Though the Florida pharmacy board isn't happy, customers keep clamoring for low-cost medication.
By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published June 12, 2003
The Florida pharmacy board did some saber-rattling this week against storefronts that help consumers buy low-cost prescription drugs from Canada, accusing them of acting as unlicensed pharmacies.
But if the board, which has no enforcement power, expected to scare people away from the burgeoning operations, the effort failed.
On Wednesday, owners of the prescription processing centers said business was up noticeably, as customers raced in to make sure their pipeline to less expensive Canadian drugs was still open.
"They're bringing in their friends. They want to do anything they can to keep the orders rolling through," said David Amon, affiliate owner of Discount Medicine of Canada in Pinellas Park. "They're ready to lobby for us."
Operations such as Amon's are making converts of local consumers fed up with ever-rising U.S. prescription prices. But they're making enemies of area pharmacists and chain drugstores, which are seeing millions of dollars of sales being siphoned off to Canada.
An estimated $2-billion to $4-billion worth of Canadian drugs are bought by U.S. customers each year. In his five months in business, Amon said, he's processed prescriptions for about 1,300 customers, each ordering an average of $200 to $300 in drugs.
At a three-day meeting in Tampa that ended Tuesday, the pharmacy board heard from both supporters and critics of operations like Amon's. There are at least 40 such businesses in Florida - more than a dozen in the Tampa Bay area. Typically they operate in low-budget strip centers and offer no more than a processing service for people who want to buy prescription drugs from Canada, where prices are 30 percent to 80 percent lower than in the United States.
Customers simply bring in a prescription from their family doctor, and the processing service transmits it to a Canadian pharmacy. No money or drugs change hands at the storefront center, and customers pay the same amount for the drug they would pay if they ordered it directly through the Canadian pharmacy's Web site. The storefront operation is paid by the Canadian pharmacy, usually receiving a percentage of the drug price for handling the transaction.
Paul Grannan, founder of Canada Direct in Beverly Hills, said the service his 7-week-old business provides is the same a consumer would get by ordering Canadian drugs online.
"But 97 percent of my customers don't have a computer or if they do, they want a warm body to talk to," Grannan said. "I don't want to get in a ----ing match with the board, but these people vote."
At its meeting, the pharmacy board determined that operations like Grannan's and Amon's constituted "unlicensed practice of pharmacy."
Bill Parizek, spokesman for the Department of Health, said Tuesday's position statement was similar to a comment made last year by the board's former counsel. Based on descriptions of such operations, the Health Department launched its own investigation into the businesses, which is continuing. Parizek said the department does not have authority to arrest or pursue criminal convictions, but it can share information gathered during investigations with local, state or federal authorities.
Parizek would not put a timetable on the department's investigation, nor specify which operations were being targeted.
"We are glad the board of pharmacy is reminding people of the dangers when consumers go to unregulated pharmacies," Parizek said. "There are no guarantees and no control over your prescriptions. You're taking risks when you go to an unlicensed pharmacy."
Bruce Liddy feels differently. After working as a pharmacist for retail chains for 23 years, he started Discount Medicine of Canada, opening a storefront in Lakeland in January. He said his operation, which has seven affiliates, including the one in Pinellas Park, is not only taking business away from his former employers but providing better service.
"We have customers fill out complete medical histories and list all their medicines so we can do a drug utilization review," he said. "When I was at Walgreens, where I was a manager for eight years, I filled 600 prescriptions per day and just kept my head down, counting pills."
Liddy said his operation has been investigated by the Department of Health, but there has been no further action.
"Our fate is totally up to the government," he said. "Are they going to close us? And if so, what is being done to get people their medicines more affordably? That's all we're trying to do here. I could go back to being a pharmacist and make a lot more money."
