RxRights calls for a common sense approach to importation
posted Mon, 12 Sep 2011Lee Graczyk, lead organizer of RxRights, just issued the following statement on behalf of U.S. seniors fighting the high cost of pharmaceuticals through drug importation:
Congress needs to exercise common sense and recognize that personal drug importation from legitimate, licensed pharmacies is a necessity for millions of Americans today.
From the pending PROTECT IP Act to the Department of Justice’s recent announcement of Google’s pharmacy ad settlement, what’s getting lost in all this legal mumbo jumbo is a common sense approach.
Drug importation — in this case we’re talking about buying affordable prescription medication from legitimate online pharmacies — has been in practice since the 1990s.
Even the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in its own guidelines on import operations, permits shipments of products that appear to violate FDA statutes to enter the country. More specifically, "when quantity and purpose are clearly for personal use, and the product does not present an unreasonable risk to the user."
This is the classic glovebox versus mailbox debate. It defies common sense that consumers can drive across the border to Canada to purchase prescription medications and store them in their glove boxes, yet those same consumers—and others—may not be able to have the same brand-name medications delivered to their mailboxes.
Now that Congress is back in session, I am urging all Americans to contact their representatives to encourage them to use common sense when it comes to the need for drug importation from safe, legitimate online pharmacies.