With the growing number of online pharmacies today, stressing where to order medications online is a very remote possibility. What can cause stress is choosing which pharmacy to use in buying prescription drugs online. Patients and consumers can choose from major-chain pharmacies, virtual extensions of local drug stores, and some independent Internet pharmaceuticals for their medication needs.

Aside from the types of online pharmacies given above, there are also some that offer to sell online drugs without prescription. Among the pharmacy options, this choice seems to provide more convenience. As a bonus, most pharmacy websites that provide consumers with a no-prescription guarantee also give out added value with promotions like the following:

* free online drugs without prescriptions

* lower prices

* speedy delivery

But while websites that offer access to prescription medication without a valid Rx are attractive and convenient options, they are not the health care helpers most people envision them to be. Here is the real deal on buying prescription drugs without a valid prescription online:

Selling prescription medication without prescription is illegal.

Dispensing prescription drugs without prescription is a violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. This means that websites that offer this service are doing so illegally and that buying from them makes consumers a participant in an illegal activity.

Websites that do not require prescriptions encourage a medically unapproved practice.

Pharmacy websites that do not require prescriptions encourage self-prescription since patients can order medications without the approval of their doctors. While this may be convenient, the American Medical Association strongly discourages the practice of self-prescription among patients. This is for the simple reason that prescribing medicines does not only involve scribbling drug names on a piece of paper. The practice of prescribing starts with the evaluation of a patient's medical records, performance of laboratory tests, and assessment of symptoms ? tasks that require expertise which an ordinary person who is untrained in health care and medicine is unlikely to possess.

Without a proper prescription, patients risk taking the wrong medicines that can cause their conditions to worsen with severe side effects.

Online pharmacies that do not require prescriptions mostly sell counterfeit and unapproved drugs.

Consumers may think that they are getting more than their money's worth in buying medications from websites that do not require prescriptions. The promotions of these websites speak for themselves: instant results, miracle cures, and other too-good-to-be-true offers. There is a reason why these websites want to blind consumers with these offers ? they often sell drugs that are counterfeit, tampered with, or unapproved by the FDA. This means that these medications are ineffective, unsafe, and unreliable for public use.

Buying prescription drugs without a prescription causes consumers to miss out on proper health care.

By encouraging self-prescriptions and promoting the use of unapproved drugs, these websites cause consumers to miss out on proper health care. Patients miss the benefits of having a proper consultation and examination with a doctor that can help determine the true state of their health. Doctors who prescribe medicines to their patients also offer supervision especially for delicate cases. Without prescriptions, patients are left to monitor their own intake of the medications without proper instructions.