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  New Hampshire Governor Bought Canadian Drugs
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ContributorGerald Farinas 
Last EditedGerald Farinas  Mar 31, 2004 10:40pm
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CategoryNews
MediaNews Service - Associated Press
News DateWednesday, March 31, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionNew Hampshire Governor Bought Canadian Drugs
The Honolulu Advertiser

Researching the safety of prescription drugs, Gov. Craig Benson ordered brand-name medicines from a Canadian online pharmacy for about half the cost of buying the same drugs in the United States, he said Wednesday. The governor said he used his credit card and, and without disclosing his public office, had the drugs mailed to his home from the Web site CanadaDrugs.com. "I thought this was important to try this out myself," Benson said. He hopes his findings encourage the federal government to give New Hampshire a waiver to order drugs from Canadian pharmacies for Medicaid patients and state prisoners. While technically illegal, the purchase of drugs from Canada, where there are government price controls, has gained popularity as cities and states look to save money for themselves and residents.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a broad condemnation of Benson's actions Wednesday. The governor's endorsement of such sales threatens "to undermine one of our nation's key consumer protection statutes," and put people at risk from unregulated medications, said a letter to Benson from William Hubbard, associate FDA commissioner for policy and planning.

Benson, a Republican, said he arranged with a doctor to get prescriptions for six common medicines and asked the Canadian pharmacy and two New Hampshire pharmacies to fill the prescriptions. The two sets of prescription drugs were then compared by a state laboratory. Scientists found no differences, officials said.
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