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Comment by rwbcxrz | Hacker News Reader

I already have to worry about counterfeit electronics when ordering from Amazon. I’m not sure I’d trust them with prescriptions.

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Also, with expensive drugs I would worry that counterfeits could be introduced within Amazon‘s warehouses by workers, or within the postal system. Open a package, extract the original, and put the counterfeit in. For drugs that are worth hundreds of dollars per package, why not?

I expect pharmacies to double check everything they buy, and I somehow doubt Amazon will be able to ensure safety when the package is handled by 10 different people. If they develop some kind of (digital?) package seal, I might change my mind. Or every pill container has an RFID chip and is verifiable with the supplier‘s public certificate.

IIRC in The Everything Store, Stone recalled how Jewellery was a struggle because of its high value to weight ratio. Pharmaceuticals will probably be a similar problem, but I'm sure Amazon will have a process built in to manage for this if they chose to move into the area

Of course. People assuming that they'd toss drugs in with their random goods are not even trying to comprehend this business move.

They bought World Foods. They didn't start storing week old bread on their shelves.

The pharmacy division would be a completely separate process subject to all the additional _legal_ requirements all the other pharmacies adhere to. They're not going to just have buckets of Percocet lying around on shelves for anyone to access.

it would be difficult, every state has different requirements and they'd have to have a pharmacist licensed in every state to fill the rx. What they'd probably do is buy up a central fill facility in every state and hope the pharmacists who work there choose to stay (pharmacists are in short supply). Also, i'm not sure how they'd handle scheduled prescriptions ( like oxy ). At least in Texas those have to be reported to the state and e-prescribing is difficult so most patients end up with a physical scheduled rx that can't be scanned/faxed in, the pharmacist has to collect the original.

They would have to operate a pharmacy, they won't just dump expensive drugs into their fulfillment system.

You'd hope.

No, I still have sufficient faith in the regulatory apparatus in the US.

Especially for something where the businesses have set the regulator up as a gatekeeper.

Agreed with this.

I have a lot of problems with the pharma industry, but I'm not going to chance it with counterfeit medication just because I might save a few bucks. When I get something that's a counterfeit electronic off of Amazon - no harm, no foul, for the most part. Their customer support just refunds me the money and I can send it back. Can't really do the same with medication that might kill me.

I am not a big fan of the shoes, but I am a fan of Nike socks and underwear.

I am not worried about fakes from less famous brands, but I would not buy any Nike products from Amazon; I get them at local retailers, Nike's online store, or Niketown if I am visiting a big city.

I absolutely wouldn't trust Amazon with prescriptions. We couldn't even trust them with eclipse glasses.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/amazon-recalls-potentia...

The barrier of entry to pharmaceutical sales is a bit higher than electronics.

It shouldn't be, dodgy appliances can get you seriously injured or even killed. [1]

[1] http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1283818/woman-electro...

You can't be serious.

Drugs differing by a couple thousands of a gram (mg) can severely harm or kill someone. There are some drugs measured in micrograms. And that speaks nothing of potential contaminates and cross-contamination. There's also no serious black market for theft and addictive abuse of electronics. (Not one that compares in the order-of-magnitude to the amount of drugs abused every day.)

You can say electronics should be more regulated. You can't argue (without much more talking points) that electronics are as deadly or dangerous as drugs... things you put inside your body.

And if you bring up medical electronics... we're right back to the same strict regulation that drugs have. So we don't even necessarily need more regulation of them.

i just want to highlight a few scenarios to allay your gripe.

Not all deliveries come from the warehouse; think of liaise scenarios with dispensaries eg https://www.amazon.com/restaurants

Also having a special section for pharma products staffed with licensed chemists and thoroughly vetted delivery staff shouldn't be beyond amazon.

There are other vectors of implementation I dont think authentication would be a problem

Too many are on prescriptions unnecessarily. If they would change what, and how much they eat, they can likely get off the pills. Food is the best prescription.

This is an irresponsible comment.

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