Customs to stop seizing small Canadian prescription drug shipments

Associated Press

October 4, 2006

By Stephen Majors

U.S. Customs and Border Protection will stop seizing prescription medications mailed from Canada for personal use in small amounts, Sen. Bill Nelson said Tuesday.

Since Nov. 2005, authorities have seized the prescription drug shipments of 40,000 Americans who bought prescriptions from Canada, where prices are lower, Nelson said.

The new policy goes into effect on Oct. 9. It was announced in an e-mail from the Department of Homeland Security sent Monday to congressional staff, Nelson said.

Customs spokeswoman, Lynn Hollinger, confirmed the policy change Tuesday, saying the agency would no longer issue letters to postal carriers indicating it's illegal to import prescription medications, or intercept the drugs.

Hollinger said ordering prescription drugs by mail was still illegal.

"We believe we were working in the best interest of the American consumer," Hollinger said.

She said the policy change was due to political pressure from constituents and lawmakers who complained they were no longer receiving their medicine.

After Nelson, who is running for re-election against Republican challenger Katherine Harris, received a complaint from a Mount Dora couple whose shipments started being intercepted, he has railed against customs' involvement.

Nelson, along with Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, tried to amend a Homeland Security appropriations bill to allow people in the U.S. to import small amounts of prescription drugs for personal use. But that bill, which was sent to President Bush this weekend, would only allow Americans crossing the Canadian border to bring back small amounts of prescription drugs.

Nelson said that the new policy will allow Americans to import small amounts of prescription drugs _ roughly a 90-day supply _ through the mail from Canada without fear they will be confiscated.

"It's a great victory, particularly for the senior citizens who are having difficulty making financial ends meet in a time in which, sadly, some senior citizens have to make a decision between buying their prescription drugs and buying their groceries," Nelson said.

He said the vast majority of medications intercepted are the same ones produced by American pharmaceutical companies.

The policy change means that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will return to having oversight of the importation of prescription drugs into the country. It is still illegal to import prescription drugs from abroad, but Nelson said he received assurances from the FDA that the agency will not act on small drug shipments for individuals. Before customs took over enforcement the FDA largely ignored the importation of small amounts of prescription drugs.

Nelson said the FDA will focus on large shipments of drugs that are likely being imported for illegal purposes.

The FDA, however, could not yet say whether it will step up oversight of mail-ordered drugs from Canada.

"We haven't heard from customs yet _ and when we do, we can decide what our next course of action is," FDA spokeswoman Cathy McDermott said. "We continue to be concerned about the risk of importing foreign drugs."

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