Hightower Lowdown

Isn’t it great to know that
our Homeland Security
officials are on the job to
protect you and me?
Last November a
Homeland tentacle called
the U.S. Customs and
Border Protection Agency
quietly began confiscating
mailings of prescription
drugs that senior citizens
and others in our country
had ordered from pharmacies
in Canada. Are these
dangerous drugs? Nope,
they’re the same medicines
that doctors here prescribe
—but they cost only half
as much…or less. That’s
because the U.S. is practically
the only nation in the
whole world that doesn’t
stop the drug giants from
price gouging, so shopping
for the exact same medicines
outside the country
is a way for consumers to
avoid being ripped off.
But now George W’s
border-protection police
are stepping in to…well,
to protect the rip-off
prices of the drug giants,
which get the bulk of their
global profits by gouging
American consumers.
The good news is that the
public has rebelled, forcing
both the House and Senate
to pass an amendment prohibiting
border agents from
seizing medicines imported
from Canada. However, the
bad news is that the drug
corporations are major
GOP campaign donors and
employ more Washington
lobbyists than there are
members of Congress. As a
result, the Bush White
House and Republican
congressional leaders are
gathering behind closed
doors to kill this proconsumer
amendment.