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Group rolls to Canada to buy prescription drugs
September 9, 2004 Retirees make a political statement and a bus trip to Canada. At right is Albany retiree Harold Greene and to his right, his wife Eva Greene, a South Colonie retiree. Thirty concerned citizens took their political beliefs on the road this summer, heading north. The activists traveled to Canada to purchase prescription drugs on a New York State Alliance for Retired Americans-sponsored bus trip. The event was organized to highlight the need for affordable prescription drug coverage in the U.S. "All those participating were very dedicated people who understood the issue," said NYSARA Executive Director Mike Burgess. Before the long trek, travelers from Binghamton , Rhode Island and New York City converged in Albany for a rally and news conference at New York State United Teachers headquarters that garnered local and national media attention. The group continued to Montreal , where they met with a Canadian pharmacist and physician who rewrote existing prescriptions, gave brief medical screenings and dispensed medications from a local hotel room. "It's a legally gray area," explained Burgess. "The FDA doesn't stop individuals from bringing back personal medications, but reselling them would be trouble." A similar trip from Connecticut was scrapped after drug manufacturer Pfizer, Inc. threatened to stop supplying Canadian drug stores that filled prescriptions outside national borders. Data Although Albany Public Schools Teacher Association retiree Harold Greene is fortunate to have adequate prescription coverage, both he and his wife Eva, a South Colonie TA retiree, felt making the trip was important. "I tracked the amount people saved on their prescriptions and interviewed those individuals who got prescriptions," said Greene, past president of Retiree Council 10 and now president of the Albany arm of Statewide Senior Action. "We did it so we would have some data to use when we talk to government officials." The 15 riders who purchased drugs will save nearly $20,000 combined over the upcoming year, he explained. "One Rhode Island woman saved over $700." This action and others have had an effect, noted Schenectady Federation of Teachers retiree Judy Schultz, one of the bus riders and the president of NYSUT Retiree Council 12. "There has been some movement," she said, among federal officials who are reviewing proposed Medicare regulations and were contemplating a mandate of no reimportation of prescription drugs. Other riders included Rhode Island Secretary of State Matt Brown, Maria Alverez of the Institute of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Elderly and journalists from the Albany Times Union and Newsday. Citizen Action of Binghamton, Rhode Island Seniors, Statewide Senior Action and NYSUT helped organize the event. The ARA was created three years ago by the AFL-CIO to unify community, labor and union groups and advocate for issues important to seniors. NYSARA is the group's New York state chapter, headed by Fred Nauman, former NYSUT secretary-treasurer. Contact the alliance at www.retiredamericans.org. - Kara E. Smith |
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