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Don't Do It ... Unless

Written by Dr. Dave Hnida, CBS4 Medical EditorYou are comfortable with a batting average of .030. In Colorado Rockies lingo, that's batting 1 for 33.

And 1 for 33 is the number of online pharmacies that are legit. The rest: benched!

I know a lot of folks who want to save some money on prescriptions, or maybe are trying to score some meds that they won't or can't get a prescription for (such as painkillers or tranquilizers.)

So they go online. A dangerous place to be shopping for drugs.

(Important point -- this is not about programs such as Medco or Express Scripts that many of us safely use. )

The problem is now so big the FDA has launched a nationwide heads-up program warning us to do our shopping only at legit sites (few, and hard to find), or to simply avoid going online to medicate altogether.

Why? The problems with the sites are many. And the question I would ask you is: would you swallow a pill from some cut-rate/ off-shore/ suspicious sounding / fly-by-night pharmacy?

Maybe, that is, if you're willing to buy something fake, understrength, expired or contaminated. Let's face it, pop a couple of unknown tabs and you could be pushing up daisies.

It's just not worth the risk. So for more info, here's a link to an FDA website that will tell you what to look for if you shop online for your pharmacy needs:

fda.gov/...BeSafeRxKnowYourOnlinePharmacy/

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