Don't let unlicensed pharmacies dispense in Illinois!
(Don't live in Illinois? Write a letter to your own Senators here.)
Congress thinks letting unlicensed foreign pharmacies dispense in Illinois is a great money-saving idea. It's a dangerous and foolish idea.
Over 20 U.S. Senators have co-sponsored legislation that lets patients order medications from unlicensed foreign pharmacies and ship into Illinois. Their proposal allows unlicensed foreign fake pharmacies to dispense in Illinois. They aren't required to have Illinois pharmacy licenses, pharmacists licensed in Illinois. In fact, they aren't required to be licensed anywhere in the United States. (S.469)
Your Senators need to hear from licensed pharmacists that this is dangerous to patients! This two step process is really short.
- Step 1: Enter your information for signing your letter. (We'll look up your Senators)
- Step 2: Read your letter, confirm and send!
Why does it require things like Prefix (Mr, Ms, etc) and my phone number and email address? Are you going to call me, or sell that information? Because of so much spam, Senate offices require that we collect and deliver to them information for people submitting letters such as Prefix, Phone, and Email address. We will not call you based upon the information you submit here. If you check the box to stay informed we will add you to our own in-house email list, but not sell, rent, loan, give or share it with anyone else.
The Illinois Pharmacists Association and the Partnership for Safe Medicines have teamed up! We want to help pharmacists speak up about the dangers to patient safety from unlicensed foreign pharmacies.
Are counterfeits a problem in Illinois?
Absolutely. We have seen deaths in the last twelve months in Cook and Kankakee County from counterfeit drugs made with illegal fentanyl that look just like prescription drugs. These fentanyl-based counterfeits are so dangerous a single pill can be fatal.
What about counterfeits of other medications?
From 2008 to 2012 a Canadian counterfeiting ring sold black market cancer medication to doctors throughout the U.S. Some batches intercepted by law enforcement before being given to patients were tested and found to have no cancer-fighting ingredient, just mold and water. In 2016 a physician in Evanston, IL lost her license to practice because she did business with these counterfeiters. It is impossible to ever know if her patients ever received the real oncology drug or the fake one, and how many patients who died of cancer might have survived if they had the real medication.
Have Americans been hurt by unlicensed pharmacies dispensing to Americans?
You could ask the family of Betty Hunter, who received a counterfeit cancer drug and succumbed to her cancer, if they are concerned. Or the American patients at hundreds of oncology clinics who did business with the same fake drug smugglers.
Or the family of Marcia Bergeron who took a counterfeit laced with heavy metals and died of toxic metals poisoning.
What do the experts think?
Pharmacies and pharmacists are licensed to protect patient safety. When patient safety relies on the honor system, patients get hurt.