Monday, January 26, 2004
Page 7
AFFAIRS OF STATE (Column)
To Import or Not to Import Drugs, That Is the Question
By DAVID KLINE
The often-mentioned “debate over prescription drugs prices” is no longer just a figurative reference. An honest-to-goodness debate, featuring a member of Congress squaring off against the country’s best-known economist, has been scheduled for next week in San Francisco.
Does the re-importation of drugs translate into the re-importation of price controls? Do the merits of a free market outweigh access to low-cost drugs? Those are just two of the questions up for discussion at the Jan. 27 debate, the sponsor said.
Economist Milton Friedman, well known for his support of free markets, will be joined by Pacific Research Institute president Sally C. Pipes in arguing against importing medicines from Canada and other countries with government-mandated price controls.
On the other side of the issue are Dr. Don McCanne, president of Physicians for a National Health Program, and Rep. Gil Gutknecht, a Minnesota Republican who has been trying to legalize drug importation.
Gutknecht has been supportive of U.S. cities that have announced plans to defy federal laws and import drugs from Canada for government-run health programs. Last week, the debate’s host city of San Francisco became one of those scofflaws.
The event ought to be lively enough to live up to its catchy name: “Border Wars: The Prescription Drug Battle With Canada.”
Pipes firmly believes it would be a mistake for the United States to allow drugs to be imported, because “the process would lead to severe cuts in R&D by U.S. manufacturers, significantly impeding the future development and availability of new and life-saving drugs in this country, Canada and worldwide.”
Pipes, a Canadian citizen, also says many imported drugs are unsafe “and expose Americans to serious risks.”
Gutknecht disagrees, and has argued that the United States could easily create standards and regulations to make drug importation safe.
“Through cooperative governmental efforts, we drink imported fruit juice and eat imported meats with confidence,” the congressman said in an Insight Magazine article. “We can accomplish the same for prescription drugs.”
The Minnesota lawmaker often mentions individual seniors when discussing the issue. He told Insight that his 86-year-old father takes a blood thinner which costs $89.95 a month in the United States, but just $21 in Germany.
Moderating the action will be James Glassman, a fellow with the American Enterprise Institute.
It should be noted that Glassman isn’t exactly an impartial observer. Like the Pacific Research Institute, which is sponsoring the forum, he has taken a firm position on the drug importation issue. In a recent online article for the Tech Central Station, Glassman said supporters of drug importation “have the problem exactly backward.”
“Instead of focusing on re-importation, they should be pushing Canada and other countries to liberate their health care systems—to end subsidies and restrictions and open their markets,” Glassman wrote. If free markets for prescription drugs existed in all countries, Glassman said, “the prices to consumers in countries with similar levels of income—and, thus, demand—would be nearly the same, just as a digital camera costs roughly the same in Toronto, Rome and Chicago.”
Regardless of where a person stands on the issue of importation, the debate should provoke a great deal of thought and topics for further discussion for the ride home.
The event will be held at the Fairmont Hotel in Sacramento from 10:30 a.m. to noon, and the cost is $20 per person. Those interested in attending can call (415) 955-6120 or e-mail smartin@pacificresearch.org to reserve a seat.
— Capitol News Service
Copyright 2004, Metropolitan News Company