SaintLucifer
beer, I want beer
Americans are drug addicts.
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS:
THE FACTS ABOUT CANADA
Canada's drug distribution and pricing systems are less likely to foster counterfeiting.
CONSUMER REPORTS MAGAZINE,
OCTOBER 2005
Even though the practice is illegal, Americans in droves have been importing prescription drugs from Canada. Last year, an estimated 2 million U.S. citizens spent $800 million on medicines purchased from Canadian pharmacies by fax, phone, or Web site. That's 33 percent more than in 2003. A long list of states and cities, including Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Boston, and Portland, Maine, have set up programs to help residents and employees import Canadian drugs priced on average 25 to 50 percent below those on the U.S. market.
What's happening is controversial. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration stands foursquare against imports, arguing that it cannot ensure they are safe. Many Americans, however, believe that buying from Canada, a familiar next-door neighbor, is no more dangerous than picking up a prescription at a local drugstore. Almost 70 percent of the 1,400 people surveyed by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health in November 2004 said that allowing citizens to order drugs from Canada would make medicines more affordable without sacrificing safety or quality.
Here's the reality of the government's arguments against buying from Canada:
Canadian drugs are not as safe as U.S. drugs. False. The FDA maintains that "many drugs obtained from foreign sources that purport and appear to be the same as U.S.-approved prescription drugs, are, in fact, of unknown quality." Furthermore, FDA officials have expressed the concern that news of product recalls issued in Canada may not reach U.S. consumers.
But Canada's manufacturing and regulatory system is comparable to that of the U.S., according to an October 2003 study by the state of Illinois' Office of Special Advocate for Prescription Drugs. FDA critics counter, moreover, that the agency cannot entirely ensure the safety of drugs manufactured in the U.S.
The Illinois study also concluded that Canada's pricing and distribution system is less likely to foster the drug counterfeiting that concerns the FDA. Drugs in the U.S. typically move through multiple vendors (manufacturers, wholesalers, repackagers, retailers, second repackagers, etc.) before reaching the patient.
In Canada, medications are dispensed mainly in typical dosages and shipped in sealed packages directly from manufacturer to pharmacy. In a June 2004 report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said that all of the prescription drugs it ordered from Canadian Internet pharmacies contained the proper chemical compositions, were shipped in accordance with special handling requirements, and arrived undamaged.
In addition, if a recall is issued for a drug sold in Canada, Canadian pharmacies are required to alert all consumers who purchased the affected lot, regardless of where they live. "This is a global recall policy that has been in place in industrialized countries for decades," says Andy Troszok, president of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA), an industry group that certifies Canadian pharmacies.
Canadian drugs are not always cheaper. True. To see how much consumers can expect to save by buying from Canadian pharmacies, we asked PharmacyChecker.com, a group that evaluates online pharmacies, to compare drug prices from its highest-rated Canadian and U.S. Web sites. (See Brand name vs. generic costs.)
When we compared the lowest prices of five well-known brand-name drugs from both Canadian and U.S. sources, the Canadian pharmacies saved consumers between $72 and $226 per prescription (including shipping charges). Such medications are cheaper in Canada in large part because its federal Patented Medicine Prices Review Board has the authority to limit prices that it deems to be excessive.
This would be 'price-controls' my American bitches, clearly a fascist practice. You were railing against fascism...? In Canada, the fucking drug companies do as they are fucking told, or they must take their goddamned business elsewhere.
But in a similar comparison, a U.S. site had the best prices for the five most prescribed generic drugs. Because generic drugs cost less, the savings are less: from $7 to $31 per prescription. "The larger, more competitive generic market in the U.S. helps keep prices down," says Thomas McGinnis, the FDA's director of pharmacy affairs. [Frank’s note: Always check generic prices at Costco before buying elsewhere. They’re generally lowest, often lower than Canada.]
You could get arrested. True but unlikely. Ordering prescriptions from Canadian Web sites violates the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which generally makes it a crime for anyone other than the original manufacturer to import a drug, even if it was first manufactured in the U.S.
Heh, heh. I guess Laker_Cunt had better stop purchasing the latest diet drugs from our Canadian pharmacies. I love the part where an American could be arrested if he/she orders a drug via a Canadian website, even if it was manufactured in the USA. That one was hilarious. Brought tears to my eyes.
So far, however, the FDA has focused its enforcement efforts only on those who "commercialize" drug importation. One example: RxDepot, an Oklahoma prescription drug service that was forced to shut down in 2003. But there are currently no plans to charge consumers. McGinnis says, "We are allowed to exercise enforcement discretion, and it's not our policy to go after individuals."
Many Internet sites are not legitimate pharmacies. True but avoidable. CIPA warns that many Web sites selling medications have been created to lure U.S. consumers seeking cheaper prices. Patients who order from such sites run the risk of receiving medications that are subpotent, improperly handled, or counterfeit.
Furthermore, the FDA says some Web sites may not tell you that a drug they sell you is obtained from an overseas supplier. "You may be sent a drug that originated in Australia, Great Britain, or Pakistan," says McGinnis. "We don't know anything about the strength, quality, or purity of those medications."
Patients, however, can avoid such problems by ordering only from pharmacies that have been thoroughly scrutinized by CIPA. To display a CIPA seal on its Web site an online pharmacy must have a valid Canadian license, submit to a quarterly on-site inspection, and keep personal information confidential in compliance with PIPEDA, the Canadian privacy act similar to The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, in the U.S.
The online pharmacy must also require you to submit a valid prescription and medical history and to check for possible drug interactions. And CIPA members must let you know in advance if they are supplying you with a medication from another country so you have the right to refuse. You can find a list of the 37 Canadian pharmacies with CIPA seals at www.ciparx.ca/cipa_pharmacies.html.
Another source of information about online pharmacies is PharmacyChecker.com, whose review process is similar to CIPA's. It also provides prices and customer feedback.
WHAT TO DO
The flow of prescription drugs from Canada may not last forever.
Ujjal Dosanjh, the Canadian Health Minister, proposed on June 29 that a new supply network be established to keep tabs on the nation's drugs and that bulk shipments to the U.S. be stopped if the system detects a shortage. In addition, he proposed a requirement that "an established patient-practitioner relationship" should exist before a physician may prescribe any medications.
This is pure bullshit. The Canadian government makes deals with the pharmaceuticals, whereupon specific prices are agreed upon, as long as the drugs are not sold outside of Canada. The pharmaceuticals, upon learning that Americans were bitching back home in the USA about Canada's lower drug prices, bitched at the Canadian government about how we were breaking the agreement. The Canadian government realises the pharmaceuticals do not want Americans to learn the American government need only adopt Canadian price-fixing policies. Americans at present are too stupid to realise it would be a very simple matter of copying our fascist policies.
Whether or not this means that U.S. citizens will have to meet face-to-face with a Canadian doctor before they can purchase drugs will not be determined until sometime this fall, when the minister plans to introduce legislation.
Well, they do now. The Canadian government has recently made it illegal to sell drugs via the internet to the USA. Many think this was due to pressure from George Bush and his Republican cronies, which is only partially true, but much of the pressure came from the pharmaceuticals, with whom we were breaking our agreements. The Americans think much of themselves if they think the American government could affect Canadian internal affairs in the slightest. I should like to remind you all, the pressure from George Bush came against the FDA and related drug importation policies. He did not affect Canadian government policy one iota, simply because we would have told him to go fuck himself and he knows it. Your RIAA tried the same tac, only to be bitchslapped back across the border with their dicks stuck up each other's assholes. The lesson to be learned here? Don't fuck with the Canadian government.
