Area Seniors say Canadian Mail-Order Drugs are Safe

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Area Seniors say Canadian Mail-Order Drugs are Safe

by Sharon Michael, the Olympian

March 8, 2004

U.S. Food and Drug Agency officials say consumers are risking their health when they illegally import drugs from Canada , but local seniors say the government warnings are just an attempt to scare them.

Canadian government officials are also beginning to take a harder look at cross-border drug traffic because some American drug manufacturers are cutting off supplies to Canadian pharmacies set up to serve Americans.

U.S. officials are concerned about counterfeit drugs, and Canadian officials are concerned that their country's price controls, which make Canadian drugs a bargain, will come under attack.

A number of local seniors say they believe the mail-order drugs are safe, and the price is right.

The government is using "scare tactics" to discourage people from importing cheaper Canadian drugs, said Halmer Halverson, 97, a retired General Electric employee who lives in Olympia .

Halverson had his drugs shipped from Canada for about 18 months. "I couldn't afford to pay the drugstore prices," he said.

Because of the government price controls, Canadian drugs are usually at least 30 percent lower than in the United States .

Halverson had been paying nearly $1,000 for a three-month supply of drugs to treat his prostate cancer. He paid just over $500 for a 90-day supply shipped from a British Columbia pharmacy.

All it took for him to cut his medication costs in half was a prescription from his local physician, which he faxed to the B.C. pharmacy. Refills were requested by telephone.

Halverson buys locally now after learning he's eligible for a discount plan through General Electric. But many of his friends who are paying for their own prescriptions continue to fax them to Canada and get their drugs delivered by U.S. mail.

Bonnie Rinehart, 62, of Olympia is confident the prescription drugs she orders from Canada are just what the doctor ordered.

"They're the same exact thing that I get here -- the same color, the same numbers, and my body responds in the right way," she said.

Lucille Miller, 77, also of Olympia , said the Canadian pharmacy she orders from is conscientious about checking the accuracy of her prescriptions.

"They do call, and they deal with the (local) doctors," she said. "They check for (drug) interactions."

Both women say they save 35 to 40 percent by purchasing from Canadian pharmacies.

Before Sept. 11, groups of Thurston County seniors got together for sporadic trips to Canada to buy prescription drugs. Eileen McKenzieSullivan, executive director of Senior Services for South Sound, went along on one trip where a couple purchased a three-month supply of medications that cost them the same as a one-month supply purchased in the United States.

"(The savings) allowed them some money to do something socially," McKenzieSullivan explained. "Before, they couldn't go out to eat or go anywhere."

The Canadian junkets ended after Sept. 11, when border security was ratcheted up.

"It was just taking so long to get across the border," McKenzieSullivan said. "Right about that same time, it started to be able to get them through the mail."

Because drugs are ordered by mail, there is no data on how many Americans are getting drugs from Canada .

Americans should pressure the U.S. government to control drug prices, said Barry Power, director of practice development for the Canadian Pharmacists Association.

"There is a deficit in American social policy that is driving (Americans) to a foreign country to get their medications," he said.

For years, U.S. and Canadian officials ignored cross-border traffic in prescription drugs, although it's illegal because all drugs sold in the United States must be FDA-approved.

When Congress passed the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization of 2003, it authorized the importation of drugs from Canada under certain conditions and directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to do a study of drug importation, to be completed by December 2004.

HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announced late last month that he will create a task force to advise the department on the safe importation of prescription drugs. FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan will head the group.

One of the jobs of the task force will be to try to determine the volume of drugs coming into the United States by mail.