Paper Topic:

To Be Determined

Berger 1

Mark Berger

Professor

English

April 20 , 2008

Drug Reimportation : Healing Americans or Making Them Sicker

Healthcare is widely discussed in this county . People want easy ways to stay fit spending too much money . One area that people are worried about is purchasing prescription drug . Consumers and politicians alike want companies to offer medications cheaply

Importing drugs from abroad has been argued for years . Drug companies ship their medications overseas , which are then made overseas and returned to the U .S . Consumers save money by paying less

for the same drugs . Officials in some U .S . states have arranged bus trips to Canada so people could purchase inexpensive products ( HYPERLINK "http /www .amsa .org " www .amsa .org

The idea does have its critics . Foes believe importing drugs from another country harms people . They said strict laws enforced by the U .S Food and Dug Administration (FDA ) would be useless

Although some Congressional leaders support reimportation , the last two presidents have not . Both the Clinton and Bush Administrations fought against it because of safety issues . The issue continues to be heard the 2008 presidential race . Republican John McCain of Arizona and Democrats Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York - all favor reimportation (www .webma .com /election2008

Berger 2

Supporting the Cause

Most people agree that buying low-priced prescription drugs is getting tougher . Elderly citizens must sometimes choose between buying food heat , or medications (Monali and Rajesh 1 . In fact , some people have cut their pills in half to make them last longer (1 . That idea does not work because the user does not receive the full benefit of its dosage (1

The problem sent leaders from several U .S . states to organize visits to Canada to buy prescription drugs . New Hampshire , Maine , Louisiana and California have gone over the northern b to pick up less-expensive medications ( HYPERLINK "http /www .amsa .org " www .amsa .org 1

Congressional leaders called out prescription drug companies to lower its prices for medications . They think drug companies are forcing people to pay too much for its products ( HYPERLINK "http /www .amsa .org www .amsa .org 1

Not a Healthy Idea

Most pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to either slice its profits or be told what to change for its products . They cite many factors such as getting the product tested and approved , which can take years , as reasons for charging more . Without this activity , its pursuit of better medications would stop , drug companies argued (Meier 1

Past reimportation bills lost because senators were not convinced that drugs coming into the U .S . are safe . In 2003 , more than half of the U .S Senators opposed such a bill for that reason (1 . Senators believed having U .S . Health and Human Services Department (HHS ) support the bill might have helped it pass

Some stores would have refused to sell any imported drugs . A member of

Berger 3

the National Association of Chain Stores said they would not have allowed any drugs shipped from someplace...

3 pages

30.0 KB

Free sing-up