When food safety legislation hinges on resistance to a tagged-on drug reimportation amendment, you know something’s not right. Senator Bryon Dorgan has made a last-ditch attempt to help his constituents before he retires, by legalizing less expensive prescription medication options. Unfortunately the political establishment and its cash cow lobbyists are dead set against it.

You may remember a similar situation last year, when a reimportation amendment was defeated 51-48. At the time, the dissenters pushed propaganda about unsafe drugs and bypassing strong FDA requirements. Behind all that rhetoric was the inconvenient truth that 60% of the ingredients used in domestic prescription drugs comes from India and China.

Paternalism, no. What should we call it? Let’s look at a real-world example a client recently sent me, and you can decide for yourself. My client has multiple chronic conditions, and is unable to afford brand name US prescriptions for them (there are no generics available here for most of his conditions.) So he surfs the internet for better prices at online pharmacies. No, this isn’t exactly legal under current legislation, but the real crime is being committed by Big Pharma. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the table he put together for just one drug, a common asthma medication:

(Click image for larger version)

Yes, you read that right. A single dose — one puff — of this inhaler costs $4.56 here in the US. At 2 puffs a day, that adds up to $3,284.04 a year. Consider that’s only one of the multiple asthma medications my client takes, and you have a gigantic monetized cost of breathing here in this free country.

In contrast, at an online Canadian pharmacy where many Canadians themselves get their prescriptions filled, this same medication is available in a generic version for a mere $0.86 per puff. That’s 19% of what the same medication costs here in the US — so he can breathe for over 5 years for the supposed cost of 1 here. Even if you only consider brand names, CanAmerica Global has Advair available at 25% of the cost of a US purchase.

One argument against drug reimportation used by Representative John Dingell is that Americans are now getting affordable healthcare under reform. Are we? I guess he considers a $5,000 deductible affordable. Is it worth paying 530% more for the same drug, just to meet your deductible? Especially when you can probably purchase a year’s supply of ALL your prescription medications at a foreign pharmacy for less than that? It seems to me that Dingell is defending legalized protection money — paid by us, to Big Pharma.

He’s not the only one. Most legislators against reimportation are Republicans. Aren’t Republicans supposed to be FOR free markets? Maybe it’s just the free markets that they can control. But that would make them controlled markets, not free ones. So I’m a bit confused (OK, not really — politics is a predictably stomach-turning arena.)

Another argument against reimportation is drug safety. Yes, approximately 50% of Viagra and other lifestyle drugs available online are counterfeit. They may contain none of the active ingredient. They may contain a completely different active ingredient, for instance a diabetes medication instead of one for erectile dysfuction. But it’s not a complete Wild West out there in cyberspace. Here are the three things you can do to buy prescriptions overseas safely:

1. Only consider sites that require a prescription for prescription medications
2. Look for the VIPPS seal (Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Site), which means the site has been certified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
3. Check for physical signs of fakes: torn edges or broken seals on packaging, very crooked labels, and off-color or cracked/chipped pills

If you’re still unsure about this whole online pharmacy business, go to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s Pharmahelper.com, which lets you comparison shop at legitimate internet pharmacies. There is no reason to keep paying legalized protection money to Big Pharma if you can’t afford your medications. There are other options, and VIPPS-certified online pharmacies are good ones. As for my client, he can now breathe easier.

Photo Credit: athena

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