High Prescription Drug Costs in U.S. Lead People To Purchase Drugs Online, Columnist Writes
President Bush last weekend called on Congress to pass legislation that would restrict the online sales of prescription drugs, but the president's request addresses "a symptom and not the cause of one of the country's top medical problems": the high cost of medications in the U.S., Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus writes. According to Lazarus, many U.S. residents, "including numerous seniors and people with chronic conditions, obtain prescription drugs from international sources not because they're scratching some itch for faraway places," but because "they can't afford U.S. drug prices."
Lazarus writes that "until the U.S. can extend health coverage to everyone and limit drug prices to reasonable levels, many Americans will have no choice but to seek the best possible deal for their meds, and this will often require them to look beyond our borders, via the Internet." He adds that "lawmakers need to step carefully in any crackdown on Internet drug sales" because, "[s]imply put, we can't punish people for trying to make up for shortfalls of the U.S. health care system."
Lazarus writes, "Clearly there need to be safeguards to prevent" people from purchasing potentially dangerous drugs without a prescription, "as well as to protect people from possibly dangerous concoctions offered by fly-by-night pharmacies in Southeast Asia and elsewhere." According to Lazarus, the "obvious place to start" is in Canada, as "so many people already shop for prescription drugs" in there. He writes that FDA "should be authorized to certify leading Canadian pharmacies as reliable suppliers of medications" and that pharmacies in other countries should be able to apply for certification if they demonstrate adequate safety standards.
Lazarus adds, "At the same time, U.S. and Canadian officials should negotiate a treaty that permits U.S. doctors to fax or electronically transfer prescriptions to Canadian pharmacies." According to Lazarus, "This wouldn't necessarily solve the conundrum of uninsured Americans being unable to afford doctors' visits, but it would allow prescriptions to be more easily filled" (Lazarus, Los Angeles Times, 3/5).
