Progressives Outraged Over Booker, Democrats Vote on Prescription Drugs From Canada - See more at:

[brer cat]

173. The government agencies in Canada and US as well as other countries

regulate the importation of drugs for redistribution within their countries. If you look at a bottle of pills at the drug store, you will likely find the wording "manufactured for..." "distributed by..."; in other words, purchased wholesale for redistribution domestically. These drugs are subject to regulation.

Do you honestly believe that US Citizen, not-quite-legally, going online to order drugs is afforded the same or any protection? Is there someone sitting in USPS or customs checking our packages to see if one is coming from a manufacturer that failed an inspection?

"Buyer beware" is operative here. Obviously before I purchased from a Canadian pharmacy I did some research to determine if it was a legitimate, government-approved pharmacy. However, anyone using the internet knows what you think you see may not be what you get.

My point is that if Congress is going to allow us to legally import drugs, they also need to put protections in place. The author of the article you cite certainly didn't come away with confidence in that process.

How do these inspections work? What do we do when the plants fail the inspections? How often have we halted importation due to substandard drug manufacturing?

It seems we won’t get these answers from Health Canada because that information is proprietary and only shared with the companies and regulatory partners (I asked).

This situation doesn’t leave me with the warm fuzzies. Especially when we’re dealing with — how can I say this nicely — a federal agency that refuses to even enforce the laws against illegal drug advertising on a bus shelter at the end of my street?

Am I being overly alarmed when an agency whose job it is to keep unsafe products from consumers can’t even tell us which overseas manufacturers have failed inspections and why they failed?