Canada’s Message to the U.S. on Drug Importation: We care more about our citizens than you.
The pharma-funded and industry opponents of drug importation from Canada just love to talk about how “even the Canadian government opposes importation.” For a quick clarification, Canada has not minded or stopped its pharmacies from safely dispensing medicines by mail to Americans. That’s personal drug importation. When I write that Canada opposes importation, I mean the wholesale drug importation currently proposed by the Trump administration.
Hey, if Canada doesn’t want this new policy, then what the hell can we do? As I see it, Pharma-funded groups, like the Partnership for Safe Medicines and Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies, have—almost gleefully— pointed out to the U.S. FDA that Canada is opposed to the implementation of Section 804 to allow registered wholesalers in the U.S. to import drugs from Canada. This is mainly due to Canada’s fear of drug shortages. Drug manufacturers supply Canada to meet the needs of its much smaller population. If Canadian wholesale drug exports increase substantially under the new Trump administration policy then it could exacerbate supply problems in Canada.
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