Customs Releases Seized Prescription Medicines From Canada

[rodeodance]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fi-seize1mar01,0,7317404.story?coll=la-home-headlines
From the Los Angeles Times
Customs Releases Seized Prescription Medicines From Canada
By Lisa Girion
Times Staff Writer

6:22 PM PST, February 28, 2006

Amid mounting criticism of its crackdown on mail-order medications, U.S. Customs has released hundreds of seized packages to consumers since Friday, said Canadian pharmacies and U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday.

The crackdown began in November, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection quietly increased seizures of prescription drugs mailed from abroad. Previously, federal authorities generally allowed such shipments, although it is technically illegal for individuals to import pharmaceuticals.

The seizures -- up to 5 percent of orders from American consumers, according to some Canadian pharmacies -- sent thousands of mail-order buyers, most of them seniors living on fixed incomes, scrambling to obtain medications to control cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and other conditions.

Then, without notice, postal carriers began delivering hundreds of packages -- some held up for two months -- to buyers from Florida to California.........

[RagingInMiami]

1. Probably to calm the masses of senior citizens in the Medicare debacle

"Then, without notice, postal carriers began delivering hundreds of packages -- some held up for two months -- to buyers from Florida to California..."

[Dunvegan]

2. Question: How many of those medications have a short shelf life...

...and truly critical, what's the shelf life for someone who's last dime went to pay for reasonably priced medicine from Canada, and has been sitting there for two months without medication.

Well...guess Customs (under the Department of Homeland Security) had to clear out the warehouses of medicines before Dubai took over.

[RagingInMiami]

3. Probably about the same as the shelf life

Of a senior citizen off his/her meds.

[Nay]

4. A good sign. The backlash cometh for * and his pharma cronies.