Song in my head: You say gays will ruin the institution....Well, you know...You better free you mind instead......But if you read the jerks at NR-Ohhw......You ain't going to make it with anyone anyho ...oowwww...........The Poison Kitchen


ALTER-ABLED NEWS

FDA Stops Bus Full Of Seniors

A senior Food and Drug Administration official said Wednesday that it was unfortunate his agency stopped and inspected a busload of seniors returning from a medicine-buying trip to Canada. |link|

Stopped and inspected..of all the nerve!


A big push for imports of drugs

In an effort to drive down the cost of prescription drugs, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a measure yesterday that would legalize the importation of cheaper medicines from Canada and eventually from European countries.

"This is a huge breakthrough," said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.).

The measure is one of several proposed by lawmakers in the House and Senate in recent years, but yesterday's bill has garnered the support of key Republicans and Democrats, including Dorgan, Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Trent Lott (R-Miss.), and Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). "This one has a lot of firepower and a lot of horsepower behind it," Kennedy said |link|


Bush Asks Supreme Court to Okay Attacks on Medical Marijuana Patients

The Bush administration yesterday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a federal appellate court ruling protecting medical marijuana patients and caregivers from prosecution by the federal government. If the high court agrees to take the case, the safety and well-being of tens of thousands of patients in states that have enacted medical marijuana laws will hang in the balance. |link|

We have to get this man out of office.

Eric Schlosser reminds us to.....

Make Peace With Pot

This year the White House's national antidrug media campaign will spend $170 million, working closely with the nonprofit Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The idea of a "drug-free America" may seem appealing. But it's hard to believe that anyone seriously hopes to achieve that goal in a nation where millions of children are routinely given Ritalin, antidepressants are prescribed to cure shyness, and the pharmaceutical industry aggressively promotes pills to help middle-aged men have sex. |link|


Oregon regulators shut down the Canadian connection

Paul Pfeiffer of Eugene saves $2,000 a year buying his three name-brand medications from a pharmacy in Canada.

Drug bills for Herbert Barnes of Springfield used to run as much as $4,500 a year. Now that he's ordering the same drugs from Canada, those costs are down to $600 a year.

Pfeiffer, 86, and Barnes, 90, rely on Canada Drug Supply, a local company with outlets in Eugene and Springfield, for the steep drug discounts. The business helps customers with prescriptions from local doctors obtain their medications by mail from Canada.

At the end of the month, however, Canada Drug Supply will lose Barnes and Pfeiffer as customers, along with the other 2,000-plus clients the business serves. That's because the firm will close its operations rather than face state fines.

Storefront operations such as Canada Drug Supply are facing increasing scrutiny from federal and state regulators across the nation. Federal and state laws forbid the importation of prescription drugs from Canada, but an estimated 1 million Americans get their prescriptions filled across the border. Brand-name drugs can be as much as 60 percent cheaper in Canada because... |link|

I am getting forced to pay a certain price for a prescription and not being allowed to shop around for the best price. That's just wrong.

MAD COW UPDATE

Article snipped from FSNet listserv:

Mexico to maintain partial US beef import ban

According to a statement from Mexico’s agriculture ministry on Monday, Mexico will maintain its partial ban on U.S. beef imports because it is not convinced U.S. meat plants have taken sufficient measures to combat mad cow disease.
Animal and plant health chief Javier Trujillo was cited as saying that Mexican officials who visited U.S. plants in March were unhappy at methods used for de-boning beef, adding in a statement to Reuters: "This means that some of the meat that used to be sent here continues to be blocked."