Today, CPPI Executive Director Tracy Cooley published an op-ed in Morning Consult on the importance of safety to daily personal prescription importation from Canada.
As she writes:
Rogue online pharmacies selling counterfeit medication are a threat to public health. There is no disagreement that these sites must be identified quickly and shut down permanently. Proposed importation legislation would provide a strong defense against these rogues.
Cooley points out that ‘Canada sources its medications from the same manufacturers and same plants as the U.S. This means that there is no difference in the quality of prescription drugs sold in the U.S. compared to Canada.’
Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute worked with the National Bureau of Economic Research on a study to assess the quality and price of drugs purchased through online pharmacies. Among the 211 drugs sampled from certified online pharmacies, all passed quality-control testing.
So what is the difference between drugs in the US and drugs in Canada?
The US is the only developed country in the world that does not institute price controls on pharmaceutical medications. Or in other words, if you want to get to the bottom of the safety message fear-mongering from opponents, you only need to follow the money to realize their true motivation.
Meanwhile, American patients are forced to foot the bill or pay with their pain and suffering, or in the worst cases – they pay with their lives because of an inability to afford their medications.
This is unacceptable.
For the full op-ed, please visit this link.