PSM analysis of Texas legislation HB 25, foreign drug importation

Map of Texas with prescription pill bottle to the left. The bottle a label with a maple leaf that's peeling away to reveal a skull and crossbones.

H.B. 25 would require Texas’ Health and Human Services Commission to design a program for bulk importing prescription medicines under 21 USC 384 of the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act, more commonly known as a Section 804 State Importation Program (SIP). Below, we outline the many reasons this proposal is unsafe and unworkable.

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March 20, 2023: Spanberger and Kustoff reintroduce the CAST Act

Ad for a pill press

Federal legislators reintroduced the CAST Act, which would strengthen penalties for using pill presses to make fake medicines. Health Canada warned parents not to buy unapproved cough syrups advertised on Facebook. Mexican soldiers seized almost two million fentanyl pills in Tijuana. News about prosecutions, pill seizures and deaths in 21 U.S. states.

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March 6, 2023: Oregon man sentenced for three years of selling steroids and fake pills on Facebook

two baggies of white pills on a blue surface

PSM’s executive director spoke at Senator Rick Scott’s roundtable. The US FDA acted to restrict the illicit shipment of xylazine. Investigators have traced the deaths of 84 children in Gambia and Uzbekistan to counterfeit cough syrup. 57 people in three states were charged with selling fentanyl pills and other drugs and a doctor was sentenced for faking a stem cell treatment. Additional news about fake pills in 30 states.

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February 28, 2023: Senator Rick Scott speaks at PSM congressional briefing

A bald, besuited man with a striped tie at a podium with a sign that reads The Partnership for Safe Medicines, The 118th Congress Counterfeit Drug Policy Briefing. One of his hands is outstretched.

PSM hosted a congressional briefing keynoted by Senator Rick Scott. The U.S. imposed sanctions against alleged suppliers of precursor chemicals to the Sinaloa Cartel. Deaths, prosecutions and seizures related to fake painkillers, Xanax and Adderall in 21 states. Counterfeit medicine stories in India and Algeria.

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