Are Online Canadian Pharmacies Safer than Mexican Online Pharmacies?
online pharmacy safety
It’s not new information that prescription drug costs in the United States are skyrocketing. They’ve been rising for quite some time – and it doesn’t seem there’s any end in sight.
As Americans continue to suffer from dramatic medication price hikes and soaring costs for healthcare, it’s no wonder Americans are on the lookout for creative ways to save on their required medications.
One extremely dangerous method that desperate Americans may resort to is medication nonadherence. Nonadherence is the practice of skipping doses or taking medication incorrectly, sometimes in order to save money.
This may feel like a savvy, frugal strategy, but it can escalate health concerns. Working with a physician and only purchasing medication with a valid prescription can help. With this type of support, patients tend to understand the consequences of nonadherence and are better able to stick to a healthy, helpful dosing routine.
Of course, if Americans are looking for low-cost ways to adhere to their recommended medication regimens, they may resort to creative ways to source their prescription drugs (sometimes, whether they use a valid prescription or not).
One such method becoming more and more popular is buying medicine from international online pharmacies.
Here’s the thing: Not all online pharmacies are created equal. Let’s take a look at what can happen when struggling Americans go across both Northern and Southern borders to purchase their prescription drugs.
Buying Medication from an Online Canadian Pharmacy
If you’re looking for a reliable way to source your prescription medication, there are many benefits to ordering from an online Canadian pharmacy.
Let’s take a quick look at the highlights and the most important considerations you should take into account when choosing an online pharmacy.
Safety
When you’re purchasing necessary medications online, the #1 thing you’re likely worried about is safety, right? You’re looking for lower prices, too, but your health should always come first.
There’s little point in saving money on your prescription if the prescription you ordered isn’t correct when it arrives. You need to be able to rely on your online pharmacy.
We couldn’t agree more. You should prioritize working with an online pharmacy that’s highly rated for safety. There are online pharmacies that raise red flags and veering clear of those would be best for many reasons.
(If you’re concerned you won’t know what to look for, don’t worry. We’ll discuss some examples of red flags in a moment.)
Fortunately, there’s an easy way to weed out the questionable companies and focus on the trustworthy ones.
In Canada, there are two groups that provide accreditation and legitimacy for online pharmacies. Pharmacies certified by these groups can be reasonably assured to be safe, effective, and reliable. The two organizations are:
- The Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) is a not-for-profit organization committed to a careful vetting process for international online pharmacies. CIPA is focused on safety and accuracy, and their criteria for certification follow those principles. Organizations who earn the certification may display the seal on their website, but the public can always double-check an online pharmacy they’re considering against the list on the CIPA website.
- The International Pharmacy Association of British Columbia (IPABC) is a group that "represent[s] the interests of licensed international mail-order pharmacies that dispense Health Canada-approved medications from Canada via valid prescriptions.” This organization specifically focuses on online pharmacies that dispense from at least one pharmacy within the province of British Columbia. Being IPABC-certified means having an additional system in place to verify that an online pharmacy is doing everything it can to look out for its patients’ best interests.
Both associations have high standards for safety. Minimum requirements for any pharmacy to receive certification through these groups include valid, current prescriptions for all patients, a licensed pharmacist on staff, confirmation of patient demographic and medical information, and proper procedures to ensure patient confidentiality and privacy as well as dispensing pharmacy licensure to be in good standing.
It is a CIPA requirement for an online pharmacy to also be either IPABC-certified or be certified by the Manitoba International Pharmacy Association. All three credentialing groups’ criteria align very closely, so provided that the Canadian pharmacy is located within British Columbia and are focused on the high standards CIPA requires be provided, chances are that they’ll pass the IPABC inspection with little-to-no issues.
When you’re researching pharmacies, it’s always a good idea to do a quick check to see if the company you’re looking at has been certified by CIPA.
