Public service group produces a sad, but funny and truelook
at how the Bush Administration makes drug smugglers out of
Grandma and Grandpa
| To play
video, click on cartoon |
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- What's
become of our country when a 70-year-old grandmother has to
become a drug smuggler just to stay alive? In the richest
nation in the world, the United States of America, people
are facing a dire reality. They must often choose between
basic necessities such as food, shelter and needed
medications. The skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs has
caused some people to resort to drug smuggling to survive.
To
bring this escalating national problem to the forefront,
Today's Special, a public-interest organization founded by
Chant Yedalian, a consumer attorney and activist, has
released today a song and cartoon titled "Grandma's a Drug
Smuggler." Using a classically sung chorus line of "Oh say
can you see" from the Star-Spangled Banner, contrasted with
lyrics such as "Grandma's a drug smuggler" and "I ain't no
thug, I just need an affordable drug" sung in a hip-hop
style, the song is intended to educate the public about the
politics behind the rising costs of prescription drugs in
the United States and how it jeopardizes the health of
insured and uninsured Americans. The song highlights the
fact that many of the same drugs sold in the United States
are available next-door in Canada at half-price or less, but
the U.S. government has made it illegal for Americans to
import these more affordable drugs. The song and cartoon
track the adventures of one bingo-playing granny who, with
the help of her "bingo posse," becomes a drug-smuggling
outlaw so that she can afford her prescription heart
medication which will keep her alive.
The parody is based on some astonishingly grim facts:
The United States is the world's largest market for
pharmaceuticals, yet Americans pay the world's highest
prices. U.S. prescription drug costs have increased by
double-digit rates every year for the past nine years. U.S.
employers straddled with increasing prescription drug and
health care costs are either cutting back on the coverage
they make available to their employees or passing on some of
the cost increases to their employees in the form of higher
premiums, deductibles or co-pays. Insured or not, Americans
are facing ever-increasing out-of-pocket costs for their
needed medications. Even seniors with drug coverage find the
cost of prescription drugs often far exceeds their coverage
limits and must choose between food, rent, and needed
medications. As a result, one in five adults cannot afford
to buy some or all of his or her prescribed medicines.
Many of the same popular prescription drugs are available in
Canada and European countries (such as the United Kingdom
and France) at a savings of 50 percent or more because these
countries negotiate drug prices on behalf of all patients.
Attempts to implement a similar approach in the U.S. or to
allow the importation of affordable drugs from these
countries have thus far been blocked by the pharmaceutical
industry.
Although the drug industry blames the high price of
prescription drugs on research and development costs,
financial reports filed by the drug companies with the
Securities and Exchange Commission show that, on average,
the drug industry spends over two times more on marketing,
advertising and administration than it does on research and
development. During each of the years 1994 through 2002, the
drug industry consistently ranked as the most profitable
industry in the U.S., reaping profits that were 300 percent
to 560 percent as profitable as the median for all Fortune
500 companies. As expressed by Grandma in the song, "drug
prices are risin' up steadily and drug companies are robbin'
us elderly."
There are currently two bills before Congress which would
allow Americans to lawfully buy more affordable drugs from
Canada and other countries. It is estimated that allowing
open pharmaceutical markets could save Americans at least
$38,000,000,000 each year. Both bills are opposed by the
drug industry.
Unfortunately, until some meaningful reform is made by the
U.S. government to control drug costs, people like grandma
facing prohibitively expensive drug prices will resort to "smugglin'"
to get their needed medications, according to Today's
Special.
