To the editor,
An elderly friend in International Falls (It could be any of us, though.) buys her medicine from a Canadian Internet pharmacy because it costs $20 per month as opposed to $600 per month in this country. This decision not only saves her money but saves the Medicare Trust Fund.
When she received her package, she was informed in a letter that the U.S. government is attempting to prevent U.S. citizens from purchasing prescription medicine online from pharmacies in other countries and that legislation passed last summer gives the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services the authority to seize her mail and destroy the medicine.
The excuse is protection of citizens. Why is it that I feel like she is being shaken down by the legal drug cartel in this county that has Congress in its choke-hold? I feel like she is dealing with the mafia and has to pay $580 dollars per month in “protection” to an industry that controls Congress. As to safety, I think Congress should be more concerned about drug safety in this country – I give you the meningitis deaths last summer due to tainted injections.
Our representatives should be working to regulate our industries and not for seizure of citizens’ prescription drugs in the mail. Why don’t our representatives curb the abuses of the “research-cost” ploy? We know drug companies use their tax write-offs for research to change a drug just enough to keep the patent going and keep a monopoly for price gouging.
This is a Congress that passes free-trade legislation for corporations to get work from cheap labor and move jobs overseas, but when it comes to free trade for citizens, Congress authorizes seizure of our prescription purchases.
I have written to our president, our U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Al Franken and Rep. Rick Nolan and informed them that this legislation is an affront to citizens and must be revoked.
I expect action on this now. Legislation that invades peoples’ rights to commerce and medical privacy and security of their mail so that powerful companies can price gouge tears at the very fabric of our nation’s unity. If I stand alone standing up for my elderly friend at least no one can say I am a lackey for the rich and powerful. I want my representatives to stand up for all of us.
Cynthia Jaksa
International Falls, MN