Reliability
Getting a prescription for your medication can be anxiety-inducing enough. Whether you’re dealing with a chronic health issue or trying to find relief for a severe allergy, you need the searching and purchasing process for your online medication to be as seamless as possible.
Thanks to the organizations above, finding an online Canadian pharmacy you can trust is easy. Just make sure the company you’re looking at is certified through CIPA, as a minimum. Then be sure to consider which online pharmacy will provide you with the best customer service.
At NorthWestPharmacy.com, we take pride in ensuring your order is fully accurate, every time. Our team works tirelessly to make sure your prescription is filled in a timely manner, and you receive the medication you need to feel happier and healthier.
Savings
As noted above, exorbitant medication prices are driving Americans to international online pharmacies — and we completely understand. Our online pharmacy operation has grown because we share that deep concern over the high cost of life-saving drugs.
Put simply, prescription drugs don’t need to cost as much as they do for Americans. Our team searches far and wide for authentic, safe prescription and non-prescription drugs at dramatic discounts. We then pass on those savings to patients in America.
Here, at NorthWestPharmacy.com, customers save an average of more than 50% off local retail — and often, the savings are far more. In some cases, customers enjoy savings higher than 90%!
If brand-name medications are required for your care, it’s certainly in your best interest to consider an online Canadian pharmacy and the same goes for a vast array of generics too.
For many reasons, brand-name medications are extremely expensive in the United States. You’ll enjoy steep savings when you buy brand-name prescription drugs from a safe online Canadian pharmacy and international drugstore. (Don’t believe us? Check our prices against what you’re paying now.)
Convenience
Who doesn’t love the idea of getting their prescriptions filled and shipped straight to their front door? Many safe online pharmacies can deliver medications wherever they are needed.
At NorthWestPharmacy.com, we mail you your prescription medications in 30-day or 90-day increments. With 90-day packs of medication, you’ll have additional benefits, such as fewer times per year you need to think about ordering medication and lower costs because the prescription price (per unit) is typically lower with the larger supply of medication.
Order from our company and you’ll find it’s easy to refill your prescription. We aim to make sure getting the medication you need is as convenient as possible.
Buying Medication from an Online Mexican Pharmacy
If purchasing prescription drugs from an online Canadian pharmacies can be so convenient and safe, it may stand to reason that buying medication from an online Mexican pharmacy could be as well.
Particularly if you live in the Southwest United States, you may wonder if purchasing meds from across the Southern border is a safe, reliable idea. This strategy may connect you with medication quickly, but it may or may not be a safe solution.
Above, we mentioned just some of the rigorous standards online Canadian pharmacies must meet before they’re certified as a safe option. If you’re interested in purchasing medications from a Mexican pharmacy, you may hope to see similar requirements in place.
As you may recall, one of the top safety standards in Canada is an unyielding requirement for prescriptions. In order to buy prescription medications from an online Canadian pharmacy, patients must see a doctor and receive a valid, current prescription. This prevents all kinds of dangerous use of medications.
Is There Prescription-Free Purchasing from Mexican Pharmacies?
It’s clear that many of the people trying to purchase medication from Mexican pharmacies are in desperate need of lower prices. It’s also clear, in many cases, they aren’t bringing a prescription when they go to buy their needed meds.
While it can vary from establishment to establishment, prescriptions aren’t necessarily required from patients at Mexican pharmacies (certainly not as universally as they are in Canada and many other regulated drug markets). This can lead to medicine orders that are outsized, inappropriate, or clearly dangerous.
For example, it’s not unheard of for people to go across the border to buy a year’s worth of medication at one time without a prescriiption. This not only leads to potentially poor use of prescription drugs, it posits some concerns about the potency and safety of drugs beyond their expiration dates.
Many may believe that not requiring a prescription is a good thing. After all, many chronically-ill Americans believe they know precisely what they need to take, and are familiar enough with their health goals to be responsible for their medication. But consider what the absence of a prescription requirement says about the integrity of the online pharmacy.
