Buying online allows some men to avoid restrictions

Drug manufacturers routinely lobby governments and the result is that both tend to say the same kind of things. On the question of whether people should be allowed to buy drugs without a prescription, both raise the question of public safety. Most medications are powerful and, unless patients are checked out before use, there can be unfortunate side-effects or, in the worst cases, serious injury from the use of the drug. When asked to comment on the rise of online pharmacies that will sell drugs without a prescription, the public safety issue is repeated. It's bad if people can evade the measures put in place to protect them. Worse, there's no guarantee that the online pharmacy will supply the right drug. And, in fairness, it's always a good idea for people to consult their local healthcare provider before using any drug, and people should only buy online from pharmacies that come highly recommended (as in those reached through this site). All of which brings me to a case that's making headlines on the inside pages of newspapers in Brooklyn. We're interested in the activities of Elvis Elano. The Christian name gives away his age with his birth coming at the height of the King's fame. Anyway, this forty-something man has been carrying on an affair with a fifty-something woman. He was determined to ensure his performance was never less than perfect so he relied on the little blue bill. There was just one problem. He could not afford to have suspicious plain brown packages arriving at his home address. So his mistress was more than happy to co-operate, allowing him to use her address for delivery purposes. So far, this all looks like a routine case of adultery except that there's one small fact omitted from the description that converts this into a rather different situation. Elvis is not married. He's a sexually experienced man who routinely bought his viagra online, knowing that he sometimes had problems. But the nature and extent of Elvis' problems have grown in dramatic ways. He's a Catholic priest, now suspended from his work in the diocese and the Catholic hospital where he also acts as a counselor and confessor. He's accused of being predatory. The woman was going through a divorce and was looking for spiritual guidance from the priest. It's alleged he said their meeting was not an accident, that a relationship with him had been ordained by God. This potentially coercive seduction technique found a willing party and, for seven months, the viagra worked its magic. Now, the knives are out and multi-million dollars of damages are being claimed from the priest and the diocese for failing to supervise him. All of which brings us back to the point that, if he had been forced to go to his own physician to get a prescription for the viagra, questions would have been asked about the vow of celibacy. Because he could buy viagra online, he avoided one of the methods for detecting inappropriate use. Not quite what the pharmaceutical companies would have had in mind, but it does fit their public safety concerns.