Canadian prescription drugs still being seized in U.S.

At least 37 packages of prescription drugs from Canada were seized by federal officials in South Florida, despite a federal government promise in October 2006 to stop confiscating drugs imported for personal use, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.

Until this confiscation -- which began Jan. 24 and lasted several days -- only one or two packages of imported drugs were being stopped at a time (LaMendola, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 2/4).

In February 2006, Canadian pharmacies said that the U.S. government was increasing seizures of prescription drugs ordered by U.S. residents.

While ordering drugs from abroad is illegal, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and FDA officials generally have allowed the practice.

Some Canadian pharmacies saw four- to five-fold increases in the number of seizures, while an informal survey of 30 Canadian pharmacies showed that the increase in the number of seizures started in November 2005, doubled in December 2005 and doubled again in January 2006.

Some Canadian pharmacy officials said they believe the seizures were meant to coincide with the Jan. 1, 2006, launch of the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 2/13/06).

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) on Thursday began investigating the confiscations and will monitor whether FDA continues the practice.

Nelson spokesperson Bryan Gulley said, "We've spoken to the FDA previously and we were told they were not going to use the heavy-handed tactics.

We are very concerned about these reports," adding, "It's too soon to tell at the moment if this is a change in policy."

FDA spokesperson Catherine McDermott said that shipments were detained for routine reasons and she did not know of any new campaign against Canadian drugs.

"I have checked and am not aware of any changes beyond our usual everyday business of examining parcels to ensure that unapproved drugs are not imported into the country," McDermott said in an e-mail statement.

The buyers that ordered the drugs received notices from the FDA saying that their package had been confiscated because it "appears to be a new drug" not approved by FDA, though Canadian pharmacists maintain that all the drugs were established, FDA-approved drugs (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 2/4).