James M. Jeffords: “it is not often I disagree with my good friend from Louisiana, but when you come from a northern State such as Vermont…”

“it is not often I disagree with my good friend from Louisiana, but when you come from a northern State such as Vermont, and when you see what is happening, and you are buying a drug from a drugstore, which is certified under Canadian law, which is just as strong as ours, and you can pay half the price for it--to say you cannot go across the border to do that just does not make any common sense. The real threat as far as drugs coming into this country, because of the disproportionate pricing, is the utilization of the Internet. That is where the problems are. On the Internet there is no checking, and you can order your drugs over the Internet. That is where you ought to look to try to prevent sales coming into this country. And that is wide open now. When I was chairman of the committee that put together the pharmaceutical bill, we worked carefully with the FDA to make sure that when this bill passed, it gave them authority for sales across the border, and that they would have full authority to make sure that any sales are stopped that should not be allowed under the law. So I think the statements that are being made now just do not fit the reality of the situation. To deny our people the ability to purchase these drugs, under a safely designed plan, which the FDA has the authority to approve, to make sure there is no counterfeiting or unlawful sales--it is just without merit to say that we need the protection there. It is there. We did that before.”