Beware: Patients increasingly purchasing medications via social media

Abstract

Dangerous and illegal medicines are sold online through websites, but the problem does not stop there. Social media is quickly becoming the place where consumers of all ages are seeking drugs—illicit and prescription—often with deadly results.According to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, “Popular social media platforms have emerged as a direct-to-consumer marketing tool for illegal sellers.”A study in Health Policy from November 2021 found that consumers lacked the awareness of the dangers and risks associated with purchasing medications from online sources and social media platforms. “When asked about why they purchase medications online, the top motive to do so was acquiring legitimate medications, followed by getting a good deal on a prescription medication,” said Saleem Alhabash, PhD, who was part of the study's research team.The researchers also examined the prevalence of purchasing medications online and via social media as well as the motivations for such purchases. Study participants rated online pharmacies and retailers like Amazon as the “most safe” and expressed the highest confidence in these platforms where they bought prescription medications. This was followed by social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, with very little difference in ratings from online pharmacies. Instant messaging services like WhatsApp came in last.Previous research has shown that there is a 50% chance that any medication bought online is substandard, counterfeit, or falsified.“This is why our research team believes that consumers are not well- informed about the dangers of prescription medication purchased online, which increases health risks upon consuming these medications, especially at a time during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, when online pharmacies are booming and the practice of buying medications online has been exponentially growing,” said Alhabash, who is from Michigan State University.For all of the different types of platforms, Alhabash said participants’ responses exceeded the scale midpoint, which could indicate relatively moderate perceptions of safety and confidence in purchasing medications from these platforms.“Even the least safe [platforms] are trending in the safe direction,” said John Hertig, PharmD, FASHP, lead author of the study. “To me that is a real issue as a patient safety professional. We have a population who doesn't understand the inherent risk behind these platforms.”Falling into the trapAlhabash said it's hard to define who exactly is buying drugs from social media sites since they don't have strong evidence from their data.“However, by looking at social media use statistics, younger generations are the heaviest users of social media, so it is intuitive that they fall into the trap of buying medications illegally,” he said.Their research study took into account roughly 1,000 survey responses from U.S. participants who were at least 18 years old. The study used a cross-sectional survey of Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers.Alhabash said their research team has documented, anecdotally, a diverse set of strategies that sellers of substandard, counterfeit, or falsified medications are using on social media to sell to consumers. From their anecdotal research, Alhabash said illegal sellers leverage different strategies, from having ghost profiles that promote content to using an algorithm to find public posts where they comment with links to websites or information related to other social media accounts to purchase these medications.High-risk medicationsHertig, who is chair of pharmacy practice and associate professor at Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, said what consumers are purchasing online and via social media is startling.“They are not just purchasing illicit drugs, but we are seeing an explosion of prescription medications, too. These are things we'd buy in our pharmacies and now they are being bought and sold via Snapchat and without a prescription,” he said. “We don't know the source [of them,] and that's dangerous for consumers.”According to the study results, 54.6% of respondents bought narcotics, 52% bought stimulants, 35.9% bought COVID-19 medications and vaccines, and 29.6% bought sedatives from at least one of the online platforms.“These are high-risk medications,” said Hertig.The research team used logistic regressions to predict the purchase of all these drugs.“Safety perceptions and risk perceptions were not that predictive of purchase behaviors of these different classes of medications, with the exception of safety perceptions of instant messaging platforms,” said Alhabash. “More importantly, safety perceptions of social media as a platform for purchasing medications did not significantly predict any of the purchase behaviors for different medication types.”Alhabash noted that purchasing medications via social media was the strongest predictor of buying stimulants and narcotics online, however. “This tells us that the availability of such medications on social media platforms enhances the prevalence of purchase behaviors of these types of medications. This is alarming, as such types of medications are often bought illegally by younger generations and used, sometimes recreationally, which poses significant health risks,” he said.Hertig urged pharmacists to become educated on this topic and to ask patients where they might be buying other medications not picked up at the pharmacy.Continued medication shortages and restricted access to certain medications will only worsen the problem, Hertig said.