Internet Pharmacy Prescription and Phentermine Overdose

Sir: The Internet is now widely used by patients for both health information and prescription services. Yet, a MEDLINE search in January 2002 using the phrase "Internet pharmacy" showed a total of 99 articles; nearly all were geared toward health care management or the general public. There are only few published reports of bad outcome resulting from medical information obtained from the Internet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration noted 326 Internet sites selling pharmaceutical products. The exact numbers are difficult to quantify as Web sites are constantly changing. I report a case of overdose with phentermine that was obtained through an Internet pharmacy.