I am writing this at 2:00am.
I was checking my e-mail before going to bed and read the following in The Bilrico Digest I get every evening:
“Inhousepharmacy.com stops shipping to the US Filed by: Alex Blaze September 29, 2010 6:00 PM”
My feelings regarding this are:
Many transsexual and transgender people purchase their prescriptions from non-US based pharmacies. We do this for numerous reasons including concern regarding being denied Medical Insurance should these prescriptions be discovered by the Health Insurance companies that have written exclusionary policies and so often deny coverage to people based on the flimsiest of excuses and also have a history of dropping coverage at times when patients most need it.
The other major reason many non-insured people have shopped the global pharmaceutical markets is cost. The monopoly practices of the drug manufacturing corporations in the US gouge the patients charging many times the prices charged for the same drugs by our neighbor to the north. The huge charges many well enhance the lifestyle and cash flow rich pigs who are the CEOs and investors in these corporations as well as finance a huge volume of advertising for drugs of dubious merit marketed for socially constructed “disorders” such as male sexual dysfunction. (a natural part of aging)
At the same time denying us access to lower priced drugs available through off-shore pharmacies is a method of preventing access to drugs available from countries where the government negotiates and sets the legitimate prices for those drugs.
See Michael Moore’s movie “Sicko”
http://inhousepharmacy.com/
In House Pharmacy as the following announcement posted:
Important Notice to United States Shoppers
We regret to advise that this site is no longer able to supply to shoppers residing in the United States.
After recent action taken by LegitScript.com we have had to stop supplying customers within the USA. LegitScript.com is actively closing down hundreds of sites that operate from outside the United States. We have been targeted as we have operated for 13 years on a no prescription basis despite the fact that we meet the pharmacy laws of Vanuatu where we are based.
We appreciate that most of our customers have been very loyal, long term shoppers and we deeply regret being unable to supply you from this site.
All customers who have already placed orders but not yet received them, will receive them.
The following self-serving post by the President of Legitscript.com appeared on Huffington Post. While conservatives whine about “nanny states” I am far more concerned with corporate fascists who put profits before the lives of people.
I suspect legitscript.com is acting as an agent for the drug manufacturing corporations who wish to maintain their monopoly to gouge the US consumers by shutting off the re-importation of drugs from places like Canada where they are but a fraction of what they cost in the US.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-horton/when-drug-companies-choos_b_742137.htm
When Drug Companies Choose Profits Over People
Posted: September 29, 2010 02:18 PM
For medication safety, we rely on our doctors to prescribe and our pharmacists to dispense the right drugs. But on whom do doctors and pharmacists rely? Increasingly, the answer is drug companies. This is not inherently bad. After all, a drug company probably knows its product better than anyone, and can play a valuable role in educating doctors and pharmacists about the appropriate use of the drug. And, a central element of the FDA’s drug-approval process is intended to give the drug companies a clear idea of what the drug can be marketed for and to whom it may be prescribed.
It is not the role of a private corporation to start acting as a NGO law enforcement agency. Especially not as one that appears to be acting as an astro turf agency for the drug corporations.
LegitScript – Not So Legit?
A firm called Legit Script (LegitScript.com) claims to be protecting people by labeling legitimate Canadian and other non-U.S. pharmacies as “Unapproved” or “Rogue.” This serves the big pharmaceutical interests but not the American consumer. More than that, its founder, John Horton, appears to have exploited his former government position to establish LegitScript.com for his own gain.
Call for an Investigation of John Horton, President of LegitScript, for Possible Government Ethics Violations
On September 16, 2010, in Drug Prices, Online Pharmacies, Online Pharmacy Verification Services, Personal Drug Importation, by Tod Cooperman, MD, President, PharmacyChecker.com, and Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com
Today we asked the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and any other appropriate government agencies to investigate possible violations of government ethics laws by John Horton, president and founder of LegitScript.com, while he was Associate Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and after leaving his government post.
Our request was sent to Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns and Ranking Member Darrell Issa.
Mr. Horton appears to have misused and abused his government position for private gain by starting, while in office, an online pharmacy verification service, LegitScript.com, and given unfair market advantage to his business. More importantly, his actions appear to have violated the will of Congress, misled the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and instigated and/or encouraged government actions by ONDCP and other government agencies adverse to the interests of Americans, specifically hindering access by Americans to safe and affordable medication.
As further described in our letter, we believe that, to serve his private interests and those of prospective pharmaceutical and pharmacy clients, Mr. Horton appears to have subverted the activities of ONDCP by ignoring the congressional request found in Section 1107 of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 to develop strategies to stop the online advertising of controlled substances without a prescription. Instead, Mr. Horton developed strategic policies for blocking the online advertising of all prescription medication from licensed Canadian and other non-US pharmacies that do require a prescription. Such pharmacies have been a lifeline to affordable medication for millions of Americans.
Click here to read the full request and view supporting exhibits.
From Alex Blaze at Bilrico: http://www.bilerico.com/2010/09/inhousepharmacycom_stops_shipping_to_the_us.php
While a drug company in Vanuatu may seem shady, LegitScript specifically marks as illegitimate Canadian pharmacies that sell to the US, which PharmacyChecker doesn’t do (PharmacyChecker.com is a much more visited website that provides consumer information on online pharmacies). LegitScript goes to some propagandatastic length on their site to justify this (they found one drug company that was illegally using a Canadian pharmacy license!), blocking Canadian drug reimportation into the US has always been about one thing only: money.
In other words, Americans pay more for prescription drugs than everyone else in the world because we have a government that is beholden to big pharma, and LegitScript goes the extra mile that law enforcement can’t/won’t in order to ensure that Americans keep on getting looted.
Continue reading at: http://www.bilerico.com/2010/09/inhousepharmacycom_stops_shipping_to_the_us.php
Women Born Transsexual 