Google cuts off drug dealers' supply chain

Search giant Google said it will no longer allow unlicensed drug dealers to buy advertisements on its website, following similar moves by rivals Microsoft and Yahoo!.

Google spokesman David Krane on Monday said the company plans to phase out advertisements from organisations who appear to bypass US federal government drug regulations to sell prescription medications on the web.

The search giant said it will hire an outside consultant to begin sorting through its customers to identify which advertisers are no longer welcome.

Krane wrote in an email: "We are planning on verifying sensitive pharmaceutical ads using a third party to ensure compliance with our policies. We believe these changes will help both our users and advertisers by ensuring consumer choice and quality in online pharmacies."

Over the past couple of years, hundreds of unlicensed pharmacies have gone into business online, selling prescription drugs such as the painkillers Vicodin and OxyContin to consumers without prescription.

Last month, Overture Services, the commercial search subsidiary of Yahoo!, announced that it had placed the last of its advertisements related to online pharmacies or pharmaceutical drug sales. Microsoft's MSN portal, one of Overture's biggest partners, also said it wanted the ads removed from its site. MSN licences commercial search results from Overture.

Matt Hines and Stefanie Olsen write for News.com