The Governor of Illinois announced plans to set up a prescription drug program that will violate federal law by importing drugs from other countries and bypassing FDA testing and approval. I've already covered the dangers of importing prescription drugs, noting that:

Buying medicines from Canada may sound reasonably safe, but how would you feel if you knew your drugs were coming into Canada from Bangladesh, Brazil, or Iran. Canadian imports from those countries has increased dramatically, and it's mostly being fueled by U.S. demand. These and other countries like China and the Philippines are known to counterfeit drugs, and all of them are increasing shipments to Canada.

These shipments are processed through drug clearinghouses and usually go uninspected. It is precisely these clearinghouses that Illinois plans to use:

The state won't import the drugs itself, but it plans to contract with a Canadian company to connect Illinois residents with a network of foreign pharmacies that have been approved by state health inspectors. [...]

The clearinghouse Blagojevich proposed Tuesday would be an "aggressive expansion" of the governor's previous push to import drugs from Canada only, and the drugs it would allow access to would be illegal and unregulated by U.S. agencies, said William Hubbard, FDA associate commissioner for policy and planning.

The Governor estimates that savings would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $91 Million to $1.9 Gazillion Billion, depending on the scope of the program.

Of course, what Gov. Blagojevich doesn't say is that Illinois is opening themselves up to untold Billions of dollars in liability if some bad drugs get through. I have a feeling that trial lawyers (like John Edwards) will be chomping at the bit to represent anyone with negative side affects from illegally imported drugs.

If you think I'm overstating the potential for danger, keep this in mind. The Galen Institute reports that:

When asked about the potential impact of U.S. pharmacies limiting shipments to Canadian pharmacies, a Canadian pharmacy owner and non-pharmacist told surveyors for the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, "We won't have any problem getting drugs. We have creative ways to get them."

Does that sound like someone from whom you want to buy your meds?

Of course all these medicines are sold with liability disclaimers. The foreign e-pharmacies disclaim all liability if you get sick or die from their medicines. Likewise, states that encourage folks to buy drugs from Canada also try to disclaim legal liability. Of course, they can't exactly do that. By promoting behavior that is illegal, the state and local governments are setting up a hazardous condition. Because of the inherent negligence, the state has no protection from liability when someone is injured as a result. State laws vary, but most courts have agreed that negligence offers no liability protection, no matter how many disclaimers people sign.

The bottom line is that public officials need to tread lightly on the subject of drug re-importation. Not only are they breaking federal law, but they are setting themselves up for potential lawsuits. The short term savings just aren't worth the risk. In the long term, it could end up costing much more than it saves.

(Editor's Note: I feel it necessary to point out that I do hold stock in a major pharmaceutical company. I don't think that has biased my opinion, and I stand by the facts I have presented here. But I still think that I should at least let you know.)