For 20 years the Institute for Policy Innovation has echoed warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), law enforcement officials, drug manufacturers and pharmacists about the dangers posed by counterfeit and compromised prescription drugs.
Many elected officials—mayors, governors, some congressmen, and even presidents—and, of course, the counterfeit drug profiteers, dismissed the warnings. They assured the public that individuals could buy the exact same prescription drugs from foreign websites—referred to as “importation”—that patients could buy from their trusted, local brick-and-mortar pharmacy, only for a lot less money.
President Trump made that claim. And now President Biden is doubling down, as he said in August:
I’ve ordered the FDA to work with states and Tribes to import prescription drugs safely from Canada. These are drugs that the FDA has determined are safe. And they’re going to make sure the drugs get to the states and Tribes safely. …
That is a lie—much like his promise to leave behind no American citizens in Afghanistan.
The FDA approves drugs for sale in the U.S., but only if they have been made in FDA-approved facilities and follow a rigorous chain of custody to ensure they were never mishandled or compromised.
The FDA has not determined imported drugs are safe because the FDA has no authority to go to Canada and inspect those drugs. They may be the same drugs, or they may be counterfeits that include substances that can kill.
Even as Biden assures us he can guarantee the safety of imported drugs, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration last week began its “One Pill Can Kill” campaign. According to the DEA:
The Drug Enforcement Administration warns the American public of the alarming increase in the lethality and availability of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. International and domestic criminal drug networks are mass-producing fake pills, falsely marketing them as legitimate prescription pills, and killing unsuspecting Americans. … Pills purchased outside of a licensed pharmacy are illegal, dangerous, and potentially lethal.
DEA and its law enforcement partners are seizing deadly fake pills at record rates. More than 9.5 million counterfeit pills were seized so far this year, which is more than the last two years combined.
Drug traffickers are using fake pills to exploit the opioid crisis and prescription drug misuse in the United States, bringing overdose deaths and violence to American communities.
While most of the fake pills are opioid knockoffs, there are many others—including Viagra. And while counterfeits usually come in pill form, there are cases of fake injectable biologics.
Even as the DEA waves red flags, Biden’s safety guarantees are likely to reassure some people that importing their prescription drugs from an unknown foreign website is safe.
Two decades ago, when IPI began warning about counterfeit prescription drugs, importation proponents responded by saying, “Show us the bodies!”
Sadly, we now have them.
October 5, 2021