by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Jan 18, 2012 | Advocacy, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation
Americans, who struggle with the high cost of prescription medication and buy prescription drugs from safe non-U.S. online pharmacies, should include their voice in the swelling opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) before Congress.
SOPA and its counterpart legislation in the Senate, the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), target reputable international online pharmacies, including those approved by PharmacyChecker.com, and seek to block access by Americans to safe and affordable prescription medication. These bills, if made into law, could be used to designate legitimate foreign online pharmacies as “dangers to the public health” and subject them to being blocked from the Internet as well as from appearing in search results and accepting credit card payments.
Access to medication is just one part of the legislation, which also focuses on protecting copyrights. There is good reason to clamp down on online pirates and counterfeiters. However, as currently proposed, SOPA tramples on the U.S. Constitution, encourages censorship, stifles innovation, and even subverts our foreign policy efforts to encourage other governments to allow their citizens uncensored Internet access! For a fuller understanding of the access to affordable medicines issues at stake, please read: “SOPA will have grave effects on the health of hundreds of thousands of Americans”.
If you go to PharmacyChecker.com today, you’ll find that we’ve joined the huge opposition to SOPA by encouraging Americans to take action against this damaging legislation. You can protest SOPA now by contacting your elected officials from RxRight.org.
Tagged with: PIPA, Protect Intellectual Property Act, RxRights, SOPA, Stop Online Piracy Act
by PharmacyChecker.com | Jan 11, 2012 | Advocacy, Online Pharmacies
Today we’d like to feature content from our ally RxRights.org, a non-profit group dedicated to protecting access to safe and affordable personal drug importation through verified online pharmacies:
Lee Graczyk, RxRights lead organizer, felt compelled to respond to a recent Washington Post editorial about the problem of Internet piracy and the legislation that has been crafted to address it. Though we have not had much luck getting the Post to publish Lee’s responses in the past, he
continues to try, and wanted to share his latest effort.
The Post editorial board was on target in stating that the Stop Online Piracy Act’s (SOPA) definition of a rogue site is dangerously overbroad and could threaten legitimate Web sites [“A fair block on Internet piracy” editorial, Jan. 3.] Its explanation, however, could go further to discuss the implications SOPA would have on Americans who import their medications from legitimate pharmacies.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans–90,000 people in Florida alone–rely on ordering vital prescription medications from safe, licensed Canadian and other international pharmacies, mostly due to the exorbitant costs of prescription drugs in the U.S. If passed, SOPA would take away Americans’ access to these pharmacies. This is because the bill inappropriately groups together real pharmacies–licensed, legitimate pharmacies that require a doctor’s prescription and sell brand-name medications–and the rogues that sell everything from diluted or counterfeit medicine to narcotics without a prescription.
As legislators continue to move forward with SOPA, as well as its Senate counterpart, the PROTECT IP Act, they should recognize this is not only an Internet infrastructure and security matter, but also a grave health concern.
This article can also be found on RxRights.org. PharmacyChecker.com is an RxRights coalition member.
Tagged with: Canada, Internet, PROTECT IP Act, rogue pharmacies, Rx Rights coalition, RxRights, SOPA, Stop Online Pri, United States, Washington Post
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | May 9, 2011 | Advocacy, Personal Drug Importation
We’re proud to announce our support for RxRights (www.RxRights.org), a non-profit group dedicated to protecting access to safe and affordable personal drug importation through verified online pharmacies. PharmacyChecker.com is a coalition member of RxRights.org, which harnesses the non-profit community and American consumers in a shared effort to stand up and demand that our leaders listen to the American people instead of playing to the dictates of the pharmaceutical industry.
Go to RxRights.org advocacy campaign page, to send a message to your elected representatives. Tell them that the U.S. government should not take actions that could block access to safe and affordable medication.
Tagged with: advocacy campaign, elected officials, RxRights, RxRights.org, Take action
