Canadian drug import scheme under threat

The US state of Minnesota's legislature is proposing to end a two-year experiment in allowing the importation of "safe drugs" to the USA from Canada. Since the introduction of the new Medicare part D program on January 1 this year, sales of drugs on the MinnesotaRxConnect scheme have dropped to $58,300 for the month, down from a peak of $153,100 in January 2005. Instead, Minnesota's Democratic Party proposes that a drug purchasing scheme used by the state's public employees should be adopted for all inhabitants of the northern US state.

Minnesota's drug imports "are safe"

MinnesotaRXConnect is a program allowing anyone of Minnesota's citizens to buy pharmaceutical products from four designated Canadian pharmacies, provided they can furnish a US doctor's prescription. The pharmacy is required to contact the US doctor to confirm the prescription's validity and a Canadian physician then has to countersign the sale.