Drug Reimportation: The Free-Market Solution

Drug reimportation looks “inevitable,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson in May. Last year the House overwhelmingly passed a bill lifting the federal ban on reimporting prescription drugs, and three such bills are now pending in the Senate. Several state and local officials, defying federal law, have begun their own reimportation programs. John Kerry supports reimportation. And President Bush recently signaled he would reconsider the issue if drug safety can be ensured. Something is going to give.

In his recent Cato study, Roger Pilon has taken an in-depth look at this complex issue and concluded that lifting the reimportation ban is the right answer, even if bills currently in Congress don’t always do it the right way. Please join us for a broad discussion of an issue that is sure to be on Congress’s plate until it is resolved.

For more information on Drug Reimportation, see Roger Pilon’s August 4, 2004, Policy Analysis “Drug Reimportation: The Free Market Solution.”