Image by Francisco Javier Argel

I like showing Americans who are searching online for affordable medication, often from foreign pharmacies, that their mom and pop pharmacy on Main Street U.S.A. can actually offer a better deal. It’s actually pretty common. The generic version of Valium, diazepam, which treats anxiety, is a perfect example. Bottom line: no need to buy online or from Canada to save money.

Valium is a controlled drug, meaning one that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has determined is subject to abuse and addiction. Valium, like its counterparts in a class of drugs called benzodiazepines, has a turbulent past replete with stories of people becoming addicted and victims of excessive prescribing. And while there’s more history about Valium below in this post, I’ll get to the point about price: if you’re paying out of pocket, generic Valium, diazepam, will often be about a quarter (25 cents) per 2 mg pill at your local U.S. pharmacy when using a prescription discount card. Brand name Valium, by the way, is much more expensive—approximately $3.50 per pill at your local pharmacy even with a discount card.

You can check your local pharmacy for discounts on generic Valium 2mg here by searching for U.S. local prices and entering your zip code. In Boulder, Co, as viewed on PharmacyChecker.com:

That’s just over $7 for a one month supply. The Canadian-based online pharmacies in the PharmacyChecker Verification Program do not sell Valium into the U.S. because it’s a controlled drug (and PharmacyChecker.com does not allow online pharmacies in our program that sell controlled medications internationally). But if you’re interested, the cash price for generic Valium is often HIGHER in Canada. At Rexall Pharmacy in Toronto, 30 pills of diazepam 2mg is $13.28, almost twice as expensive as the U.S. price noted above!

Valium came to the market over fifty years ago and its heyday of use was the mid-1970s. Aggressively marketed by Roche Pharmaceuticals, in 1978 Americans took over two billion pills stamped with the brand name’s iconic “V”. But the tide began to turn against the drug’s sales and use when in 1975 the drug was classified as a controlled substance, which placed greater restrictions on its distribution.

Still, in 2012, there were 14.8 million prescriptions written diazepam. In addition to treating anxiety, Valium is used to treat muscle spasms, irritable bowel syndrome, night terrors and panic disorder.

If you go online and do a search on Google for “Buy Valium online” you’ll end up viewing links to many rogue online pharmacies that offer to sell you the drug without a prescription. I’m not sure if you can actually get this medication from those sites (as some will just take your money) BUT DON”T DO IT. In addition to the fact that taking addictive prescription drugs, which you were not prescribed, can by very dangerous (and sometimes deadly due to overdose), you could also end up with a bad drug that won’t help your condition and could make you sick.

The amazing thing is that those no-prescription “rogue” sites are more expensive than buying diazepam at your local pharmacy. One such rogue site I just checked sold generic Valium for $1.52 a pill – six times higher than at many local U.S. pharmacies.

Anxiety can be a debilitating condition and sometimes Valium is helpful. But you need a prescription to buy it safely and use it properly. The cost for generic Valium using a prescription discount card at many U.S. pharmacies is $7 or $8 for a month supply, even if you don’t have insurance, which means there’s no good reason to look for savings outside the U.S., or from any online pharmacy.