Importing drugs is penny wise and pound foolish for Wisconsin’s fiscal and prescription health. Importing Liability

Governor Jim Doyle needs to take a basic course in the American tort system. As he leaps onboard the prescription drug importation bandwagon — touting "savings" for Wisconsinites and the state’s red-inked budget — Doyle is turning a blind eye to the legal consequences of his plan, not to mention its real monetary cost. Wisconsin is not just importing prescription drugs but legal liability, too.

Wisconsin will be liable when one of its citizens is hospitalized or even dies after taking an unsafe medication purchased from a Canadian pharmacy "featured" on his state’s Prescription Drug Resource Center website. And when — not if — that happens, the taxpayers will be left holding the bill for the state’s legal expenses and the plaintiff’s verdict, as well.

No one can ensure the safety of prescription drugs imported to American consumers — not Governor Doyle, the federal Food and Drug Administration, Health Canada, or even the pharmaceutical companies. Both the FDA and Health Canada (the FDA’s northern counterpart) have repeatedly warned that there are no guarantees when it comes to taking medications imported from Canadian pharmacies, and federal sting operations prove the reality and seriousness of these concerns.

The FDA conducted a perfunctory import blitz in November, finding 1,729 "unapproved drugs" in the 1,982 packages examined. These illegally imported medications included "recalled drugs, drugs requiring special storage conditions, drugs requiring close physician monitoring and drugs containing addictive controlled substances," and the FDA underscored their serious risks, stating that "[u]napproved drugs lack assurances of safety, effectiveness, quality and purity." Quite simply, when Americans buy drugs from foreign pharmacies — even in Canada — those medications are often mislabeled, unapproved, counterfeit or worse, they could be contaminated, the wrong dosage or even another drug altogether.

What’s more, while 80 percent of the intercepted packages came from Canada, those prescriptions "revealed that products were manufactured in countries other than Canada." The FDA found medications produced in such medically-advanced and safety-conscious countries as Mexico, Costa Rica, India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand, and a host of others. In other words, imported drugs are often only in Canada long enough to get a new postmark.

Despite these obvious dangers, Governor Doyle is aggressively encouraging Minnesotans to purchase their prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies "visited" and "reviewed" by Wisconsin state officials. If you think that sounds like an endorsement, well, it is. The state’s website says "Wisconsin … is confident that the prescription medications listed by these pharmacies … will be dispensed in a safe manner," and notes that the "featured" pharmacies "are licensed by a Canadian province and governed by the laws and regulation of Canada," which are "similar to regulations applicable to pharmacies licensed by the State of Wisconsin." In other words, the state more than implies the "featured" Canadian pharmacies met Wisconsin’s pharmaceutical standards.

By vouching for the safety of these Canadian pharmacies, Governor Doyle has placed his state squarely in the legal line of fire, baiting the hook for any trial lawyer to sue Wisconsin on behalf of any citizen injured by an imported drug.

The legal argument is simple and logical. A Wisconsinite needed a prescription and was instructed by his state that it was both safe and cheap to buy from Canada. The plaintiff relied on the advice because Wisconsin’s website not only directed him to the online pharmacy but also told him that a state official had approved the pharmacy as "safe, reputable, and reliable."

In fact, the evidence is far more damning. The FDA has not only warned Governor Doyle that importing drugs is "illegal," but also of the "inadequacies" and "deficiencies" observed at far too many Canadian pharmacies. As pointed out in a letter to Governor Doyle, when neighboring Minnesota officials went on preannounced inspections to pharmacies north of the border, including two "featured" on Wisconsin’s website, they "noted dozens of safety problems," including failing to label prescriptions at all, neglecting to send any information with the drugs, and even re-dispensing medicines that were not labeled and appeared to be previously returned. These facts demonstrate why it won’t take long for a jury to hold Wisconsin responsible when anything goes wrong, and why the state’s feeble attempt to disclaim liability in a buried "legal notice" won’t succeed. After all, the state told its citizens to buy their drugs from Canada, and that’s just what they did.

Wisconsin can’t afford this liability. With the average American filling 10 prescriptions per year and the last U.S. Census counting Wisconsin’s population at more than 5 million, liability awards will swiftly wipe out any anticipated "savings," leaving taxpayers digging deep in their pockets to pay for more drug-induced claims.

Importing drugs is penny wise and pound foolish for Wisconsin’s fiscal and prescription health. There’s a reason why every former FDA Commissioner since 1969 has warned against importing drugs, and why the current FDA has been unable to certify drugs shipped from Canada as "safe" — they aren’t. And until they are, Canadian pharmacies will cost Wisconsinites far too much for their prescriptions, not at a cash register or through the mail, but in the courts at home.

April 22, 2004
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