The Senate votes to allow cheaper drugs into the country, and the
greatest beneficiaries would be our cash strapped seniors, but the Bush
Administration says no!
By Stewart Nusbaumer
With the prices of prescription drugs skyrocketing, driving many fixed
income seniors into poverty, straining the budgets of other Americans,
the Bush Administration promises to veto a bill that would lower drug
prices.
Using the war on terrorism as an excuse, the Administration strongly
rejects the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada. Many
Democratic legislators charge that the drug industry is resisting drug
imports to keep prices up, and the Administration is favoring the
industry's huge profits over the critical needs of Americans.
The Senate vote, a lopsided 62 to 28, would permit pharmacists and
wholesalers to import prescription drugs from Canada and resell them in
the United States. According to the vote, then, Senators overwhelmingly
support American consumers and want them to benefit from lower Canadian
drug prices.
"The U.S. consumer pays the highest prices in the world for prescription
drugs," said Senator Byron Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, who offered
the Senate plan on drug imports. "We should and must put some downward
pressure on drug prices."
For years lawmakers have attempted to ease the strict rules that
prohibit drug imports unless they have been authorized by the
manufacturer, with Democrats such as Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts
leading the effort. Although Republicans generally advocate a free
market, in this case they actually want to prohibit the free flow of
products.
"The reason the Republicans won't allow cheaper drugs from Canada," a
Washington lobbyist, who insisted on remaining anonymous, told this
reporter, "is because the pharmaceutical companies make huge financial
contributions to their election campaigns. It's as simple as being
bought off."
This is the second time in less than one year that the Senate has voted
to allow the resale of Canadian drugs in this country. The House
previously voted for legislation like the Senate bill.
"In both chambers," the lobbyist said, "many Republicans vote to allow
the importation of Canadian drugs to cover themselves politically, while
knowing the Bush Administration will reject the bill."
This new Senate proposal is contingent on a finding that the imported
drugs would pose no risk to public health, which the Bush Administration
says it will not agree to.
The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Mark Mclellan,
informed the Senate in a letter that his agency "cannot guarantee the
safety of Canadian drugs." He wrote that allowing such drugs into the
United States would create "a wide inlet for counterfeit drugs and other
dangerous products that are potentially injurious to the public health."
Republican Senators, including Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Rick
Santorum from Pennsylvania, and Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Republican
majority leader in the Senate, denounced the proposal to purchase
cheaper prescription drugs, objecting to government interference in the
free market and risks of terrorists using Canada as a portal into the
United States.
The pharmaceutical manufacturers also denounced the plan to allow
Americans to purchase cheaper drugs. The Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America, the trade association for brand-name drug
companies, rejected Senator Dorgan's proposal citing the threat of
terrorists and counterfeiters.
A recent report from the Congressional Research Service, however, found
that, "The statutory requirements for approving and marketing
pharmaceutical products in the United States and Canada are, in general,
quite similar." Like the United States, Canada has rules and procedures
to control the "chain of custody" of prescription drugs from factory to
pharmacy, the report said. The Congressional Research Service seems to
agree with Senator Dorgan and nearly all Democrats, then, that the
safety risks to Americans were minimal.
The real reason the Bush Administration rejects cheaper drugs for
Americans is to insure that it receives more money from drug
manufacturers. Again, we are witnessing the best democracy money can
buy, and who must pay the high cost is the public, especially our senior
citizens.
Stewart Nusbaumer is editor of Intervention Magazine.
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