Drug Importation
In 2013, Maine passed a law legalizing the
purchase of prescription medication by
mail from other countries, but a federal
judge struck this down in 2015. 17
“The federal court ruled that the law
passed in Maine violated federal law in
a space where federal law is preemptive
over state law,” Dr. McCall explained.
“The concern was that if states are
allowed to preempt federal law and indi-
vidually have standards for prescription
drugs, we would end up with 50 differ-
ent standards, a deregulated drug supply
chain, and compromised patient safety.”
According to Dr. McCall, individuals
in Maine could buy prescriptions drugs via
mail from Canada, the U.K., Australia, and
New Zealand. To gain firsthand experience
with these by-mail pharmacies, Dr. McCall
(who was serving as president of the Maine
Pharmacy Association at the time) ordered
some of the branded prescription products
advertised in local papers, including
Viagra® (sildenafil), Plavix® (clopidogrel),
Prilosec® (omeprazole), and Celebrex®
(celecoxib).
“All four of the products sent were
not FDA-approved and not Canada
Health–approved,” Dr. McCall said. For
example, the Viagra product was called
Fildena, which is not available in the U.S.
or Canada.
“Legislators were trying to do what
they thought was right by putting in place
some safety parameters,” he said. “The
problem is that there were no regulations
in place to ensure that the products being
sold weren’t [imported to Canadian phar-
macies] from Turkey or India.”
In January, Vermont was consider-
ing legislation to legalize the importation
of drugs from Canada, and a Utah bill
called on the state’s Department of Health
to study and report on prescription drug