Prescription drugs: The facts about Canada

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Prescription drugs: The facts about Canada

A long list of states and cities, including Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Boston, and Portland, Maine, have set up programs to help residents and employees import Canadian drugs priced on average 25 to 50 percent below those on the U.S. market.

Almost 70 percent of the 1,400 people surveyed by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health in November 2004 said that allowing citizens to order drugs from Canada would make medicines more affordable without sacrificing safety or quality.

Canadian drugs are not as safe as U.S. drugs. False.

Canada's manufacturing and regulatory system is comparable to that of the U.S.

Canada's pricing and distribution system is less likely to foster the drug counterfeiting that concerns the FDA.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said that all of the prescription drugs it ordered from Canadian Internet pharmacies contained the proper chemical compositions, were shipped in accordance with special handling requirements, and arrived undamaged.

Canadian drugs are not always cheaper. True.