DRUG DEBACLE: CANADA ISN'T THE ANSWER

...The John-John ticket's hare-brained idea is to reimport medicines from Canada to your corner pharmacy. That is to say, to take drugs made here and shipped to supply a country of 30 million, and bring them back here to supply a country of 360 million.

...Last decade, companies like Novartis (Swiss), Aventis (French) and Pharmacia (Swedish) moved their operations from Europe to the greener pastures of New Jersey and Massachusetts because Europe's governments were making it too hard to do business. They even banned direct-to-consumer advertising — lest citizens get wind of any pricey new discoveries and demand Europe's national health systems pay for them. The reimportation debacle is now causing similar consternation here.

The Beacon Hill Institute: ... Boston could stand to lose 4,000 jobs as a result of the reimportation of drugs. By effectively importing price controls, the group said, the measure would stifle innovation and damage the local high-tech economy.

Kerry has shaken his fist at the "outsourcers" of American jobs — but what exactly does he think causes job flight in the first place?....

Skip past the campaign slogans to the realities. Drugs are arguably the most important thing that Americans buy — they not only lengthen life but improve its quality. Right around the corner, thanks to the crazy gambles drug investors have been willing to take, may be the first real treatments for Alzheimers, which afflicts nearly half of all Americans who reach age 85.

And the "astronomical" prices seem like pocket change next to what the same people spend on lattes and impulse purchases. Celebrex is considered an "expensive" drug at $2 a day, but for an arthritis sufferer looking for something beyond aspirin or motrin, it's a pretty cheap "miracle."...

Ever stop to think what would happen if people in the US were able to import Canadian drugs? The "big savings" they all claim would disappear. The price of drugs in Canada would go up or availability would decrease. The Canadians would be making it illegal for us to export drugs from them!

I have two personal anecdotes regarding drugs imported from Canada.
About 3 weeks ago a patient came to the ER and then the hospital floor complaining of "dizziness". She had had similar episodes each morning over the first 4 days of the previous month. This patient was a long-time hypertensive, so the first thought was that this was probably due to an overdose of her medications. After further investigation, we realized that her med dosage had not been changed. Standard practice would have us either re-adjust the dosage or change drugs. As we were leaving her room, we again asked her if there had been ANY changes to her meds. She said no, but then she spoke up and said, "well, there was one thing, you see, I lost my job and didn't have insurance, so I bought my medications from Canada. You don't think that could have been the trouble doc, do you?" It turns out that the reason she only had the symptoms for a few days is that she switched back to her old bottle and finished it out and the day before and this morning she again used the meds from Canada.

My second story: Another patient has been buying her drugs from Canada for a couple years now. Over that period of time she has NEVER received the proper medications or dosages in spite of repeated efforts on her doctor's part to rectify the situation. The Canadian pharmacy continues to send her incorrect medications and incorrect dosages. The silly old lady refuses to believe her beloved internet Canadian pharmacy is ripping her off. (Oh yeah, and she is paying more than she would if she purchased them in the States). Don't you just love the idiots who love Kerry?

This relates to post 20 "go-dubya-04"

I personally am not in favour of ordering medications online for the reasons you have cited.

As I told go-dubya-04 I am not aware of any case where drugs originating in Canada were fake or dangerous. Canadian drugs have to satisfy Canadian quality and safety standards as the US. In fact FDA approval is no guarantee that a drug will be approved for distribution in Canada.

In the cases you cite, neither problem was due to the quality of the Canadian drugs, rather they were not properly administered by the 'pharmacy' and repeated attempts to correct the situation failed.

Either way you look at it this is a dangerous situation and the company should be reported Health Canada and the Competition Bureau which handles fraudulent and dangerous business practices.

As I said I drugs should only be purchased from a reputable retailer under a doctor's supervision.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.