Mr. Chair, I thank the member his information concerning legislation in Congress, whether at the House of Representatives or at the Senate. However, when I was talking about the issue of drug importation into the United States, I said that the practice was illegal at the federal level.
The federal government in the United States has not as yet made the practice legal. However, at the state level, states have already passed legislation allowing for bulk importation and for patients, residents of their states, to import prescription drugs produced in another country for another market into their country.
I would like to provide a bit of information. Let us look at the state importation status. Past importation legislation was thankfully vetoed by the governor of California. However, it was not vetoed in Texas, Nevada, Washington, Maryland, Vermont, Virginia and Rhode Island. All those states have passed importation legislation to make it legal for their residents to import prescription drugs made for another market into the United States even though it has not been approved by federal legislation.
Utah, Indiana, Arizona, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina and New York State have adopted web enabled mail order personal importation. When the member talks about it being illegal in the United States, yes, it is an illegal practice. However, the states already have moved to allow their residents to order and bring into the United States, through the Internet, primarily Canadian prescription drugs that were made and manufactured for Canadian patients.