Feds Seizures Make American Unwell

The stories about the government seizing legitimate prescription drugs from Canada seem a bit unbelievable at times. We couldn’t understand how a government could so easily side with pharmaceutical companies over its citizens trying to buy their medicine at an affordable price.

The stories are true however, and we read story about a gentleman from Madison Lake, a retiree named Maurice Hardie who is in the process of appealing his case to federal authorities. The cholesterol drug, Prevencor, has always been shipped to him from a legitimate, low cost Canadian pharmacy for six years.

Now, under an apparently new directive, the government has begun seizing the pills of people like Hardie. Some 10 percent of the medicines are now being intercepted, and recipients face a daunting government bureaucracy to get them returned.

Of course, what makes this bad situation even worse is the ever-increasing cost of prescription drugs that send many of our seniors and other various age Americans to Canada in the first place. In fact, Americans now purchase some $700 million of medicine from Canadian pharmacies.

The government has limited the supply and made it more difficult for honest citizens to pay an honest price to get their medicines. Congress should be outraged, and they are. They voted 68-32 recently to overturn the seizures at our borders. We thank some of our members of Congress for trying to do something.

They’ve recently inserted an amendment into the Homeland Security funding bill that would prevent customs from seizing prescription drugs. Members of the Senate and House, fielding numerous complaints about the seizures from constituents, passed legislation earlier this year barring the practice.

However, the bill is now in a conference committee where it will undoubtedly be subject to heavy pharmaceutical industry lobbying, and where members of the conference committee can avoid accountability, and we who literally ‘pay the piper’ must wait for that outcome as always in slow fashion.

First District Congressman Gil Gutknecht has long supported a free market for prescription drugs, favored allowing Canadian imports and has complained to the FDA about the practice of seizing Canadian drugs. He should now use his seniority in the Republican Party to make sure this provision gets through the conference committee, dominated by his party. Let’s encourage him with a few letters shall we? (As well as other members of Congress)
It’s just the right thing to do.

Congress Emails: Click here for the 540 members of the 109th Congress

Reference Article Rewritten by
XLPharmacy