COUNTERFEIT DRUGS AND INTERNET SMARTS -- BY ROGER BATE, The Wall Street Journal

More public education would help stem the problem of fake pharmaceuticals—restricting Internet trade would not.

Whatever happened to caveat emptor? Consumers are indeed put at serious risk when they buy counterfeit drugs over the Internet. But sweeping restrictions on Web-based drug sales stand to worsen their ills.

The problem is getting worse. Take Britain, which has Europe's worst problem with H1N1 or 'swine' flu, with around 64,000 new cases every week and 182 deaths—about

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