Newly, a number of pharmacies have begun in use over the internet. A lot of such pharmacies are, in a little ways, similar to society pharmacies; the main difference is the method by which the medications are requested and received. Some regulars consider this to be more suitable than traveling to a community drugstore.

Some online pharmacies sell instruction drugs without requiring a prescription. Some clients order drugs from such pharmacies to keep away from the "inconvenience" of visiting a doctor or to attain medications which their doctors were reluctant to prescribe. However, this perform has been criticized as potentially unsafe, particularly by those who feel that only doctors can dependably assess contraindications, risk/benefit ratios, and an individual's on the whole suitability for use of a medication. There have also been reports of such pharmacies supply substandard products.

In the United States, there has been a shove to legalize introduction of medications from Canada and other countries, in order to decrease consumer costs. Although importation of instruction medication currently violates FDA system and federal laws, enforcement is usually targeted at global drug suppliers, rather than customers.