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V.I. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATE | |||
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Monique Clendinen Watson (202) 226-7973 | |||
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| (Washington, DC, June 29, 2006) — Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen has been told by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that they will convene a panel to review regulations that have resulted in the confiscation of prescription drugs that Virgin Islands residents send to sick family and relatives via the mail. Christensen wrote to the agency earlier this month after constituents complained that prescriptions that they had mailed to family members who were temporarily away from home for a variety of reasons were being confiscated. “Ordinary Virgin Islands residents are the victims of the unintended consequences of regulations which affect us because we are outside the U.S. Customs zone,” said Delegate Christensen. “These regulations, aimed at controlling prescription drugs being imported from foreign countries, are being wrongly and unfairly applied to residents of the Virgin Islands who are American citizens and who should not be hindered from moving legal goods into and out of the mainland.” Christensen said that she was particularly troubled because there has been no attempt to advise the public that medications were being seized. Christensen told the FDA that the Virgin Islands pharmacies and pharmacists must be duly licensed and must comply with all U.S. laws regulating the disbursement or sale of prescription drugs. She added that they are all required to have Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) licenses as well. “They cannot sell foreign made or unapproved products,” she emphasized. Christensen said that the problem is exacerbated because stateside pharmacies do not honor prescriptions or refills that are not from their state. “I am asking for relief for my constituents,” Christensen wrote. “There is no good reason to hold our medications.” | |||
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