If they’re willing to give you a script that a trained medical professional hasn’t recommended for you, where do they draw the line? Would they be willing to give you medications that are tampered with (...or the wrong meds altogether) if it benefited their bottom line? Are they sourcing their drugs from licensed and reputable wholesalers or buying from the cheapest and possibly dubious sources? Can you be sure the medications you get from them are authentic?
Medical Professionals vs. Salesmen: Who’s at the Pharmacy Counter?
The personnel assisting patients with their orders will vary from company to company. In Canadian online pharmacies, there are universal requirements to have pharmacists on staff and rigorous training protocols in place for pharmacy technicians.
In Mexico, the person serving you at an in-person counter or online pharmacy may not be a pharmacist. They may simply be a person interested in your purchasing power, instead of you and your personal health goals.
Think about this: Americans are used to advertising from pharmaceutical companies. They’re used to living in a world where manufacturers design and publish materials designed to get people to buy their medications.
In America, this (sort of) works out for patient safety, because only physicians and licensed nurse practitioners (with some limitations) are legally authorized to prescribe medications, no matter what a patient may request.
If an American, operating under the influence of significantly-biased advertising, were to be able to purchase any medication of their choosing without a qualified doctor’s oversight, they could be risking their lives.
Doctors carefully think about the way medications could perform for each patient, taking other medications and possible side effects and the patient’s unique health situation into consideration. It’s usually not possible for a patient, themselves, to perform these specialized analyses.
As a result, patients getting medications for themselves doesn’t always end well. Taking medication without a prescription can have severe consequences.
Online Medication: Safety First
When you’re ordering from an online pharmacy, you’re making a purchase to benefit you and your health journey. Since that’s the case, safety should be your #1 concern — and the #1 concern of any online pharmacy you’re ordering from.
To truly figure out which pharmacies have your back, you may need to do a little detective work. While an online pharmacy from anywhere in the world might say they’re extremely safety-conscious, the proof will be in their track record and online pharmacy customer reviews.
Taking some time to go through a pharmacy’s history of service can be enlightening. Pay special attention to any less-than-stellar reviews an online pharmacy may have. Conversely, if an online pharmacy has consistently high ratings, that’s a strong vote of confidence for them.
If you don’t have time to wade through thousands of customer reviews, that’s completely understandable.
When you need to know you can trust a pharmacy without vetting them thoroughly yourself, turn to associations that do the vetting for you. If you find an online international pharmacy you’re considering has a long list of credentials (and, in particular, IPABC and CIPA certifications), you can rest assured that you’re ordering from the right place.
At NorthWestPharmacy.com, we take our focus on customer safety a step further than most by only working with suppliers and pharmacies that are CIPA-certified too. When you order from us, you know you’re filling your prescription in a safe and reliable way!
Ordering Medication Through an Online Canadian Pharmacy
No matter how objectively safe ordering from our certified online Canadian pharmacy and international drgstore may be, we understand that some may need extra assistance.
If it’s your first time ordering medication online or you want some assistance, you should know you can speak with the knowledgeable customer service representatives at NorthWestPharmacy.com.
Whether you have a question about your prescription, want to discuss your medication with a pharmacist, or need help with the ordering process, our friendly associates will be there to help you with anything you require.
We also have three different ways you can order — including through our website and over the phone — so you can place your order as easily as possible.
Over the years, as we’ve made customer savings, safety and service our top priorities, we’ve collected consistently high ratings. We’re proud to have a 4.8/5 star rating, as well as 400,000+ independent reviews from verified customers. We are the most reviewed and independently five star-rated online pharmacy in the world!
Interested to see just how cost-effective, easy and reliable ordering your medications online can be? At NorthWestPharmacy.com, we’re pleased to be of service. Contact our team today at 1-866-539-5330, or reach out online. We’re excited to help you move towards your health goals and save big through our safe online pharmacy!
