FEDS SEEKING TO CURB ONLINE SALES OF DRUGS

Foreign Web Sites Ask Few Questions, Mail Shipments In Unmarked Envelopes

WASHINGTON -- With consumers turning to online drugstores based overseas
for bargains, as well as for illicit substances and prescriptions they are
embarrassed to seek from their physicians, the federal government's
seizures of imported drugs soared last year to thousands of parcels
containing more than a million pills.

Customs inspectors intercepted all sorts of drugs, including steroids,
hormones, aphrodisiacs, impotence medications, anti-cancer pills,
painkillers and tranquilizers sent from Thailand, China, Mexico,
Switzerland and many other countries.

But the shipments that they impounded are probably only a small fraction of
what consumers are illegally buying from fly-by-night Web sites, many of
which offer to mail drugs in unmarked envelopes with few questions asked,
according to customs and health officials.

The U.S. Customs Service seized 9,725 packages with prescription drugs last
year -- about 4.5 times as many as in 1998, when they confiscated 2,145
packages. The number of pills and tablets impounded by the Customs Service
jumped to 1.9 million, from 760,720 in 1998.

Federal officials said the drugs that were seized had not been approved for
use in the United States, did not comply with U.S. labeling requirements,
or fell below federal standards for the quality and purity of drugs.
Because of controls like these, most imports of drugs from Internet
suppliers are illegal, although buyers are rarely prosecuted.

In an interview, Raymond Kelly, the commissioner of the Customs Service,
said: "The Internet has given us a lot more work. We've been deluged with
prescription drugs coming in from overseas. It's a major challenge to deal
with this huge increase in volume."

President Clinton recently announced an initiative to protect consumers
buying drugs on the Internet. But his proposal dealt mainly with online
pharmacies based in the United States, which would, for the first time,
have to get approval from the federal government before they could sell
drugs in cyberspace.

That has left administration officials scratching their heads over what can
be done to police the virtually unregulated foreign Web sites that have
sprung up to cater to the U.S. market.

"That's much more difficult than domestic enforcement," said Chris
Jennings, the health policy coordinator at the White House.

Regulation of offshore Internet sites is tricky for the Clinton
administration because Vice President Al Gore and other Democrats
continually berate drug companies for charging higher prices in the United
States than in other countries, and one of the main reasons consumers buy
online from foreign pharmacies is to get lower prices.

Other consumers turn to the Internet to get drugs that are illegal to sell
here, or to get legitimate medicines like Viagra, the anti-impotence pill,
without the trouble and possible embarrassment of consulting a physician.

The Food and Drug Administration advises consumers: "Don't purchase from
foreign Web sites at this time. Generally it will be illegal to import the
drugs bought from these sites, the risks are greater and there is very
little the U.S. government can do if you get ripped off."

A Web site called Drug Quest says it can, for a fee, help Americans "buy
almost any drug without a prescription" from pharmacies in Mexico, the
Caribbean and other parts of the world. These pharmacies sell drugs at
"drastically discounted rates" and ship the merchandise discreetly so that
"95 percent of their shipments arrive unmolested," says the Web site,
operated by a Florida company called LMB Enterprises.

Another Web site, operated by Vitality Health Products in Bangkok,
Thailand, promises "prescription-free pharmaceuticals by e-mail at
incredibly low prices."

And it seems to have a medicine for every malady:

"Hair loss? Try Minoxidil and Finasteride (Propecia). Erection problems?
Try Viagra, Yohimbine and Trazodone. Aging skin? Try Retin-A and AHA
creams. Poor memory, IQ? Try Piracetam, Hydergine and Vinpocetine. Hormone
replacement? Check out testosterone & Premarin."

Vitality says, "We guarantee to send your order discreetly packed, without
any reference to the contents on the outside of the packet." But it says:
"Be warned. Medicines sent by post are much more likely to be stolen in
transit or intercepted by the authorities than other mail-order products.
If your order is lost, stolen in the post or confiscated by the
authorities, we guarantee to refund your money immediately."

The company even has a Web page on "customs problems," which tells
consumers what to do if an order is seized by the Customs Service.

Thomas Falanga, a supervisory customs inspector at Kennedy International
Airport in New York, said: "You can probably buy anything you want over the
Internet and have it shipped to your house. We've found a big increase in
prescription drugs and anabolic steroids from virtually all parts of the
world."

Falanga said inspectors could not possibly examine every item, because more
than 100 international flights arrived at Kennedy each day and most carried
huge amounts of mail.

Some packages carry customs declarations falsely describing their contents.
Government records show, for example, that potent unapproved drugs like GBL
and GHB have been labeled as wood softener or bubble bath, even though the
products are promoted on the Web with claims that they can build muscles,
enhance sex, reduce stress and induce sleep.

When the Customs Service seizes drugs, it may send a warning to the
purchaser. In rare cases, if the shipment includes a large quantity of
drugs with a high potential for resale and abuse, customs agents may
deliver the drugs and arrest the buyer.

But Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Customs Service, said the agency usually
refrained from taking action when consumers imported small amounts of
prescription drugs -- up to a three-month supply -- for their own use, and
the drugs posed no "unreasonable risk" to the users.

"We won't arrest Granny just because she wants to get her drugs cheaper,"
Boyd said.