Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Legal 'Highs' Available Through The Internet-Implications And Solutions?, Alison L. Jones

Alison L Jones

Prescription drugs are purchased via the Internet, but the consistent finding across many different populations is that the Internet appears to be a relatively minor source for illicit purchases of prescription medications by individual end users, the obvious exception being phosphodiesterase inhibitors for erectile dysfunction. In contrast, the world of escalating availability of illicit drugs via the Internet is paralleled by escalating availability of ‘legal highs’ via the Internet. These sites represent an important public health challenge, not least because of the ease of purchase but also because of the ‘relative anonymity’ for the purchaser.