Posted by
KsReaganite on Friday, December 18, 2009 12:40:55 AM
Apart from the fact that he belongs to the same fraternal organization that I do, there is little to like politically about Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota. It was all the more refreshing, thus, to find him bravely sponsoring an amendment to allow the re-importation of prescription drugs from abroad. Apart from the obviously cost cutting element inherent in the proposal, it embodies the very essence of free markets. With drug prices at all time highs, the only two ways to control them would be to either slap price controls or allow for more competition.
The fact is that drugs of a similar or even better quality are significantly cheaper abroad due to regulations, competition, and production costs. Notwithstanding the incessant propaganda, not only are drugs made in many countries at least as safe as ours, but our bureaucracy has the tools and staff to check for quality at the point of importation. Heck, even today the number one source of chemicals that go into our drugs is India; and to think that somehow Canadian drugs are unsafe!
The drug companies, as Senator Dorgan rightly points out, want the American people to subsidize their profits but fighting against trade and competition. Sadly, otherwise pro-free trade Republican senators are buying into the drug companies’ argument hook, line, and sinker. By failing to pass the Dorgan amendment, the Senate has shown that it has a strong bi-partisan caucus that abjures the principles of free trade and swallows the nonsense of xenophobia for the sake of contributions from the drug lords..er…the CEOs of pharmaceutical companies.