International online pharmacy / US availability threat

[LazyMoose]

Save on meds from Canada? Read up....Big Pharma is still urging the House of Representatives to make all US bound shipments of any medicine and online ordering capabilities for the US residents illegal.

Many people order worldwide US brands of many meds from Canada due to their affordability. This takes away profits from Big Pharma and your freedom of choice.

If not you, it most likely could effect someone you know.

If PROTECT IP and / or SOPA are passed, legitimate international online pharmacies can be shut down. And if that happens, the cost of what you get inside the US most likely will go up as a result of no choice.

I encourage all to got to  R x Rights. o r g . You can contact your US Congress representative from the site to express your opinion.

thank you ,
LM

[LazyMoose]

Yes, looks like SOPA could still easily be a 'tag along' with some other more appealing bill. Its not gone yet.

[WaveRider]

Actually, SOPA was scuttled but may reappear with modifications under a different bill name. PIPA [Protect IP Act] is on hold as dozens of law professors have declared PIPA unconstitutional.

However, ACTA [Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement] is a worldwide threat and very much akin to SOPA. For drugs/medications, it means another country cannot make/sell a drug under a different name, it would be considered counterfeiting. It also means they cannot sell that drug under its proper name without prior approval from the pharm and/or paying a licensing fee to the pharm. The fees, of course, will be passed onto the consumer. This also means as an American citizen you cannot travel to Canada or Mexico to buy Rx drugs at 50-70% discount than you would in the states. Bringing them across the border would be illegal because they would be considered "counterfeit" in the eyes of the law.