“Pharmacists can work with patients if something is in shortage—we can help find a solution so patients don't have to go down this path,” he said.Illegal prescription drugs and fentanylSocial media has emerged as a prime marketplace for people seeking prescription drugs illegally and dealers who peddle the product, which is often contaminated with deadly fentanyl.Young people broadly lack information about the extent to which fentanyl is now endemic in the illicit prescription drug supply, along with the extraordinary danger and deadliness of fentanyl, suggest survey findings from technology companies Snap Inc. and Morning Consult.Only one-half of all 1,449 poll participants knew that counterfeit drugs might contain fentanyl, and only 27% of the teenage respondents understood the dangers such contamination may pose. According to DEA, 4 out of 10 counterfeit drugs contain lethal amounts of fentanyl.Traffickers typically use known emojis and code words to market to younger individuals who turn to social media for their medication needs.In response to criticism from law enforcement and the families of young people who have died, some social media sites have started increasing policing by shuttering dealers’ accounts, redirecting users to addiction services, using technology to disrupt drug exchanges, and conducting other outreach.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT) Dangerous and illegal medicines are sold online through websites, but the problem does not stop there. Social media is quickly becoming the place where consumers of all ages are seeking drugs—illicit and prescription—often with deadly results. According to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, “Popular social media platforms have emerged as a direct-to-consumer marketing tool for illegal sellers.” A study in Health Policy from November 2021 found that consumers lacked the awareness of the dangers and risks associated with purchasing medications from online sources and social media platforms. “When asked about why they purchase medications online, the top motive to do so was acquiring legitimate medications, followed by getting a good deal on a prescription medication,” said Saleem Alhabash, PhD, who was part of the study's research team. The researchers also examined the prevalence of purchasing medications online and via social media as well as the motivations for such purchases. Study participants rated online pharmacies and retailers like Amazon as the “most safe” and expressed the highest confidence in these platforms where they bought prescription medications. This was followed by social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, with very little difference in ratings from online pharmacies. Instant messaging services like WhatsApp came in last. Previous research has shown that there is a 50% chance that any medication bought online is substandard, counterfeit, or falsified. “This is why our research team believes that consumers are not well- informed about the dangers of prescription medication purchased online, which increases health risks upon consuming these medications, especially at a time during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, when online pharmacies are booming and the practice of buying medications online has been exponentially growing,” said Alhabash, who is from Michigan State University. For all of the different types of platforms, Alhabash said participants’ responses exceeded the scale midpoint, which could indicate relatively moderate perceptions of safety and confidence in purchasing medications from these platforms. “Even the least safe [platforms] are trending in the safe direction,” said John Hertig, PharmD, FASHP, lead author of the study. “To me that is a real issue as a patient safety professional. We have a population who doesn't understand the inherent risk behind these platforms.” Falling into the trapAlhabash said it's hard to define who exactly is buying drugs from social media sites since they don't have strong evidence from their data.“However, by looking at social media use statistics, younger generations are the heaviest users of social media, so it is intuitive that they fall into the trap of buying medications illegally,” he said.Their research study took into account roughly 1,000 survey responses from U.S. participants who were at least 18 years old. The study used a cross-sectional survey of Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers.Alhabash said their research team has documented, anecdotally, a diverse set of strategies that sellers of substandard, counterfeit, or falsified medications are using on social media to sell to consumers. From their anecdotal research, Alhabash said illegal sellers leverage different strategies, from having ghost profiles that promote content to using an algorithm to find public posts where they comment with links to websites or information related to other social media accounts to purchase these medications. Alhabash said it's hard to define who exactly is buying drugs from social media sites since they don't have strong evidence from their data. “However, by looking at social media use statistics, younger generations are the heaviest users of social media, so it is intuitive that they fall into the trap of buying medications illegally,” he said. Their