Dear Editor:
I have sent the following letter to my Congress Representatives.
Please say NO to the DRUGS Act. Access to safe and affordable prescription drugs is critically important to me, thousands of people in TN and millions of Americans. That is why I am asking you to oppose the DRUGS Act (‘Domain Reform for Unlawful Drug Sellers Act, H.R.6352 & S.3399).
The DRUGS Act would rob Americans like me of one of the only avenues for safe and affordable prescription medications: licensed international pharmacies.
As a sufferer of gout, I have a lifetime history of and need for a drug that has been used for hundreds of years to treat this common malady. More than one physician has told me that one pharmaceutical company owns the monopoly for this drug.and it “is cheaper than dirt” to make. As a result, it will cost me (because I have insurance) over $300 for a 90 day supply of this medication that would otherwise be $1500 w/o insurance. I can get this same medication from Canada at the cost of $125.00 for 200 pills. As a 74 year-old voting citizen, living on a fixed income, I need the freedom to get my medication at a cost that I can afford. Again, please say “NO” to the DRUGS Act!!!!
What the DRUGS Act proposes is wrong; and it will hurt millions of people at risk of blood clots, hypertension, COPD and other common chronic conditions that, if not treated with safe and affordable drugs will land us in hospitals and even morgues.
The special interests backing the DRUGS Act claim that the bill would address illegal sales of opioids online; however, the bill fails to even mention the words opioids or fentanyl. Instead, the bill targets ‘non-domestic’ pharmacies – pharmacies that millions of Americans depend on for importation of safe and affordable medications.
The special interests backing the DRUGS Act do not represent your constituents, they represent pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer, Amgen, Gilead, Eli Lilly, Merck, Takeda, and many others. The DRUGS Act backers are funded and led by board members from PhRMA and big pharmaceutical companies. In fact, DRUGS Act supporter NABP took $1 million from Purdue Pharma, the maker of the highly addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin. These big pharma front groups backing the DRUGS Act have made a habit of shamelessly exploiting the opioid crisis to attack prescription importation from international pharmacies.
We will not stand for shutting down safe access to medicines. Americans like me know licensed international pharmacies require valid prescriptions and do not sell controlled substances. Safe international online pharmacies afford millions of Americans their prescription medicines by offering the same drugs at savings of 50 to 90 percent.
Nearly one in three Americans — triple the share since March– say they’ve skipped medications or medical care in the previous three months due to cost. AARP reported in June that retail prices for some of the most widely used brand name prescription drugs continue to increase at 200 percent the rate of inflation. At a time of record inflation and sky-high drug prices, the DRUGS Act removes the only solution a typical importation patient – a senior citizen on fixed income paying out-of-pocket – has to purchase medicine.
I urge you to say No to the DRUGS Act.
Sincerely,
John Larry Oliver
Mount Juliet, TN
