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I have operated a company in Canada nearly since the beginning of the Internet Pharmacy Industry in Canada. Your question is a bit naive in the sense that it presupposes that the only factor here is whether or not official sanction occurs in the US. Unofficially that has occurred long ago. What your question fails to recognize is the influence of drug manufacturer money on governments and pharmacy regulators in countries like mine that have helped Americans get safe and affordable medications. Firstly the manufacturers were supported in the courts to eliminate supply to any company that is helping Americans. They also cut off wholesale companies that supplied to Internet pharmacies. President Bush made a visit to Ottawa and within days our federal health minister was making public statements denouncing my industry as unprofessional. Even though I consider this to have been the only professional practice that I have had within the profession of pharmacy I have been harassed and persecuted by provincial regulators for years. Recent regulations passed here eliminate the ability of pharmacists to assist Americans and are forcing more and more patients toward Internet sites that do not offer access to a pharmacist or professional care. Regulators in the US and Canada taking measured steps to remove care from patients is so counter to the value statements of pharmacy that I have refused to be licensed and even though I continue to fight for the cause of patients in the US who can't afford to get proper pharmaceutical care in the US the fight here is drawing to a close. You will never see official sanction in the US. Drug manufacturers make close to 70% of their profit from American customers. Interestingly though they often do not declare that profit in the US and therefore they do not pay taxes like the rest of us. The money they save on taxes is free to buy people of influence all over this world. Your question will be decided quietly and hidden from the view of the US public. How many of your news magazines will print articles about a Canadian pharmacist being taken to court for having assisted Americans? Even though there is a "David and Goliath" quality to the story your press will focus where it wants your eyes while Goliath kills the people who have helped you.

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