There’s another war going on today. A war that may have
serious consequences on the folks in the United States! I’m
just a small guy,
sat in the middle looking to see how
things go and trying to figure out who will win.
What war am I talking about, I hear you say.
I’m talking about the latest war, or battle for want of
another word, going on between the U.S. House of
Representatives, the U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry and
pharmacies in Canada. As I dug deeper into this story I
realised several things. I learnt that U.S. consumers pay
the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,
often as much as double the price that Canadians actually
pay. I learnt that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry has
annual gross sales for prescription drugs that amount to
just over $159.8 billion! Yes, that’s not a typo.
It seems that the FDA is taking sides with the U.S.
industry, inasmuch, they say that import drugs may not be
packaged and stored under appropriate conditions. Moreover,
that there is no guarantee that the drugs have been produced
under current good manufacturing practices. But more
importantly, the FDA released a statement saying that:
“When consumers take such unsafe and inappropriate
medications, they face risks of dangerous drug interactions
and other serious health consequences.”
At the moment of writing, a U.S. committee is trying to
determine whether Canadian drugs are safe. It also doesn’t
hold back when it says that the FDA is obviously taking
sides with the U.S. pharma industry.
From my line of business I have dealings everyday with
people suffering from heart disease, high cholesterol levels,
hypertension, diabetes, and people who are overweight or
obese, and others who try to do their best to get a grip on
their lives and start taking control.
These people can actually be saving hundreds of dollars on
their monthly drug bill. In fact, many are already
purchasing their supply of medications directly on the
internet from Canadian online pharmacies. Are they doing the
wrong thing? Isn’t this going against the American spirit?
But should it really be so expensive to live our lives as
best as possible when medications are needed?
I recently heard about one lady who uses a discount drug
service that connects her to a Canadian pharmacy where she
buys her medicine and saves $300 (US) a month!
“I’m a senior citizen and every dollar counts”
she told CBS news
We’re all interested in our health and how to improve it
when needed. We also want quality of life and longevity.
Well, like it or not, in this area of our lives we’ve become
more and more dependant on the pharmaceutical industry. But
does this mean that they should be allowed to charge the
prices they want?
It has been estimated that over 1 million Americans are
currently using this cross-border method, either in the
virtual world of internet or just getting in their cars and
driving across the border. The number is increasing
every day.
This increase has prompted much debate and retaliation.
One major drug company has now stopped supplying its
products to Canadian mail-order pharmacies that sell to
Americans. Others will almost certainly follow in this
practice, too.
Apart from the moral, and there are morals from both sides
of the story, is this practice legal?
Well, in 1987 a U.S. law was written, long before the boom
of internet pharmacies, making it illegal to import
prescription drugs, whether made in the U.S. or not.
Both the FDA and the U.S. Customs have never really practiced
this law and apparently nobody has ever been prosecuted.
So, what will happen next?
Do you have an opinion on this battle between the giants?
If so, we’d like to hear from you.
We are currently carrying out a time-sensitive survey and
we hope to get the opinions of at least 50,000 people.
We will send the results of our survey to the U.S. House
of Representative, the FDA, as well as the Canadian
International Pharmacy Association. Do you think that the
opinion of 50,000 people would make people listen? Who knows,
but one thing is for sure U.S. politicians need to hear
the voice of the people that vote them.
Why do I say that this is a time-sensitive survey?
Simple … we have to act before a final decision is made.
We will close all entries on September 10.
Our intentions are to be as partial as possible, as we
want to hear your opinion and not just give you ours. In
the survey you will simply be asked whether you agree to
Canadian imports, do not agree to Canadian imports, you
don’t know, or, you don’t care. The results will be
calculated, packaged and sent off to all the above
government bodies.
