From the Boston Globe:
City finds a cure in drug imports
Since last fall, John Sullivan has been taking a daily dose of Lipitor and three other drugs imported from Canada as part of a city-sponsored program. He has a one-word response to warnings from the Food and Drug Administration that his drugs could be unsafe.

"Hogwash," said Sullivan, 77, a retired public schools administrator and widower.

As Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston gets ready to defy US government officials and launch a Canadian drug-purchasing plan next month, Springfield's municipal government is wrapping up its first year of an importation program that helped spawn a national movement. Local officials say the program has saved the city $3 million since it began in July -- short of the $7 to $9 million original estimate but still one of the few bright spots in a city on the brink of bankruptcy.

From the Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer:
Fla. May Make Canadian Drugs Easier to Get
State health officials announced Tuesday they would make it easier for storefronts that order prescription drugs from Canada to become licensed as pharmacies, a week after warning a dozen stores they would be shut down.

John O. Agwunobi, secretary of the Florida Department of Health, said the efforts are meant to protect consumers by encouraging more stores to become licensed so the state can regulate them.

"It just makes sense if these guys are in the business of helping people and they want to protect the credibility of their sector of the pharmaceutical community," Agwunobi said.

From the Palm Beach (FL) Post:
Unwanted prescription?
Calling your business a "pharmacy," a discount "drug" store, an "Rx" or an "apothecary" doesn't make it so. But doing so in Florida without a state license to practice pharmacy is now illegal.

The new state law, which Gov. Bush signed last month, strengthens health officials' efforts to shut down or force into regulation dozens of unlicensed storefronts. But Floridians who rely on some of the shops for what may otherwise be unaffordable medicine will take little comfort in this effort to protect consumers as long as Congress refuses to control drug costs.

From the Stamford (Conn.) Advocate:
Business leaders oppose drug importation bill
Business groups and biotechnology companies on Monday called for a veto of a bill allowing prescription drugs to be imported from Canada, claiming there's no guarantee of the drugs' safety and the practice would damage the state's economy.

The briefing followed the General Assembly's approval last week of a bill allowing Canadian pharmacies to be licensed in Rhode Island, which could make it easier for some residents to buy cheaper drugs.

From the Fort Lauderdale (FL) Sun Sentinel:
Canadian drug plan saved city $3 million
Springfield saved $3 million in the first year it bought prescription drugs from Canada for city workers and retirees, less than half of the $7 million to $9 million originally estimated, city officials said.

The savings fell short because the participants didn't fully understand the plan's benefits and because the city boosted the co-payment of its traditional plan as incentive for people to use the Canadian plan with no co-payment, said insurance manager Christopher Collins.

From the Washington Times:
Canadians spend more on drugs than doctors
Canadians' drug purchases comprised 16.2 percent of the country's total health expenditures for 2003, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Of the estimated $16 billion spent on prescribed drugs in Canada in 2003, 47.2 percent was paid for with public funds. In 1998 the public share of prescription-drug costs was 42.5 percent.

CIHI's fourth annual Drug Expenditure in Canada report released Tuesday shows total drug spending reached $19.6 billion in 2003, up 17 percent from 2001. Prescribed drugs are believed to represent 82 percent of all drug spending nationwide.

From CNEWS:
Portland, Me., lets city employees buy Canadian prescription drugs
Portland city employees will have the option of buying some prescription drugs at lower cost through a Canadian company, officials announced Thursday.

Portland joins about three dozen U.S. cities and counties that have prescriptions filled through Ontario-based CanaRx, despite U.S. Food and Drug Administration efforts to stop the practice.

From the Canadian Press:
Two Internet pharmacists face disciplinary hearing by Manitoba regulator
Manitoba's pharmacy watchdog has accused two Internet pharmacists of misconduct for knowingly filling prescriptions for U.S. customers who were not examined by Canadian doctors.

One of the pharmacists, Adelaine Saria of Winnipeg-based CanAmerica Drugs, also allegedly violated the Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association's code of ethics by paying a Manitoba doctor to countersign U.S. prescriptions.

From the Globe and Mail:
Canadian Internet drugs safer than from abroad, U.S. says
A U.S. report that says drug shipments to American consumers from Internet pharmacies in Canada are safer and more reliable than from other countries, is expected to fuel support for three bills before the U.S. Senate to legalize drug imports from Canada.

"You gotta love it," said David MacKay, executive director of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association in Winnipeg.

"The argument should never have been are drugs from Canada safe. It should be how do you get Canadian drugs safely into the hands of American patients."

From the Wausau (Wisc.) Daily Herald:
Seniors seek alternatives to Rx woes Wausau native helps pitch
Wisconsin seniors increasingly are turning to Canadian pharmacies to buy prescription drugs at discounted prices, and some innovative businessmen have created companies to make the process easier.

One of them, Wausau native Dan O'Hearn, sponsored a forum this week attended by about 100 people to tell them how the process can save them hundreds of dollars. Seniors, frustrated by the high costs of drugs and complicated federal and state plans intended to offer them discounts, find going through Canadian pharmacies to be an easier and cheaper way to obtain their medications.

