Canadian Prescription Drugs.

[Raoul Koning]

I feel obligated to inform those who are struggling to pay for medications under their current plan (i.e. Medicare) to look to Canada for their prescriptions. I typically dont condone "illegal" behaviour, but I feel it is morally illegal to gouge Americans for drugs which are made by the same companies who have the power to cure! Oh, there is no money to be made if we cure the problem, we must prolong the problem to prosper. I am confident there are people out there who would disagree, especially those on the Bush bandwagon. Thats ok, a healthy debate is good. This topic is open to discussion and I respect everyones opinion even if I dont agree with it.

I have done a great deal of research on this topic and the one thing which really irritates me about the stance, "Drugs re-imported from Canada are not safe" is, it simply could not be farther from the truth.

Let me break this down; 1) Canada Health standards are equal to or more stringent than those employed by the FDA. 2) The average lifespan of the Canadian is longer than that of an American. How do they pull that off using the same medications? 3) Drug companies have a vested interest in stopping re-importation of drugs because, unlike Canada, the U.S. does not regulate pricing on medications. This means higher prices to you in order to drive up profits. 4) When you go to the drugstore in the U.S. a pharmacy tech and pharmacist have already opened the original shipping container the meds arrived in and manhandled your drugs while placing them in a different prescription container. When you receive your meds from Canada, you guessed it, you get the meds in the original container as if it came right off the assembly line. Hmmmm, let me do the math now. Handled by people who probably didnt wash after their last restroom visit = not good, or never touched and shipped to your door at half the price = good.

Where do you stand?

Thanks for the heads up Sherry, I do that all the time but usually catch it. Ouch!

[sherry]

(Note*** you might want to change "I typically condone 'illegal'" to "I don't ..." , I know it was a typo, but....)

I thought it was legal to buy from Canada, I had a telemarketing job selling prepaid prescription plans. I remember that one of the options was to use one of the 2 or 3 Canadian Companies, that are able to sell to the US. So is it really illegal, or is is not paid for by Medicaid/Medicare? (If it is illegal, I might have another scam to post here!)
But you definately have a valid point for why we should get them elsewhere!

[Raoul Koning]

Well, there is currently is legislation that says it is illegal - Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), I believe. However, the FDA has come out and said it wont persue legal actions against individuals (if you are a U.S.-based agency helping people you could be screwed). Also, it is illegal for Canadian pharmacies to ship into the U.S. Canadian law, of course.

And this is a quote from the FDA about safety and there main concern regarding re-importation..

"A growing number of Americans obtain their medications from foreign locations, often seeking out suppliers in Canada. But FDA cannot ensure the safety of drugs bought from these sources."

Refer to point 4 above.

[revolution60]

i DO CONDONE this lol, good topic admin, screw the american pharmaceutical companies, they are one huge SCAM! people who need medication should be given it and it shouldn't cost them a damn small fortune , desperately needed medication should be the LAST of peoples financial worries!