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California Eyes Access To Canadian Drugs
by Chloe Albanesius
A California Senate committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would let Californians import prescription drugs from Canada, including those ordered through online pharmacies. But the panel offered several suggestions on how to improve the measure.
Democrats on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee prevailed, approving the measure, A.B. 1957, on an 8-2 vote and referring it to the Appropriations Committee. The two dissenting votes came from Republican Sens. Sam Aanestad and Roy Ashburn.
The Assembly-passed legislation calls for the state General Services Department to review state agencies to see if buying prescription drugs from Canada would save money. The bill also would require the state Health Services Department to establish a California Rx Program and create a Web site to facilitate the purchase of cheaper drugs.
Committee members suggested improvements to bill sponsor and Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer, a Democrat.
The bill calls for Canadian pharmacies to be licensed in the same manner as out-of-state pharmacies. That process assumes that out-of-state pharmacies have been approved in their own states, but that would not be the case with Canadian establishments. The committee recommended that Canadian pharmacies apply for and meet California's licensing requirements, as directed by the state Pharmacy Board, and that the Health Services Department be able to collect a review fee to offset the costs of evaluating Canadian pharmacies.
Committee members said the current Web site run by California Health Advocates (CHA) has much of the information the bill would require online. The panel recommended either pulling the Web requirement from the bill or working with CHA and other prescription-related sites.
The committee also voiced concern about the lack of a liability disclaimer in the measure, arguing that the state could be at risk for large monetary damages should citizens become ill from drugs provided by California-approved Canadian pharmacies.
The panel further noted that the legislation lacks certain requirements imposed by other states that allow prescription-drug imports, including: service departments; assurances that all doctors are properly licensed; requirements that the pharmacies comply with local privacy laws; and stipulations that the pharmacies not provide more than three-month supplies of any drug.
Finally, the committee suggested that the bill only be in force until January 2008, "given the prospect for further changes in federal policy" on the issue.
Illinois Settles Long-Running Telemarketing Case
Illinois has reached a settlement regarding a telemarketing case that has been in court for more than a decade, Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Tuesday.
A 1991 lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court accused Richard Troia and two of his companies, Telemarketing Associates and Armet, of soliciting donations for Vietnam War veterans but not making it clear that the telemarketers kept 85 percent of the donations. State courts dismissed the case, but the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 ruled that "fraudulent charitable solicitation is unprotected speech" and returned the case to Illinois courts.
Troia subsequently agreed to settle and will pay $70,000 in fines in exchange for Madigan dropping her suit. He also agreed to settle charges in a separate telemarketing fundraising effort, where he failed to file legally required financial documents.
Meanwhile, Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe last week settled accusations of unfair trade practices against Horizon E-Yellow Pages. Company employees were accused of calling businesses in Maine and saying they were from "Verizon" Yellow Pages, leading people to believe they were purchasing ads in Verizon's competing book. Their ads actually were placed in Horizon's Yellow Pages, and companies were charged as much as $399 per advertisement.
Under the settlement, Horizon must stop using deceptive sales practices. All of its contracts with Maine businesses are invalid, and within 90 days Horizon must refund money to all of the customers it duped. Thus far, the company has paid $1,500 in civil penalties and refunded $899 to three Maine businesses.
N.C. Prosecutor Settles Satellite Case
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper on Tuesday announced that a company installing satellite television access must give customers a promised rebate. Prime TV must send letters to customers whose rebate claims were rejected after Jan. 1, 2002, and give them 90 days to collect. The company also will pay the state $50,000.
In other news, Cooper said North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigations laboratory needs additional employees to analyze DNA evidence. He and Gov. Mike Easley have asked state legislators to approve six more agents and an evidence technician for the crime lab in Raleigh and the satellite lab in Asheville.
"It's critical that we act now because we haven't finished what we set out to accomplish," Cooper said in a release. "We owe it to the victims and our communities to give law enforcement full access to DNA technology to solve these cases and get criminals off the streets."
And in Michigan, the office of Attorney General Mike Cox last week arrested two individuals for using online chat rooms as forums for arranging sexual encounters with minors.
James William Howcroft, a convicted felon currently on probation, was arrested in Novi after traveling more than 60 miles by bus to have sex with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl. He was actually speaking to an undercover agent and was arrested upon his arrival. A day earlier, authorities arrested Ahmed Abdellatif, a substitute teacher for Detroit and Rochester public schools, for the same offense.
Alaska Enacts 'Do Not Call' Statute
Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski on Monday signed into law a measure that allows state residents to file claims under the state's "do not call" registry against telemarketing.
The bill, H.B. 15, makes it a violation of state law for a company to call someone on the list of phone numbers that do not want to receive telemarketing calls. Companies that wish to make legal sales calls must register with the Alaska Law Department before doing business and identify themselves when calling Alaskans.
"If someone attempts a deceptive trade practice, we are not going to wait for the federal government to act," Murkowski said in a release.
States Receives Security Grants; Indiana Seeks Funds
Colorado on Tuesday received $30 million in federal grants from the Homeland Security Department. The money will be distributed among police and fire departments, hazardous-materials teams, paramedics and health agencies in nine state homeland security regions.
Also on Monday, New York received about $7.2 million in grants to enhance security operations and purchase equipment. Among the grants recipients, Albany, Renssselaer and Schenectady counties will receive $3.25 million each, while the Hudson Valley will take home $1.3 million.
Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan, meanwhile, wrote a Tuesday letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, urging him to direct to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to release $4.2 million in federal bioterrorism funds allocated to the state in 2002. Indiana's plan to respond to acts of bioterrorism is "threatened" without the funds, Kernan wrote.
On June 8, CDC said the funds would be released immediately once State Health Commissioner Greg Wilson answered several questions. Wilson answered those questions the same day, Kernan said. The requested $4.2 million is the last installment of the $19.1 million Congress appropriated in fiscal 2002. The state has until Aug. 31 to use the funds.
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