Seniors' Executive Director cites safety of Canadian prescription drugs

The following statement was issued by Gary Passmore, executive director of the Congress of California Seniors at a press conference in Sacramento, CA August 4, 2004--

Thank you Senator Ortiz and thank you to the other Senators here today who have taken the lead on this important issue.  I speak for all of us in saying that we are profoundly grateful for the hard work you are doing…your fight will help hundreds of thousands of Californians.  

Like several others here today, I am just back from a fact finding trip to Canada . I went with a lot of questions and I learned a great deal about importing prescription drugs. I went as the eyes and ears of tens of thousands of members of the Congress of California Seniors and other seniors who desperately need helping affording life saving drugs.  

The trip was an extraordinary opportunity to learn. We visited a number of pharmacies in both Winnipeg and Vancouver …large and small operations. They opened their doors to us and gave us free reign to ask questions, talk to staff, examine records, watch their procedures…even go to the shelf and examine their inventories.  

We met with officials of the Manitoba government to get their views on Californians buying drugs from Canada . We talked to the professional association that sets standards and certifies international pharmacies in meeting those high standards. We even talked with an individual who had worked for Health Canada as an inspector of overseas pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, where he worked alongside his counterparts in the FDA.  

We gained both a broad and in depth picture of this industry.  

Let me get to the bottom line:  

California seniors and consumers have been misled.  

They have been frightened by the drug makers and misled by the FDA with claims that drugs from Canada are not safe.  

And I say with confidence…”Don’t believe them.”  

I saw with my own eyes that the safety standards in Canada are AS high, or even HIGHER than ours.  

The Canadian companies we visited are reputable. They are closely regulated. They provide the exact same products, from the same sources, in the same kind of sealed packaging as in the US . They are shipped to consumers using reliable shippers.  

And they are safe.  

Many people don’t realize that the drugs we take come from plants in Ireland or Germany , France , Puerto Rico , Switzerland and elsewhere. They are shipped into the US .  And the exact same medicines are shipped to Canada . They come down the same chutes into the same sealed packages. One set goes to Europe , one to Canada and one to the US . So we are not re-importing drugs… we are importing drugs…the same drugs imported into Canada .  

Canada mirrors the US in its concern for drug safety.  

I saw only manufacturers’ sealed bottles on the shelves of the dispensaries. I saw the drug tracking numbers on all the packages which certify they are approved by Health Canada and not counterfeit. I watched a pharmacist on site catch a fraudulent prescription.  

I saw licensed pharmacists reviewing patient medical data to refer to Canadian licensed doctors for a second opinion…something we don’t do here.  

And the pharmacies we visited are being inspected more often than is typical in California .  

So, in some ways, these Canadian suppliers are SAFER than sources here in the US . And many drugs cost 40 to 60% less than from US suppliers.  

There are others here who have much to add.  

Let me just remind you that drugs which are not taken because they cost too much are not “safe”. Drugs that are taken with skipped doses to make them last longer are not “safe”. Pills that are cut in half to last twice as long are not “safe”.  

These are the realities facing tens of thousands of California seniors.  

They are being sacrificed for higher profits on the corporate bottom line and we can’t wait for Washington to act.  

So more than ever we need help from the California Legislature.  

We are here today to renew our call for action THIS session on a package of bills by these Senators and Assemblyman Dario Frommer and others.    

These bills will save lives. They will save us all money. They will help people to live in health and in dignity.  

So I urge your readers, viewers and listeners to please contact their legislators and ask them to support passage of these bills to bring affordable drugs to California .  

The Congress of California Seniors is proud to lend its voice as an advocate for safe and affordable prescription drugs