How Practical is Medicine Delivery Through a Drone?

When we look at modern breakthroughs, and the ramifications moving into the future, it’s very easy to assume that an innovation will utterly wipe out any competing, older methodology. In certain cases, such as streaming spelling doom for television in theaters, or the Internet in general spelling doom for newspapers and periodicals, this is absolutely true.

Most of the time, it’s really a matter of whether or not the breakthrough is far more convenient and cost-effective for both the company and the customer, rather than whether or not it is just “a cooler way to do it”. This is why, in spite of having technologically-spear your ways to do various things, we don’t always opt for them. A good example of this would be that touchscreens are actually more resistant to damage and breakdown van physical keyboards, but I dare anyone to say that typing on a touchscreen is remotely as pleasant as using a tactile keyboard.

So, this brings us around to the question of the future for drones. We hear all about things like Amazon, various food companies, and other retailers delivering things by drone in the future. How viable will this be for pharmacies to deliver medicines to people? Medicine supplies through drones is an interesting idea, but just how practical is a, and what are the hurdles?

If you are wondering, “how do I order medicines online in general”, I will also touch on a more general piece of advice for that at the end of this.

The Problems

The biggest problem that drones have is that they really can’t carry that much weight. Fortunately, many medications and other medical supplies are lightweight, but that’s not always the case. Drones also have significantly limited range, meaning that its point of origin still has to be close enough that you could easily drive to it, at least until some major breakthroughs happen with power supplies, propulsion and lift technologies for drones.

Another big problem, and this applies to many drones, is that they are going to run the risk of being shot down, and their cargo being stolen. They are very intelligent, so unless they can fly rather high up, and have human pilots at the helm at all times, they will be very easy to scramble, shootdown, and robbed blind. When carrying things like expensive medicines, this could be a serious issue.

The verdict?

The verdict is that it is entirely possible, but until some major breakthroughs happen with drone technology, they aren’t that practical for a lot of the things that people are expecting them to be used for. This isn’t to say that it won’t happen, but don’t expect pharmacies to be doing drone deliveries of medications for anything short of emergencies, for the next couple decades.

Get cheaper medicines anyway!

But, I hear you thinking, “I want to know, how do I order medicines online?” While medicine supplies through drones isn’t practical yet, you can still get medicine delivered to your door by going to an online pharmacy, especially one from Canada. Through a Canadian pharmacy online, you can save a ton of money on your medications, and they’re helpful interfaces will even help you find equivalent generic brands the save you even more.