The Internet makes purchasing medicine convenient and easy. Yet convenience often comes with dangerous risks.

The worldwide counterfeit epidemic is very real and very scary. The World Health Organization has said that up to 10 percent of medicines available globally are counterfeits, posing a serious health hazard. In addition, the Center for Medicines in the Public Interest estimated that counterfeit drug sales will reach $75 billion globally in 2010, an increase of more than 90 percent from 2005.

It doesn’t stop there – and the problem isn’t limited to developing countries. According to Customs and Border Protection officials, seizures of counterfeit imports coming into the U.S. rose by 22 percent – and by 141 percent in value – during the first half of fiscal 2007.

A variety of programs and policies have been created to protect patients and help them make prescription purchases safely.  With all of the facts laid out before you, would you still consider buying a medicine from a foreign country or online pharmacy that cannot guarantee whether the medicine they’re exporting into America is real or fake?

There are safer alternatives in America that can help patients access medicines: read more below.