Congressional negotiators finding way to allow imports from Canada

September 22, 2006 - Negotiators from the House and Senate reached something of an agreement on allowing Americans to purchase drugs from lower-cost suppliers in Canada - a move that has been staunchly opposed by the Bush administration and pharmaceutical companies.

Lawmakers Reach Tentative Agreement to Allow U.S. Residents to Purchase 90-Day Supply of Prescription Drugs From Canada

House and Senate negotiators on a $33.7 billion fiscal year 2007 Homeland Security appropriations bill on Thursday reached a tentative agreement on the prescription drug reimportation provisions that have delayed passage of the legislation for several days, Congress Daily reports (Cohn/Swindell, CongressDaily, 9/22/06).

The Senate in July voted 68-32 to approve an amendment to the Homeland Security appropriations bill sponsored by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) that would prohibit seizures by U.S. Customs and Border Protection of prescription drugs purchased from Canadian pharmacies by U.S. residents.

The House has approved two appropriations bills -- Homeland Security and Agriculture -- that include provisions to allow the purchase of prescription drugs from other nations. The provision included in the House Homeland Security appropriations bill would allow the purchase of prescription drugs from any nation (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 9/21/06).

Under the agreement, the final Homeland Security appropriations bill would include a provision under which U.S. residents could personally transport as much as a 90-day supply of prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies. The provision would not allow U.S. residents to purchase prescription drugs from other nations over the Internet or by mail (Jakes Jordan, AP/Detroit Free Press, 9/22/06).

According to CongressDaily, the issue of prescription drug reimportation -- "always sensitive given seniors' concerns, particularly in an election year" -- had "proved an unwelcome distraction for Republican leaders, caught between the demands of the pharmaceutical lobby and their own rank-and-file members."

Congressional Republican leaders, the White House and the pharmaceutical industry support the current ban on prescription drug reimportation (CongressDaily, 9/22/06).

Reaction

Vitter called the agreement "a major victory" (Crowley, CQ Today, 9/21/06). He added, "I think it's a significant breakthrough that strongly suggests that it's only a matter of time before we pass full-blown reimportation" (Alpert, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 9/22/06).

However, Ken Johnson, a senior vice president for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said, "We are adamantly opposed to importation for safety reasons" (Rogers, Wall Street Journal, 9/22/06).