Psychiatric medication

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Can I buy medication online?

A properly registered internet pharmacy will only supply prescription drugs if both:

• you have a prescription from a legitimate prescriber, and
• the prescription is made out specifically for you.

Before buying any kind of medication from an internet pharmacy, you should make sure it carries the General Pharmaceutical Council's registration logo, including a registration number, like this:

You can make sure that the logo is being used legitimately by checking the registration number is listed correctly on the pharmacy regulation body's online register.

Since July 2015, it has been mandatory for all online pharmacies operating in the EU to show the following logo:

What if I don't have a prescription from a doctor?

Buying prescription medication on the internet without a doctor's prescription is extremely unwise and can be very dangerous.

You risk getting a drug that:

• hasn't been manufactured properly or hygienically
• is contaminated
• isn't the correct dosage
• contains a completely different substance to what you were expecting.

This information was published in 2016. We will revise it in 2019.

References are available on request. If you would like to reproduce any of this information, see our page on permissions and licensing.

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