Canadian drug importation would be dangerous if it created a demand for Canadian medications that couldn't be filled. That would create a black market demand for these medications that criminals would fill with good-looking, cheaply priced counterfeit medications that would endanger American patients.

That's playing out right now. This is the danger we face from poorly-thought out proposals to import cheap medicine from Canada.

The Canadian government has told the White House NO.

The Canadians are refusing to participate in our drug importation schemes. The acting Canadian ambassador, Kirsten Hillman, delivered this message directly to White House health care policy expert Joe Grogan as reported by Reuters:

"Canada does not have a large enough supply of prescription drugs to meet U.S. demand, and importing medicines from Canada would not significantly lower U.S. prices[..]

Not only are we too small of a market, Canada cannot increase its domestic pharmaceutical drug supply to meet U.S. demand"

Canadians pretending to be valid operators have been caught selling unsafe medication to Americans

On top of that, most importation proposals involve doing business with licensed wholesalers and pharmacists in Canada. But that's not enough to protect Americans. In the last fifteen years several entities possessing valid Canadian wholesale and pharmacy licenses have been caught sending counterfeit medicines to Americans.

Canadian patient groups opposed to importation proposals

Canadian patients are actively opposed to this idea because it will exacerbate the existing shortage problem in Canada. Canadian patients will not go without medicine just to try and help Americans. Hear Canadian patient advocate John Adams, chair of the Best Medicines coalition of Canadian patient groups, explain why Canadian patients are not on board with importation.