OTTAWA DRUG BUST?

This article discusses the efforts of Canadian health minister Ujjal Dosanjh to put an end to the Internet pharmaceutical industry in Canada. Despite recent and mildly conciliatory words about not wanting to put the kibosh on a $1-billion-plus business, Dosanjh has made it abundantly clear in the past month he is prepared to take on Canada's Internet pharmacies. Canadian companies selling prescription medication to U.S. patients they've never seen is unethical, argues Dosanjh, and could lead to drug shortages and cost increases in Canada. He's mulling the creation of a registry to track drugs that are running low. His all-out offensive follows Bush's visit to Canada in early December, when the President raised the issue of Canadian drugs undercutting U.S. retailers with Prime Minister Paul Martin. If the Internet drug trade went under in Canada, up to two million Americans would find themselves without a ready source of affordable medicines. Because of government price controls here, the same drugs from Canadian pharmacies -- many originally shipped north from their U.S. manufacturers -- can cost anywhere from 40 to 80 per cent less than from their U.S. counterparts. Manitoba employs the most Internet pharmacy workers in the country, with other provinces -- primarily British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick -- bringing the total number of workers nationwide to about 4,000. Early this month, the Commons Standing Committee on Health requested the health minister not act until committee members had a chance to study the Internet pharmacies, which, despite their name, do the vast majority of their business by fax, phone and the mail. For workers in the business, the uncertainty is taking its toll.