From CTV.ca:
Health Canada warns of cholesterol drug risks
Health Canada has issued a warning about a potentially dangerous condition linked to Crestor, one of the "statin" drugs used to lower cholesterol.

The medication, when taken by patients with certain other health problems, can cause a condition in which muscle cells break down, leading in some cases to kidney failure and even death, says an advisory letter issued to physicians.

AstraZeneca of Mississauga, Ont., Crestor's manufacturer, said eight Canadians taking the drug have experienced the condition - called rhabdomyolysis - since February 2003. All had underlying conditions which increased their risk of developing the muscle-destroying side-effect.

From CBC.ca:
Internet pharmacies applaud U.S. report
Canada's internet pharmacies are welcoming a new American report that they say vindicates their industry.

A report by the American General Accounting Office – the equivalent of Canada's auditor general – found prescription drugs from Canadian websites pose fewer risks than medications purchased from online pharmacies in other countries.

In fact, somes Canadian internet pharmacies had stricter standards even than those in the United States, said David MacKay, director of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association. MacKay expects the report to soften Washington's stance.

From the Lakeland (FL) Ledger:
Canadian Drug Firms Ordered To Cease
Polk County's Canadian prescription services got a wake-up call Friday when the Florida Department of Health issued a cease-and-desist order against Discount Drugs of Canada and Discount Medicine of Canada.

Discount Drugs of Canada has locations in Lakeland and Haines City. Discount Medicine of Canada has locations in Lakeland and Winter Haven.

These companies provide clients with price quotes, fill out the necessary paperwork and handle any additional clerical work needed to send prescriptions to licensed pharmacists in Canada.

From NBC News 4 (CA):
Canadian Drugs Ordered Online Pose Few Risks
A report by the General Accounting Office found that in some instances, Canadian pharmacies had stricter standards than those in the United States.

GAO investigators purchased drugs from Internet pharmacies in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Thailand and seven other countries. They found that the drugs obtained from Canada had fewer problems compared to medications purchased from online pharmacies in other countries.

From the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press:
2 pharmacies added to state Web site
Two more Canadian pharmacies have been added to the MinnesotaRxConnect.com Web site, bringing the number of sites to four, state Human Services Department officials announced Thursday.

Canada US Pharmacy and CanadaDrugs.com, both in Manitoba, have joined Total Care Pharmacy and Granville Pharmacy. Officials from the department and the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy visited the newly added pharmacies in mid-April.

From the Australian:
Pro-lifers back pill U-turn
RIGHT to Life Australia (RLA) has welcomed reports the morning after pill could become a prescription-only drug again.

It said pharmacists had reported alarming increases in requests for the morning-after pill, mostly from teenagers.

RLA president Margaret Tighe today said giving young women unfettered access to a powerful hormonal substance was irresponsible.

"This (making the pill available) has been the most irresponsible act on the part of those in authority," she said.

(Editor's note: Not specifically a Canadian pharmacy story, but it does give insight into what has happened in a country that has made the morning after pill an OTC item, which is being proposed in Canada.)

From the Montreal Gazette:
Pill poppers may be better dieting
Are Canadians popping pills to suppress medical symptoms that could be helped with diet or an exercise program instead?

In too many cases the answer appears to be 'yes,' at least, according to an analysis conducted for The Gazette by IMS Health, an independent Montreal-based research firm, and subsequent interviews with a wide range of Canadian doctors.

From WMUR-TV (NH):
Federal Candidates Support Canadian Drug Importation
Nearly all the candidates hoping to represent New Hampshire in Washington support the legal importation of Canadian drugs, but they disagree on how prescriptions should get from manufacturers to mailboxes.

Several candidates so far have stepped forward to challenge Republican Sen. Judd Gregg and Reps. Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley, who face re-election this fall.

Across party lines, most say allowing Americans to fill prescriptions in Canada makes sense, given the public's growing frustration with drug prices and open defiance of the federal ban on such imports.

From the Globe and Mail:
More are suffering gastric bleeding from pain drugs
The popularity of a new generation of painkillers has led to a sharp increase in the number of people suffering from bleeding ulcers, according to a new study.

The research, published in today's edition of the British Medical Journal, suggests that about 2,000 additional people are being hospitalized annually with gastrointestinal bleeds in Canada as a result of taking the drugs, which are sold under the brand names Celebrex, Vioxx and Mobicox.

From the Portland (OR) Tribune:
Canadian drugs still entice
The flow of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada isn’t likely to slow down.

Not if people like 73-year-old Felix Calkins of Portland are set on saving money and having easy access to northern druggists. That’s despite Oregon pharmacists warning, as they do in a new public education campaign unveiled Wednesday, not to buy the medications.

Health Canada, Canada’s equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is “not about to allow drugs that are counterfeit to be sold by pharmacies there,” says Calkins, who found that by buying blood pressure medication from Canada, he could save about $800 a year on his medications.