research study took into account roughly 1,000 survey responses from U.S. participants who were at least 18 years old. The study used a cross-sectional survey of Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers. Alhabash said their research team has documented, anecdotally, a diverse set of strategies that sellers of substandard, counterfeit, or falsified medications are using on social media to sell to consumers. From their anecdotal research, Alhabash said illegal sellers leverage different strategies, from having ghost profiles that promote content to using an algorithm to find public posts where they comment with links to websites or information related to other social media accounts to purchase these medications. High-risk medicationsHertig, who is chair of pharmacy practice and associate professor at Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, said what consumers are purchasing online and via social media is startling.“They are not just purchasing illicit drugs, but we are seeing an explosion of prescription medications, too. These are things we'd buy in our pharmacies and now they are being bought and sold via Snapchat and without a prescription,” he said. “We don't know the source [of them,] and that's dangerous for consumers.”According to the study results, 54.6% of respondents bought narcotics, 52% bought stimulants, 35.9% bought COVID-19 medications and vaccines, and 29.6% bought sedatives from at least one of the online platforms.“These are high-risk medications,” said Hertig.The research team used logistic regressions to predict the purchase of all these drugs.“Safety perceptions and risk perceptions were not that predictive of purchase behaviors of these different classes of medications, with the exception of safety perceptions of instant messaging platforms,” said Alhabash. “More importantly, safety perceptions of social media as a platform for purchasing medications did not significantly predict any of the purchase behaviors for different medication types.”Alhabash noted that purchasing medications via social media was the strongest predictor of buying stimulants and narcotics online, however. “This tells us that the availability of such medications on social media platforms enhances the prevalence of purchase behaviors of these types of medications. This is alarming, as such types of medications are often bought illegally by younger generations and used, sometimes recreationally, which poses significant health risks,” he said.Hertig urged pharmacists to become educated on this topic and to ask patients where they might be buying other medications not picked up at the pharmacy.Continued medication shortages and restricted access to certain medications will only worsen the problem, Hertig said.“Pharmacists can work with patients if something is in shortage—we can help find a solution so patients don't have to go down this path,” he said.Illegal prescription drugs and fentanylSocial media has emerged as a prime marketplace for people seeking prescription drugs illegally and dealers who peddle the product, which is often contaminated with deadly fentanyl.Young people broadly lack information about the extent to which fentanyl is now endemic in the illicit prescription drug supply, along with the extraordinary danger and deadliness of fentanyl, suggest survey findings from technology companies Snap Inc. and Morning Consult.Only one-half of all 1,449 poll participants knew that counterfeit drugs might contain fentanyl, and only 27% of the teenage respondents understood the dangers such contamination may pose. According to DEA, 4 out of 10 counterfeit drugs contain lethal amounts of fentanyl.Traffickers typically use known emojis and code words to market to younger individuals who turn to social media for their medication needs.In response to criticism from law enforcement and the families of young people who have died, some social media sites have started increasing policing by shuttering dealers’ accounts, redirecting users to addiction services, using technology to disrupt drug exchanges, and conducting other outreach. Hertig, who is chair of pharmacy practice and associate professor at Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, said what consumers are purchasing online and via social media is startling. “They are not just purchasing illicit drugs, but we are seeing an explosion of prescription medications, too. These are things we'd buy in our pharmacies and now they are being bought and sold via Snapchat and without a prescription,” he said. “We don't know the source [of them,] and that's dangerous for consumers.” According to the study results, 54.6% of respondents bought narcotics, 52% bought stimulants, 35.9% bought COVID-19 medications and vaccines, and 29.6% bought sedatives from at least one of the online platforms. “These are high-risk medications,” said Hertig. The research team used logistic regressions to predict the purchase of all these drugs. “Safety perceptions and risk perceptions were not that predictive of purchase behaviors of these different classes of medications, with the exception of safety perceptions of instant messaging platforms,” said Alhabash. “More importantly, safety perceptions of social media as a platform for purchasing medications did not significantly predict any of the purchase behaviors for different medication types.” Alhabash noted that purchasing medications via social media was the strongest predictor of buying stimulants and narcotics online, however. “This