New Jersey attorney general targets unlicensed Internet pharmacies

Drug Store News, April 24, 2000 by James Frederick

NEWARK, N.J. -- Aiming to clean up alleged abuses by unlicensed Internet pharmacy operators, New Jersey's attorney general has filed suit against eight online drug stores operating in the state.

The suit, filed March 30 with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, accuses the eight cyber drugstores of violating the state's Consumer Fraud Act via the sale of popular "lifestyle" drugs including Viagra and Propecia, as well as the anti-obesity drug Xenical, without a license to dispense in New Jersey. The attorney general's office accused the online operators of having "committed an unconscionable commercial practice for failing to disclose to New Jersey consumers that they are not licensed to dispense prescription legend drugs or controlled dangerous substances or to practice medicine in the state."

Among the online pharmacies named in the suit are ClickThruPharmacy.com, which operates a variety of sites including ez-diet-products.com; Kwikmed, operating sites like viagralove-making.com; The Pill Box Inc.; and American-Medicine.com.

State investigators triggered the suit after making credit card purchases of prescription drugs from the sites. The purchases were made after investigators filled out a simple, online medical history questionnaire. For a price tag of $100 to $300, they bought various quantities of Viagra, Xenical, Celebrex, Xyban, Preven and Propecia.

"In those questionnaires, even though investigators purposely used information which could have made them unlikely candidates for the drugs, the purchases were made without further questioning from the online pharmacies," noted a spokesman.

According to a report in The Star Ledger of Newark, N.J., at least one of the online pharmacies sold Viagra to an investigator even after that investigator indicated in his questionnaire that he had a heart condition.

The state attorney general, John Farmer Jr., is seeking a halt to the operations of the eight firms in New Jersey, as well as the assessment of penalties ranging up to $7,500 for each violation.