CONGRESS APPROVES COMPROMISE IMPORTATION AMENDMENT
Limited importation of drugs from Canada will soon become legal as the House and Senate passed a funding bill Sept. 29 containing a watered-down version of what was once a comprehensive and controversial amendment.
The fiscal 2007 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, which passed the Senate by voice vote and the House by a vote of 412-6, prohibits federal officials from stopping individuals from personally transporting prescription drugs across the Canadian border. The provision only applies to a "personal-use quantity," defined as less than a 90-day supply.
While Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) hailed the move as a "major victory," he and the other sponsors of the measure started with higher goals. The original House version allowed individuals to import drugs from any nation by any means, personal transportation or otherwise. Vitter offered a similar amendment in the Senate, but settled on limiting importation to shipments from Canada in response to concerns raised by his colleagues over terrorism.
The more-restrictive version being sent to the president is only the beginning, according to Vitter, who said he plans to push to get mail and internet orders also legalized to benefit Americans who do not live near the Canadian border. "This is a great step forward and the first hurdle toward opening the free market to cheaper and more available prescription drugs," Vitter said. "Now it is only a matter of time before we pass a comprehensive drug reimportation bill."
The drug industry had opposed the importation language, saying it opened the floodgates to counterfeit drugs. "Medicines crossing the border from Canada may originate from almost any country in the world," PhRMA Senior Vice President Ken Johnson said at the time. "What's more, Canadian authorities report that counterfeit drugs are being sold in their country at alarming rates."
In response to the version passed by Congress, Johnson reiterated the concern for patient safety and encouraged Americans to use other programs, such as Medicare and the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, to get lower-priced drugs.