What these individuals get through the mail can cost less money, but in many cases, the medication is ineffective or even harmful to them. Almost everyday, counterfeit drugs are ordered over the Internet and shipped through international mail facilities across the United States. Although it is not against the law to order medication through the mail, it is becoming more and more dangerous for the individual on the receiving end to accept potentially ineffective medication.

The flow of counterfeit medications into the United States is increasing, a genuine danger for people with serious diseases and medical conditions. Using counterfeit meds to treat a heart condition, high cholesterol, or rheumatoid arthritis, for example, can be life-threatening due to the medication not effectively treating these medical conditions.

This growing problem has inspired a joint effort between U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Food and Drug Administration: the goal is to target phony prescription imports. Because so many of these medications pass through international mail centers, which fall under the oversight authority of CBP, CBP is partnering with the FDA to target and track pharmaceuticals coming through the nation's largest mail facilities, which include New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif.

What is CBP doing to detect phony meds?
"Operation Safeguard" is the name of the project designed to identify phony medications. The Office of Laboratories and Scientific Services is using mobile labs at a number of the international mail branches that allow CBP personnel to sample incoming pharmaceuticals. One of the busiest branches for phony medications is the Miami mail branch, with more than a thousand pharmaceutical samples coming through the mail each hour. CBP has found that more than 80 percent of all the pharmaceutical parcels examined are in violation of CBP statutes that cover intellectual property rights or FDA statutes. While the CBP violations are for the most part "counterfeit" pharmaceuticals, the FDA violation deals with mostly grey market goods-legitimate goods that can only be used and distributed outside of the United States.

About 15 percent of the pharmaceuticals examined and tested at CBP labs contain no active ingredients-they don't even qualify as "real" medicine. Another 30 percent of the packages examined contained controlled narcotics; illegal substances. CBP found that this year's most popular counterfeited medication imports are Vioxx for arthritis; Nexium, for digestive reflux disease; and Paxil, which treats depression and anxiety.

While there are many reasons why people take chances and order medications over the Internet, none of those people expect to be getting inferior, or ineffectual products.

CBP is committed to safeguarding the American public, protecting them not just from phony medication, but from any product that could be harmful. As CBP continues its work with the FDA to stop the mass mailing of phony pharmaceuticals into our country, the best advice we can offer potential buyers is Caveat Emptor, or "Buyer Beware."