Four-Month Pilot Aims to Address Illegal Online Opioid Sales

Partner Libby Baney and director Matthew Rubin co-authored an article for The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy titled “Four-Month Pilot Aims to Address Illegal Online Opioid Sales,” regarding the formation of a 120-day pilot program targeting the illegal advertisement and sale of prescription opioids and illicit narcotics online.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) formally announced the pilot on June 8. The pilot includes representatives from FDA, NTIA, and three United States-based domain name registries.

Baney and Rubin identify several voluntary pathways registries maintain to mitigate harm to consumers and the proliferation of dangerous content online, such as locking the domain to avoid transfer of the content to an alternate URL or platform, deleting the domain from the registry, or placing a hold on the domain until a further review is completed.