tells us that the availability of such medications on social media platforms enhances the prevalence of purchase behaviors of these types of medications. This is alarming, as such types of medications are often bought illegally by younger generations and used, sometimes recreationally, which poses significant health risks,” he said. Hertig urged pharmacists to become educated on this topic and to ask patients where they might be buying other medications not picked up at the pharmacy. Continued medication shortages and restricted access to certain medications will only worsen the problem, Hertig said. “Pharmacists can work with patients if something is in shortage—we can help find a solution so patients don't have to go down this path,” he said. Illegal prescription drugs and fentanylSocial media has emerged as a prime marketplace for people seeking prescription drugs illegally and dealers who peddle the product, which is often contaminated with deadly fentanyl.Young people broadly lack information about the extent to which fentanyl is now endemic in the illicit prescription drug supply, along with the extraordinary danger and deadliness of fentanyl, suggest survey findings from technology companies Snap Inc. and Morning Consult.Only one-half of all 1,449 poll participants knew that counterfeit drugs might contain fentanyl, and only 27% of the teenage respondents understood the dangers such contamination may pose. According to DEA, 4 out of 10 counterfeit drugs contain lethal amounts of fentanyl.Traffickers typically use known emojis and code words to market to younger individuals who turn to social media for their medication needs.In response to criticism from law enforcement and the families of young people who have died, some social media sites have started increasing policing by shuttering dealers’ accounts, redirecting users to addiction services, using technology to disrupt drug exchanges, and conducting other outreach. Illegal prescription drugs and fentanylSocial media has emerged as a prime marketplace for people seeking prescription drugs illegally and dealers who peddle the product, which is often contaminated with deadly fentanyl.Young people broadly lack information about the extent to which fentanyl is now endemic in the illicit prescription drug supply, along with the extraordinary danger and deadliness of fentanyl, suggest survey findings from technology companies Snap Inc. and Morning Consult.Only one-half of all 1,449 poll participants knew that counterfeit drugs might contain fentanyl, and only 27% of the teenage respondents understood the dangers such contamination may pose. According to DEA, 4 out of 10 counterfeit drugs contain lethal amounts of fentanyl.Traffickers typically use known emojis and code words to market to younger individuals who turn to social media for their medication needs.In response to criticism from law enforcement and the families of young people who have died, some social media sites have started increasing policing by shuttering dealers’ accounts, redirecting users to addiction services, using technology to disrupt drug exchanges, and conducting other outreach. Illegal prescription drugs and fentanylSocial media has emerged as a prime marketplace for people seeking prescription drugs illegally and dealers who peddle the product, which is often contaminated with deadly fentanyl.Young people broadly lack information about the extent to which fentanyl is now endemic in the illicit prescription drug supply, along with the extraordinary danger and deadliness of fentanyl, suggest survey findings from technology companies Snap Inc. and Morning Consult.Only one-half of all 1,449 poll participants knew that counterfeit drugs might contain fentanyl, and only 27% of the teenage respondents understood the dangers such contamination may pose. According to DEA, 4 out of 10 counterfeit drugs contain lethal amounts of fentanyl.Traffickers typically use known emojis and code words to market to younger individuals who turn to social media for their medication needs.In response to criticism from law enforcement and the families of young people who have died, some social media sites have started increasing policing by shuttering dealers’ accounts, redirecting users to addiction services, using technology to disrupt drug exchanges, and conducting other outreach. Social media has emerged as a prime marketplace for people seeking prescription drugs illegally and dealers who peddle the product, which is often contaminated with deadly fentanyl. Young people broadly lack information about the extent to which fentanyl is now endemic in the illicit prescription drug supply, along with the extraordinary danger and deadliness of fentanyl, suggest survey findings from technology companies Snap Inc. and Morning Consult. Only one-half of all 1,449 poll participants knew that counterfeit drugs might contain fentanyl, and only 27% of the teenage respondents understood the dangers such contamination may pose. According to DEA, 4 out of 10 counterfeit drugs contain lethal amounts of fentanyl. Traffickers typically use known emojis and code words to market to younger individuals who turn to social media for their medication needs. In response to criticism from law enforcement and the families of young people who have died, some social media sites have started increasing policing by shuttering dealers’ accounts, redirecting users to addiction services, using technology to disrupt drug exchanges, and conducting other outreach.