http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-golden2sep02.story MICHAEL HILTZIK / GOLDEN STATE
A Show of Weakness in Drug Import Debate
Michael Hiltzik
September 2, 2004
Fresh from his star turn at the Republican convention, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could scarcely find a better way to certify his role as a political action hero than to take on perhaps the most powerful corporate force in America: the drug industry.
Yet at this writing, that doesn't seem likely. The governor has made clear his plan to veto a legislative package designed to help Californians purchase pharmaceuticals from Canada, where the price can be half of that in the U.S. or less.
Schwarzenegger's position makes California look like a pipsqueak next to Vermont, which has sued the federal government for blocking its plan to import Canadian drugs for its workers. Several other governors, none mustering Schwarzenegger's brawn, have established their own Canadian import programs without asking the feds for permission.
What's driving this trend is the gap between drug prices in the U.S. and the rest of the world. The mismatch means it's now worthwhile for customers to buy some drugs from Canada that were originally exported from the U.S.
Drug companies say they have no choice but to charge Americans high prices because that's how they finance all their lifesaving research and development efforts. They say Canadian drugs cost less only because of price controls north of the border; surely, we wouldn't want to impose those restraints here in the free-market U.S.
But these arguments are largely, to be polite, tommyrot.<snip>
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