February 18, 2005
WHITE MAN SPEAK OUT OF BOTH SIDES OF MOUTH
Natives eye pill trade (Tom Blackwell, National Post, February 18th, 2005)
Indian bands in Manitoba and neighbouring Minnesota are talking about using their special ''sovereign'' status to trade prescription drugs across the border, possibly to be sold at pharmacies located in native-run casinos in the United States.Casinos are seen by some as excellent locations to dispense pharmaceuticals because of their large clientele of the elderly and ill, also the prime market for cheaper Canadian prescription medicine.
As they battle federal authorities in the United States over the trade in drugs from Canada, both the Governor of Minnesota and a prominent congressman from the state have endorsed the idea of using Indian bands as a conduit.[...]
A spokesman for the Dakota Plains First Nation in Manitoba told the Minneapolis Star Tribune his group came up with the idea of exporting pharmaceutical products and is quoted as saying the casino, with its clientele of "elderly and chronics," would be an ideal site for a pharmacy to sell Canadian drugs.
The state of Minnesota already runs a Web site that directs residents to approved Internet pharmacies in Canada, but Governor Tim Pawlenty has voiced concern that the state's service could one day be shut down by the Food and Drug Administration.
The Governor, a Republican, has discussed the idea of co-operating with Indian groups to import drugs into the United States, probably through arrangements with bands on the Canadian side of the border.[...]
Meanwhile, the state of Maine is in negotiation with an Indian tribe there to import medication from Canada.
This isn't far from negotiating with Al Capone for cheap booze. Before anyone concludes forcing parity in drug prices on Canada is the solution, it may be worth pausing to remember there are all kind of enterprising, energetic souls in two hundred odd countries out there who would be happy to fill the void.
Posted by Peter Burnet at February 18, 2005 7:18 AMIt seems to me that if you can get the same drug subject to the same quality controls from a Native American reservation, you should go for it. If the drug companies are gouging the American market, there is no reason for the government to enable them to do so. Let the market seek its own level.
Posted by: Bart at February 18, 2005 8:51 AMReally, it's not much different than this situation right now with cigarettes and gasoline that are sold at Indian casino sites minus some of the taxes that are slapped on by state and federal laws. Some tribes have run into trouble marketing discount cigarettes on the Internet outside of their areas because officials have said the state is owed a cut of the off-reservation sales (I think there's a suit pending in New York over this one), but no politician in the U.S. is going to try and take a cut off of prescription sales to seniors, who if they can still use their hands to pop pills can use them to mark ballots. That would leave it up to Canada to decide if it wanted to go after the tribes on its side of the boarder to exporting the drugs in bulk, since their government would be the ones subsidizing American citizens.
Posted by: John at February 18, 2005 9:25 AM
But quality and adulteration will be an issue, probably very soon. And whom will the victims sue? Paul Martin? An Indian tribe? The EU? The border patrol? Customs? The postal service?
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 18, 2005 9:54 AMJim - The victims will just find the Canadian with tenant insurance, and sue for $3.2 million.
Posted by: pj at February 18, 2005 10:15 AMThis only works if the NAs can buy at fixed canadian market prices. Otherwise they are just competing with Wal*Mart like everybody else.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at February 18, 2005 10:58 AMMaybe if the elderly didn't spend so much time in the casinos, they'd have money for their drugs.
Posted by: Sandy P at February 18, 2005 2:40 PMMaybe the Indian Casinos can have their machines pay off in pills instead of chips. Or give a discount if you present your prescriptions when you cash out.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at February 18, 2005 9:51 PM