examined my bottles of medication, I saw that the manufacturer of the Adderall had been a company called Barr. The company who produced the Amphetamine Salts was a company called Teva USA.

Recently, I had begun buying a lot of my prescriptions from Amazon in order to cut costs. Quite suddenly, prescriptions from my local drugstore – a one-man owned operation called Medical Center Pharmacy – had suddenly almost doubled.

However, when I checked on Amazon, the news wasn't so good.

Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is enabling unlawful sales of steroids, muscle relaxants, prescription antibiotics and other dangerous, often illicit substances, an investigative report from Slate alleges. Among the drugs illegally sold on Amazon's website, the report identifies prescription medications such as the antibiotics clindamycin and norfloxacin, and the muscle relaxant methocarbamol as being readily available on the website. The article also highlights the sale of suspicious designer supplements.

Many people buy their drugs on Amazon to cut costs. But there is a frightening scenario that could well be developing.

Imagine picking up some teething syrup at the pharmacy, giving it to your child and then discovering it had been laced with a toxic chemical normally used in antifreeze. The parents of 84 Nigerian children who died last year don't have to imagine that nightmare.

Such problems arise when drug counterfeiters use cheap but often toxic fillers to extend their profits. In the case of the teething syrup, the toxic chemical was diethylene glycol, which looks, tastes and smells like glycerin, a common component of such syrups. It's just one of thousands of horrific examples of counterfeit drugs sold in Nigeria and Ghana – including fake antibiotics and antiretrovirals.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than a million people die of malaria every year and that 200,000 of those deaths could be prevented if all counterfeit antimalarials could be eliminated.

Additionally, many travelers have begun picking up drugs from other countries to benefit from the cheaper prices they are charged. In doing so, they may be paying a much higher price.

Counterfeiting occurs throughout the world, but it is most common in countries where there are few or no rules about making drugs. An estimated 10 percent to 30 percent of medicines sold in developing countries are counterfeit. In the industrialized world (countries such as the United States, Australia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and those in the European Union), estimates suggest that less than 1 percent of medicines sold are counterfeit.

The only way to know if a drug is counterfeit is through chemical analysis done in a laboratory. Counterfeit drugs may look strange or be in poor-quality packaging, but they often seem identical to the real thing. The only way to make sure you have the real thing is to bring all the drugs you will need during your trip with you from the United States, rather than buying them while you are traveling.

If we don't all start taking more care in the drugs we purchase for ourselves and our families, we are facing a worldwide epidemic of counterfeit drugs. By 2015, sales of fake drugs could reach $75 billion worldwide.

It's time to stop and look at the labels on the medications you take. If you have any doubts, you should immediately call your pharmacist and ask him questions about the manufacturer of the drug he is selling.

If you don't like the answers you get, go to another pharmacy.

You're going to have to do some legwork, people. But the price of not doing it could be your life.