By Cadence Mertz
Free Press Staff Writer

The city of Burlington might test the boundaries of federal law by continuing with a plan to provide its employees with discount prescription drugs purchased from Canada, Mayor Peter Clavelle said Monday.

City attorneys are researching the federal law to determine how Burlington can move forward with its plan, he said. Clavelle's comments come after a Food and Drug Administration official said Burlington's plan to buy prescription drugs through a Canadian company is illegal under federal law.

The FDA's interpretation is only one reading of the law, Clavelle said Monday at a news conference with Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

"I'm struck that the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, on this issue seems to be part of the problem," Clavelle said.

States and cities around the country are taking action to cut the cost of prescription drugs for their employees, Clavelle said.

The city of Springfield, Mass., in July began buying drugs through a Canadian firm. The FDA maintains the practice is illegal but has not taken action to stop the purchases.

Approximately 1 million Americans travel to Canada annually to purchase their prescription drugs at "a fraction" of what they would pay at a U.S. pharmacy, Sanders said. The drugs they purchase in Canada are often the same U.S.-made medications sold here, he said.

If it is legal for Americans to travel to Canada to buy their medication, why can't they do the same thing over the Internet or through a mail order service, Clavelle asked.

Legislation is pending in Congress that would allow the purchase of prescription drugs from certain Canadian pharmacies via the Internet or mail order services.

"The momentum is very clearly with us," Sanders said. The goal is to drive prices down in the United States to the same level they are in Canada and the rest of the world, he said.

Burlington could save more than $100,000 a year by having its employees purchase prescriptions through a Canadian-based pharmacy, Clavelle said. He added that he hopes those cheaper drugs could eventually be accessible to the broader community.

The city can wait for the federal government to "do the right thing" or it can make that happen, Clavelle said.

"It's not going to stop us," Clavelle said of the FDA's proclamation that Burlington's plan would be illegal.

Contact Cadence Mertz at 660-1847 or cmertz@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com.

City to begin buying drugs from Canada

By John Briggs, Free Press Staff Writer --- Thursday, February 26, 2004

Burlington is about to make the Canadian connection.

Four months after the City Council asked Mayor Peter Clavelle to investigate whether the city should offer its employees the option of buying prescription drugs from Canada, the new option is nearly in place.

Clavelle is scheduled to describe the program details this morning at City Hall.

Earlier this week he said the drug option, to begin early in March, will save the city about $100,000 a year -- 15 to 20 percent of the $670,000 it spent last year on prescriptions for employees.

Last year Montgomery, Ala., and Springfield, Mass., began to offer lower-cost drugs from Canada to their employees. Since then, several states and cities including Burlington have moved ahead with their own plans.

The interest in the drugs from Canada has persisted despite warnings from the federal Food and Drug Administration that such importation is illegal.

After the Burlington council action in October, FDA Associate Commissioner William Hubbard said that mail-order importation of Canadian drugs was prohibited by federal law.

Such a city plan, he said, would violate both a 1938 law prohibiting the sale of drugs not approved by the FDA and a 1988 law barring the reimportation of U.S. manufactured drugs -- a law he said was designed to thwart drug counterfeiters. "The drugs would not be legal under any interpretation of U.S. law," Hubbard said of the Burlington plan. "They would unequivocally be in violation of U.S. law."

In late January, the FDA sent warning letters to three Texas companies involved in the Montgomery prescription program, warning them their actions are illegal, according to an FDA "talk paper" dated Jan. 22, which said Canadian drugs could be a "risk to public health."

City Attorney Joseph McNeil on Wednesday described the FDA position as "pretty consistent."

"As counsel to the city, I've spoken to the mayor and the City Council of my view of the law and they have weighed the risks and benefits as they perceive them," he said.

"They have made the decision that the potential benefits outweigh the risks of going forward."

The FDA could issue written warnings, as it has done elsewhere, or it could "theoretically" bring a "civil proceeding against the city or its supplier," he said.

McNeil said the council had weighed the liability risks arising from importing Canadian drugs. "The City Council," he said, "doesn't see a greater risk to the city with regard to drugs subject to the Canadian system."

Asked whether the city decision was an instance of municipal civil disobedience, McNeil was equivocal.

"I'm not going to use those words," he said.

Contact John Briggs at 660-1863 or jbriggs@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com