An Opinion Survey on Purchasing Nonprescription Drugs over the Internet in Remote Islands

Objective: The revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act that came into force in June 2009 prohibits the sale of nonprescription drugs via mail. However, as a provisional measure, regular users and inhabitants of remote islands who do not have access to pharmacies or drug stores are allowed to purchase nonprescription drugs via mail until the end of May 2013. This study involves a survey on the purchasing of nonprescription drugs by Internet-illiterate inhabitants of the remote Goto Islands, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.