Medicine Men
March 5, 2005 10:06 PM   Subscribe

Sovereign nations import prescription drugs from Canada. The latest loophole in the Canadian drugs saga: if you can't figure out a way to get your state to buy them, get Native Americans to import them for you. (Just make sure that they are, in fact, Indians.)
posted by gimonca (14 comments total)
 
I'd hit it.

Cheap drugs I mean... Isn't bypassing regulation the American Way?
Pretty fitting for True Americans!!
posted by Balisong at 11:06 PM on March 5, 2005


Someone was quite the shutterbug on that first link.
posted by Vulpyne at 11:56 PM on March 5, 2005


This all may end soon, Ujjal Dosanjh (the federal minister of health) has developed an interest in protecting Canadians from running out of prescription pills. There are a few ideas floating about: making it impossible for Canadian doctors to co-sign american prescriptions, preventing bulk sales the the USA to an all out ban on exporting pills that still have a patent on them to the USA. We've also begun to discipline doctors who fill out prescriptions for americans they haven't seen.
posted by squeak at 12:41 AM on March 6, 2005


This whole situation is so fucking backward, especially when American politicians (Republicans and Democrats alike) support importing drugs from Canada. Drug prices are higher here in the US because we don't regulate them the way Canadians do. But "oh no" we can't ever bring up the proper way to fix this problem, which is to regulate drug prices in the US also, because that would be "against free-market principles" (rampant graft and protectionism not withstanding). What a fucking lie.
posted by randomstriker at 1:30 AM on March 6, 2005


I just have to say "wow". This is the first time I've ever seen m y t o w n (Thief River Falls) on anything linked from MetaFilter. And I imagine it'll be the last...

It's a great place to live! (Err, well, at least to go back home for Christmas to.)
posted by afiler at 7:20 AM on March 6, 2005


"Myron estimated U.S. patients would save 50 percent on average on their medication costs. He said the business could be set up as a combination store-front, mail-order and Internet pharmacy."

Nothing wrong with that...
posted by xammerboy at 7:25 AM on March 6, 2005


If the "sovereign" nations keep on doing things like this, they're not gonna be sovereign for much longer...
posted by insideout at 7:48 AM on March 6, 2005


Meanwhile, at least until somebody ruins the gig, someone is getting rich. I am a pharmacist and my wife just asked me what the differences are in Canadian drugs and ours. "None" was my reply. "Then why do the drug companies charge us so much more for ours?" she asked. You know the answer - because they can.
posted by payattn at 8:43 AM on March 6, 2005


But "oh no" we can't ever bring up the proper way to fix this problem, which is to regulate drug prices in the US also, because that would be "against free-market principles"

Actually this is brought up quite frequently, by people who oppose importing price controls.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 9:42 AM on March 6, 2005


I live in CA, where Native Americans are claiming outlying land at a record rate, based on largely tangential connections to the land in question (i.e. "our forefathers crossed this land to reach the land of our tribal heritage") and becoming bleeding rich off the casinos they then erect. I find it somewhat ironic that, after the non-native Americans nearly wiped out their entire population, they are getting some payback by finding the weak points in our economy and exploiting them beyond all dreams of avarice. "If there's a market for it, we'll figure out a way to sell it to you."

Sovereign nations bordellos can't really be too far behind. Why not? Time has proven it's a never-ending commodity with seemingly unquenchable consumers. There will always be horny men and there will always be sick people, sometimes in the same package!
posted by Griffins_posse at 10:34 AM on March 6, 2005


WTF?
posted by disgruntled at 4:55 PM on March 6, 2005


The fact that prescription drugs cost so much more in the U.S. than in Canada just shows that Canada is a more benevolent society. Capitalism is great, making billions of dollars in profits is fine, just don't make it off people with cancer and heart disease, it crosses a moral line in my view.
posted by disgruntled at 5:03 PM on March 6, 2005


Yet another reason that the idea of "sovereign" Indian nations needs to go away.
posted by madajb at 12:45 PM on March 7, 2005


Hey, it's more dignified than casinos!
posted by ParisParamus at 7:36 PM on March 7, 2005


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