The New York State Narcotic Bureau of Enforcement is investigating companies in New Jersey, Mississippi and elsewhere for facilitating Internet prescription medicine transactions. These facilitators include Web site owners, database providers and Internet service providers, none of which have New York offices, assets or residents. Any indictments or convictions resulting from such New York investigations may be barred by the Commerce Clause.
Acquiring medications via the Internet is not per se unlawful. By some estimates, nearly 30 percent of United States households purchased medicine online. Americans increasingly rely on the Internet to dispense and fill prescriptions. Consequently, states are seeking to enforce state Internet pharmacy regulations on nonresidents.
