PharmacyChecker Blog

Helping Americans Get The Truth About Prescription Drug Savings
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Legalizing Personal Drug Importation from Canadian Pharmacies – Amen and Word Up!

Well, here we go again, another bill that would formally legalize a practice that has been going on for decades: Americans importing meds from Canadian pharmacies, at the very least to cut down on their drug bills, and in some cases even to afford life-saving medicines. Sorry to sound cynical, but I’ve seen these bills before and Big Pharma is always behind their failure – but what about this time?

The bill, H.R. 2228, was introduced by Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) barely a week ago and co-sponsored by Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and is entitled “Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act of 2015.” It seems to mirror legislation in the Senate, S. 122, introduced by Sens. John McCain (R-NV) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), which has the same title.

The bills are focused on Canadian pharmacies only, not the wider landscape of international online pharmacies, which are often based in Canada: ones that millions of Americans have benefited from for over a decade. If H.R. 2228 passes, the FDA would be required to publish a list of approved Canadian pharmacies from which Americans could legally import, for personal use, non-controlled, non-biologic, and non-temperature sensitive, prescription medications. That would include the majority of maintenance prescription drugs that Americans are currently importing for personal use.

I support this bill 100%. Even though our program is open to safe and licensed pharmacies in other countries, not just ones in Canada and the U.S., the new bill moves the public policy and economic justice needle in the right direction. The practice of international pharmacy began with Americans crossing the border to buy lower cost medications in Canada and then, with the advent of the Internet, buying through mail order. Current law, technically, bans the practice and, unjustly, views it as a criminal act – even though no one has been prosecuted for it. The new bill in the House and Senate would lift the unethical ban on buying lower cost medications for their own use from Canada. Amen and Word Up to that!

So head on over to RxRights.org to contact your elected representatives and let them know you want them to vote for the Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act of 2015!

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Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation and Public Health: How Many Americans Are Buying Medication Online From Dangerous Websites?

25%, 20%, 10%, 5%, 2%, 1%?

A few years back, the FDA published the results of a survey from 2012 that showed 23% of Internet users purchase medication online. That number has been used by a variety of groups funded by pharmaceutical companies and U.S. pharmacy corporations, and apparently the Government Accountability Office, to imply that a quarter of the U.S. population is buying medication from dangerous rogue online pharmacy sites. The number is probably lower than 2%, which is still too high but it’s important that the public and our elected leaders face and tackle the online pharmacy problems that really exist, not fake ones that distort public perception and serve entrenched business interests…and lead to fewer Americans getting medicines they need.

This week, in our continuing quest to get the truth out and for our elected leaders in Congress to take bold action to protect online access to safe and affordable medication, we’re publishing the next section of our report called Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation, and Public Health
(more…)

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Drug Importation: Personal Stories About Ordering Medication Online From Foreign Pharmacies

Congratulations to President Obama on his re-election. We hope his next administration will heed the stories Americans are telling about their struggles to afford prescription medication. On that note, we loudly applaud our friends at RxRights.org for continuing to fight for Americans who are struggling to afford needed medication.  A new webpage from RxRights.org brings testimonials from hundreds of Americans across the country into one place. Their stories remind us why access by Americans to safe, foreign online pharmacies is a matter of protecting the public health, and that blocking access will only endanger it.

Below are two excerpts from the new RxRights.org testimonial page:

“Current purchases of medicine from licensed online Canadian pharmacies are saving my wife and me at least $1000 per month and mean the difference between us living or dying. Without these meds, we would both be dead by now…”Florida.

“My husband has COPD and in three months with Part D he is in the donut hole. Thank God for our Canadian pharmacy, they have helped to keep him alive for many years”New York


SOURCE: http://www.rxrights.org/testimonials

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