WLI - AIBU to assume my friend is wrong about pharmacies 'selling weight loss injections to people who don't need them.'

[Nancery]

I am not on them but know some people who have been / currently are and have done well on them. Not just for weight loss but for lots of then subsequent benefits (lower blood pressure, for example.)

A friend of mine, J, told me that she has a friend who 'took them even though she clearly didn't need them' and 'it's madness that pharmacies can just sell them without proper checks, it's just about the money and they don't care.'

I saw a photo of her friend and, indeed, she isn't overweight to the extent she'd be considered. I have said that IF she was taking what she claims (Mounjaro) it'd NOT be from a pharmacy. Not a chance!

J is insistent that her friend will have got them from a pharmacy as 'her husband would never let her inject herself with something that wasn't from a pharmacy.'

Those I know on it have had used multiple pharmacies between them, largely due to the price rise, and have had to go through multiple checks each time, and also subsequent checks to make sure they are eating properly etc. Video calls, photo's and video's, copies of previous prescriptions etc. They certainly can't just fudge details.

So, I am asking a bigger circle of people so see what the consensus is:

AIBU to have assumed some pharmacy, somewhere, will sell them

AINBU - to assume her friend got them off the "black market" (for want of a better phrase!)

I helped someone get them through a legitimate online pharmacy. They absolutely met the criteria and it is appropriate they get it.

But I was shocked at how easy it was, and how easy it would be to manipulate.

Why would you be surprised people are obsessed by it all

Could it be manipulated? Yes easily. People can do all sorts of nefarious things easily. But there are hurdles not least the cost.

It is perfectly possible to lie to an online pharmacy and fudge the photos. Some have more stringent checks (eg video, requirement of wearing skimpy clothes) others not so much.

I've only ever bought it from one place, and, tbh didn't think it was particularly stringent. No video or phone calls about what you eat, just photos, and those were only every third/fourth time or so. There was also no way of proving you were the person in the photos if you see what I mean - no requirement to show photo ID or anything.

Firstly are you sure that this woman’s BMI is not 27 and that she doesn’t have a weight related health condition?

Secondly a few pharmacies have started to legitimately prescribe to people with a BMI of 25 to 27 as an off licence prescribing decision. So that’s a possible legitimate route.

Then, as others have said, she might have falsified information and faked photos or weigh ins and obtained a legitimate medication in that way.

Pharmacies should be independently verifying the information given by patients, ie live video consults, checking NHS summary care records, only accepting photos taken via their app/website there and then, etc. But clearly some pharmacies are not doing enough checks.

I haven't been through the process myself. I have a colleague who uses them via an online pharmacy and I was genuinely surprised because she appeared slim to me. I guess some weight can be disguised by clothing etc.

For me the issue is that you can continue being prescribed injections once you are well inside the healthy weight range. Coming from a family with a history of eating disorders this does concern me as some people can become almost "addicted" to weight loss, particularly if they are genetically pre-disposed to disordered eating.

All pharmacies have to try and verify your weight but some are more stringent than others. I know this because I’ve been on mounjaro for 11 months and I use a different pharmacy every time. I qualify as I’m overweight but I can see that with some pharmacies there would be ways to fake it.

My BMI was 28 so I knew I wouldn't qualify. So I put in my correct weight, but lied about my height to push my BMI up to 30. I had to submit photos which were genuine photos of me on the day I applied. I was approved the next day.

Pharmaceuticals has always been a business. I’m shocked you are surprised. Supply and demand.

Interesting! From what I know, or should I say knew, I thought it was a lot stricter. Admittedly it’s only a small number of people, but between them have shopped around a large number of pharmacies, and every time seemed to need to go through the rigmarole of ID, proof of weight / height / any previous prescriptions.

i thought pharmacies could lose their license if they doled them out without stringent checks, and there are enough legitimate people who do want them to keep the demand high (I also don’t think BMI is a great indicator anyway but that’s a conversation for another time!)

@SilenceInside in the photo, she looked about 10/10.5 stone, which was J’s point, that she was able to buy them even though she didn’t need them. I am guessing this also meant she had no additional medical criteria either (it’s not a lady I know, but a very good friend of J. I also get the impression J doesn’t approve of them in general which is influencing her opinion.)

@Nancery trying to guess weight and therefore BMI by eye is subject to a lot of error! How would anyone know whether she has high BP, or high cholesterol or similar. I have high BP and my friends would not be aware of it as I don’t discuss my medical details with anyone. Perhaps your joint friend J does know those kinds of details and the exact BMI of your friend. And perhaps she has lied to obtain them. Pharmacies will be subject to sanctions if their processes are not robust, but that depends on them being inspected and clearly they are not all being inspected all of the time. Many of them have already faced sanctions hence the tightening up of many of their processes already.

It’s very hard ti judge peoples weight from looking at them, generally you can get them at bmi 27 if you’ve other health conditions , thay may not be known about. I’d suspect she’s genuinely eligible and got them legit

people have lost sight of what overweight or obese looks like. Most women a 16 is obese, and a 14 significantly into over weight territory, unless you’re very tall or an athlete who is very muscular.

Some pharmacies are absolutely selling WLIs to people who do not need them and for whom it’s unsafe.

Just like they do all sorts of other drugs. Dh and BIL both buy inhalers privately without a diagnosis of asthma. BIL actually has asthma but won’t see a doctor. Dh is just anxious and thinks he does.

You can buy loads of prescription medication without a proper prescription if you know where to look. Sadly, there will be a lot of people with body dysmorphia and eating disorders who develop even more issues when they come off them and their weight starts yo yoing again or they develop joint or gut issues.

For people whose health has been transformed, they’ll are absolutely worth the risk. For the restricting to lettuce then binging on ice cream crowd, they will only compound issues upon issues especially with no psychosocial support.

Another way to look at it is that women are (rightly) vocal about being believed about and able to control their health needs. Yet it only seems to be WLI injections where others are totally convinced they need stronger checks and increased scrutiny on what medication they say they need to address their health issues. Weird that innit.

I’ve seen people talk about adding weights to themselves before stepping on the scale to fudge photos! No idea how easy it would be to pass any other checks though