Drugs easy to get online.

Despite a decline in the number of Web sites advertising or selling prescriptions for controlled substances, 85% of sites selling such drugs in the past year did not require a prescription, according to a new report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, New York. Researchers found 365 sites advertising or selling controlled substances during searches that took place in the first 3 months of 2008, compared with 581 sites found during the same period in 2007. The decline in the number of sites offering controlled substance prescriptions might reflect federal and state efforts to crack down on Internet drug trafficking, said Joseph A. Califano Jr., the center's chairman. Only 2 of the 365 sites found online in 2008 were certified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy as Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites, the same number found certified in 2007. Of those sites not requiring prescriptions, 42% explicitly stated that no prescription was needed, 45% offered "online consultations," which enable Internet users to get controlled substances online without a proper prescription, and 13% made no mention of a prescription.