Canada shouldn't be 'medicine cabinet' for U.S., pharmacists warn

AnAmericandecision to stop seizing U.S.-bound prescription drugs at the border could jeopardize the Canadian drug supply and access to care, a pharmacy association warned Thursday.

"We have a system in Canada that ensures that patients have reasonable, affordable access to drugs and we see this trade as a potential threat to that access," Jeff Poston, executive-director of the Canadian Pharmacists Association, said in an interview with CBC.ca. "We can't afford to be the medicine cabinet for the U.S.," he said.

Poston said that Canada, which already suffers from a shortage of doctors and pharmacists, will see its resources stretched even thinner because of an influx of orders from patients in the U.S. Health Canada requires all pharmacists to have prescriptions signed by a licensed physician in the country before they can legally dispense a prescription drug.

The U.S. federal government this week announced that they will stop intercepting small amounts of prescription medicine mailed from Canada, beginning Oct. 9. Since November 2005, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents had confiscated drugs that 40,000 Americans had ordered from Canadian pharmacists.

However, under the revised rules, Americans will be allowed to bring a 90-day supply of prescription drugs into the country, said U.S. customs spokeswoman Lynn Hollinger. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will oversee the importation of prescription drugs.

Poston said his association will continue to press Ottawa to implement safeguards to protect Canadian consumers.

"The current Conservative government doesn't seem to be making this a priority which I think is a significant mistake. They need to take action to make sure that they protect the drug supply of Canadians," he said.

Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who spearheaded the initiative, praised the decision, saying on Tuesday that the change would ease a financial burden for the elderly.

"It's a great victory, particularly for the senior citizens who are having difficulty making financial ends meet in a time in which, sadly, some senior citizens have to make a decision between buying their prescription drugs and buying their groceries," Nelson said.

But Poston warns U.S. consumers to make their purchases wisely, indicating that there are a number of websites pretending to be in Canada but which are in fact based offshore.

"We know that counterfeit drugs, substandard drugs is an increasing problem globally and so I think when the U.S. consumer buys outside their traditional pharmacy and their traditional drug supply chain then they're putting themselves at risk as well," he said.

In August 2005, the FDA conducted an investigation at U.S. airports and found that 85 per cent of drugs being funnelled into the country claiming to be from Canadian pharmacies were in fact shipped from 27 other countries around globe. A number of the products were also determined to be counterfeit medications.