These days many Americans, fed up with paying outrageous charges for their prescription medications, are buying their prescription medicines online from Mexican or Canadian pharmacies. Industry sources calculate that the total spent online on medications, prescription or otherwise, will be over $2 billion in 2007.

Two US states, Minnesota and Wisconsin, started state-sponsored pharmacy websites five months ago offering Canadian drugs. Sales through these websites have so far remained relatively low ($545,000 in total at the time of writing) with many more American citizens choosing to buy their drugs cheaply online through private websites. The debate rages between state authorities and the Federal Government over the future status of online pharmacies. Californian state government officials have reportedly visited Minnesota to investigate whether a similar scheme could work in California, but at the same time the Federal Drugs Administration has reportedly written to Minnesotan State Officials accusing their scheme of being unlawful.

The attitude of the Federal Government is undoubtedly driven in part by the lobbying of the powerful American pharmaceutical industry worried about its profits if more Americans take advantage of cheap foreign online pharmacies. Perhaps in response to this threat ‘infomercial’ news stories about the risks of using online pharmacies have started to proliferate on television stations and are being reported in the printed press. Such infomercials have been known to be produced, ready-made for broadcast, by representatives of US “Big Pharma".

So what are the dangers of using online pharmacies, and – given that they can be so much cheaper than brick-and-mortar American pharmacies – is it worth the risk of using them?

There are some unscrupulous online pharmacies out there and there are isolated reports of counterfeit drugs, but the good news is there are ways to save money (and stop Big Pharma ripping you off) and avoid fake drugs.

To avoid rip-off fly-by-night pharmacies that may just take your money and run it is wise to use a pharmacy reviews website to locate a reliable pharmacy. Such websites rate pharmacies and provide an opportunity for visitors to report online pharmacies which have been ripping-off customers. If, after using one of these websites to locate a reliable online pharmacy, you want to minimize further the tiny risk of buying counterfeit goods, stay away from sites selling generic products, particularly those claiming to sell generic versions of medicines still under patent, (like Pfizer’s Viagra). Although almost all generic medications are cheap and identical to their branded counterparts, it is possible for counterfeiters to fake generic packaging; they are aware that consumers do not know what such packaging should look like. Branded medicines are extremely difficult to counterfeit. Having said this, counterfeit medicines thankfully remain extremely rare.

By locating reliable pharmacies through review websites and buying branded medicines everyone can be safer and save money while using online pharmacies. It may not please Big Pharma, but it could please US citizens.