Pharmaceutical Websites: Gateway to Drug Abuse?

Though I am free of any major ailments that might require medicinal drugs at this point in time, I can say that the price of drugs is high, even with insurance.  The few times I have needed prescription medication, I have been very grateful that insurance has been willing to foot most of the bill.  However, buying prescription medications in pharmacies carries a hefty price tag, and many consumers are turning to web-based drug retailers based inside and outside the U.S. for their prescription needs. 

There are a lot of benefits to shopping for medication online; cheaper prices and home delivery are undeniably appealing.  But the internet, as always, tends to scare people who don't quite understand it.  A woman whose husband died of a prescription drug overdose with drugs he purchased at social health shopping website eDrugSearch.com blamed internet pharmacies, not her husband, for his death.  It turns out Drew Griffin (the fellow in question) actually purchased painkillers online that he had no prescription for, and his addiction ended in an overdose, according to CNN .  

eDrugSearch is a completely legitimate online health shopping site with an active social community.  Based in Canada, eDrugSearch allows users to communicate with one another and search for the best deals on prescription drugs in Canada as well as other international retailers.  Though there are "rogue online pharmacies," as PRWeb calls them, selling drugs illegally to groups like teenagers, to blame eDrugSearch or other social sites for the the illegal means of some would be like blaming Google or Facebook for a loved one becoming involved in cult activities.  

It is hard to not point fingers when someone close dies, but it is detrimental to the progress of internet culture to ignorantly blame a social website like eDrugSearch for the death of a painkiller addict.  No one wants to place blame on the addiction or addict, but when CNN or other media outlets start insinuating that social sites are means to illegal ends, somebody must speak up so society doesn't chalk up another strike against internet communities as being a source of evil.