19 August 2019 - In its effort to temper the sky-high prices Americans pay for many vital medications, the Trump administration last month unveiled a plan that would legalise the importation of selected prescription drugs from countries where they sell for far less. 

But the plan addresses imports only at the wholesale level; it is silent about the transactions by millions of Americans who already buy their medications outside the United States.

Americans routinely skirt federal law by crossing into Canada and Mexico or tapping online pharmacies abroad to buy prescription medications at a fraction of the price they would pay at home.

In some cases, they do it out of desperation. It’s the only way they can afford the drugs they need to stay healthy — or alive. And they do it despite warnings from the FDA, echoed by the pharmaceutical industry, about the risk of contaminated or counterfeit products.

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