I knew at daybreak it can be anyone
could be a sibling parent even the
person sitting next to you at work the
prescription drug crisis is getting
worse every day
we had 47,000 people overdosed on
opioids and fentanyl last year in the
United States what we believe if very
strongly is that the Internet is helping
to deliver these drugs this morning
Pizza Baucus is looking at how Facebook
is playing a role in a major crackdown
on illegal prescription drugs P well
Vince that's correct prescription drugs
are expensive especially if you don't
have insurance so it can be tempting to
look online for a cheaper alternative
but this morning a national pharmacy
group says 95 percent of websites
selling those cheaper drugs are doing so
against the law from 2006 to 2017 the
prices for most chronic use name-brand
prescription drugs have soared 214
percent leading many people to go online
to buy their medication for cheaper easy
availability for anyone to go online and
purchase these drugs even in bulk
quantities and have them shipped
directly to their home but here's the
problem what people think they're taking
is not what they're taking just in
Arizona they seized over 350,000
fentanyl pills that were labeled as
oxycontin so researchers teamed up with
Facebook to crack down on these
dangerous drug sales the team developed
an algorithm that can spot the newest
slang for street drugs like fentanyl and
automatically flag the content for
removal so users can't get to it they've
also been cracking down on fake online
pharmacies so how can you tell what's
fake from what's real the thing you want
to look for when buying your drugs
online or do they really require
prescription if not that could be a sign
the pharmacy you're working with is not
legit some other tips make sure of FDA
approval even a generic drug needs one
check where the webpage is located and
for how long it's been around some anti
fishing software like net craft allows
users to see exactly where a website is
based and also makes sure instructions
on how to
the drug are included in the packaging
now buying drugs online isn't just
dangerous it could also get you arrested
the DEA on its website has a whole
section on this they say that buying
controlled substances online without a
prescription
can in some cases land you in prison
yeah that's enough of a warning all
right thanks so much