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When I go to a pharmacy, I trust that they will make the medication that matches my prescription. Amazon is _notorious_ for having counterfeit items commingled

by gknoy 9y ago

When I go to a pharmacy, I trust that they will make the medication that matches my prescription. Amazon is _notorious_ for having counterfeit items commingled with the same bin code (I might be using the wrong term), e.g. for cellular phone chargers, and even things like t-shirts. Because of this, I share the GP's concern that Amazon would to a terrible, un-trustable job at preventing such commingling of pharmaceutical products. Sure, their pharmacy suppliers might make them right, but that doesn't prevent some random jerk (or just someone w/ crappy safety practices?) from posting a counterfeit with the same labeling.

fny 9y ago
Thankfully, pharmaceuticals are regulated, whereas chargers and t-shirts aren't... Do you really think Amazon is going to let anyone sell any drugs?
- solotronics 9y ago
  that was called Alphabay and already exsists /s
  - InternetUser 9y ago
    There is now the Dream Market: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Market https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Market https://www.reddit.com/r/Dream_Market/comments/6pp9oi/dream_market_guide_for_new_users/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Dream_Market/comments/6pp9oi/dream_...
- com2kid 9y ago
  > Thankfully, pharmaceuticals are regulated, whereas chargers and t-shirts aren't... Except, they are. To begin with, selling counterfeit goods is flat out illegal. Electronics have safety standards they are supposed to be tested against. Even clothing has safety standards around flammability. If you dig deeply into generic drugs, they actually aren't all that well regulated[http://fortune.com/2013/01/10/are-generics-really-the-same-as-branded-drugs/ http://fortune.com/2013/01/10/are-generics-really-the-same-a...]. Legally a generic drug only has to be 80% as effective as the brand name drug it replaces, for psychoactive compounds that can be the difference between working and not working at all. Not so great for anti-depressants (or the vast majority of other compounds for that matter...)
mdlowman 9y ago
The better analogy in this case would be to an AmazonBasics USB cable, not to a phone charger. Are there issues when anyone can provide a product? Yes. But this would certainly not involve Amazon opening the storefront to allow selling any sort of drugs, but rather them sourcing generic product themselves and selling it as private label. I would have no problems trusting this product to be genuine, just as I have no problems trusting their other private label products. It's a different sort of issue.
- ci5er 9y ago
  > The better analogy in this case would be to an AmazonBasics USB cable What's the story here? I purchased on (that failed quickly) and then another - which also failed - and gave up on those. I've actually never found a USB cable (that I often use as a charge) that I liked, but I've never set out on a quest to do so... Is the AmazonBasics USB cable a well-known lemon?
  - sgtmas2006 9y ago
    I've only bought AmazonBasics lightning cables for a while now, they work great IMO. I've had maybe one or two fail out of a dozen or two that I own, and its failure was caused by pinching from my car console.

by gknoy 9y ago

fny 9y ago

Thankfully, pharmaceuticals are regulated, whereas chargers and t-shirts aren't... Do you really think Amazon is going to let anyone sell any drugs?

solotronics 9y ago
that was called Alphabay and already exsists /s
- InternetUser 9y ago
  There is now the Dream Market: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Market https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Market https://www.reddit.com/r/Dream_Market/comments/6pp9oi/dream_market_guide_for_new_users/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Dream_Market/comments/6pp9oi/dream_...
com2kid 9y ago
> Thankfully, pharmaceuticals are regulated, whereas chargers and t-shirts aren't... Except, they are. To begin with, selling counterfeit goods is flat out illegal. Electronics have safety standards they are supposed to be tested against. Even clothing has safety standards around flammability. If you dig deeply into generic drugs, they actually aren't all that well regulated[http://fortune.com/2013/01/10/are-generics-really-the-same-as-branded-drugs/ http://fortune.com/2013/01/10/are-generics-really-the-same-a...]. Legally a generic drug only has to be 80% as effective as the brand name drug it replaces, for psychoactive compounds that can be the difference between working and not working at all. Not so great for anti-depressants (or the vast majority of other compounds for that matter...)

mdlowman 9y ago

The better analogy in this case would be to an AmazonBasics USB cable, not to a phone charger. Are there issues when anyone can provide a product? Yes. But this would certainly not involve Amazon opening the storefront to allow selling any sort of drugs, but rather them sourcing generic product themselves and selling it as private label. I would have no problems trusting this product to be genuine, just as I have no problems trusting their other private label products. It's a different sort of issue.

ci5er 9y ago
> The better analogy in this case would be to an AmazonBasics USB cable What's the story here? I purchased on (that failed quickly) and then another - which also failed - and gave up on those. I've actually never found a USB cable (that I often use as a charge) that I liked, but I've never set out on a quest to do so... Is the AmazonBasics USB cable a well-known lemon?
- sgtmas2006 9y ago
  I've only bought AmazonBasics lightning cables for a while now, they work great IMO. I've had maybe one or two fail out of a dozen or two that I own, and its failure was caused by pinching from my car console.