The American Spectator

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The Public Policy

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TRACKING COULD ALSO help Americans save money. In Europe, a London School of Economics Study found that middlemen routinely buy drugs at prices set by their local government and then resell them at a hefty markup to customers in other countries. They almost certainly would do the exact same thing to American customers if (re)importation were legalized.

With a tracking system in place, however, the U.S. government could require that cost savings must be passed along to American consumers and not pocketed by foreign middlemen. The barcodes on warning labels could contain price and location data.

Consumers would therefore know if they were getting exposed to drugs that had spent time outside the security of the U.S. custody chain and getting hosed by foreign middlemen.

If lawmakers legalizes the (re)importation of prescription drugs, they need to protect Americans from unsafe meds and rapacious middlemen exploiting foreign price controls. A labeling and tracking system is essential to separating the honest sellers from the hucksters.

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Economics, Business, Law