Q: Should Congress remove barriers to consumers who want to use online pharmacies? NO: These barriers help several government agencies maintain drug quality and safety

0 Comments | Insight on the News, July 8, 2003 | by Merrill Matthews, Jr.

Now for the lead paragraph from a May 8 Washington Post story: "The Canadian government has officially said that it will be responsible for the safety and quality of the large and growing flow of prescription drugs across the borders to American consumers, a clarification long sought by U.S. officials."

Whew! I feel much safer knowing that a country that can't control its own borders is going to help us control ours, don't you?

Health experts think that roughly 5 percent to 8 percent of the world prescription-drug market is counterfeit, although the vast majority of counterfeit sales are outside U.S. borders. But that could change if we weaken the laws or restrict the FDA and Customs Service from seeking out and stopping counterfeit-drug vendors.

When the DEA and Customs Service surveyed 200 travelers who made a trip from San Diego to Tijuana, Mexico, and back, the organizations estimated that 25 percent of the pharmaceuticals were counterfeit or contaminated. In 2001, the Customs Service, working with authorities in Thailand, shut down several online pharmacies and arrested 28 people in Thailand and Albany, N.Y., according to an article last year in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

While counterfeit prescription drugs can be a source of huge profits for organized crime, there is another potential danger terrorism. A recent report by Global Options Inc., which deals with security and terrorism issues, points out that terrorists increasingly are delving into the prescription-drug market, both as a way to make money and commit terrorist acts.

According to the study, "Interpol, the largest international police organization in the world, has uncovered a connection between terrorists and pharmaceuticals. Based on evidence gathered by police in North America and Western Europe, Interpol believes the profits from counterfeit [prescription] drug trafficking are, in part, financing international terrorism."

Americans wanting to find less-expensive sources for prescription drugs seem to trust that drugs bought online from vendors purporting to reside in Canada that is, if you can even find out where they reside will be as safe as the ones they buy at their local pharmacies. That trust is reinforced when U.S. politicians try to weaken laws forbidding reimportation or even encourage the practice.

The fact is that the U.S. prescription-drug distribution system through local pharmacies has been so effective in ensuring that Americans get high-quality, untainted drugs for so many years that many people may be oblivious to the problems that have plagued other countries. Just think about the irony: Seniors who travel to Mexico in droves may try to avoid the water or the food, yet they may feel no reservations about buying prescription drugs in that country.

Americans are becoming increasingly annoyed indeed, irate over the barrage of unwanted spam. Most people I know think the spammers are shameless invaders of privacy. The Wall Street Journal reports that 33 states have enacted laws trying to limit unwanted spam. There are computer hackers who have made it their mission to "do unto spammers as they have done unto us," by flooding their e-mail accounts with messages to give them a little taste of their own medicine. However, these "counterattacks" aren't easy because most spammers go to great lengths to make sure that even computer whizzes can't track them down.