Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) — Canada may restrict the ability of Americans to buy cheaper drugs by mail, prompting Illinois, Rhode Island, Montana and other states to seek new suppliers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Read the full story at bloomberg.com.

Director General of National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Dora Akunyili, said the agency destroyed counterfeit and substandard products worth $54.86m (N7.68b) between April 2001 and September 2004. Kingsley Nwezeh, Abuja January 12, 2005 Read the full story at allafrica.com.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. Secretary of State Matt Brown has written to a clearinghouse for Canadian pharmacies informing it of Rhode Island's new licensing law that allows residents to order prescriptions through the mail. Read the full story at wpri.com.

A Canadian online pharmacies' lobby has announced that many of its members plan on moving their business to the UK if tough legislation planned by the federal Canadian government outlaws co-signing of medication by doctors without the patients being present. 11 Jan 2005 Read the full story at e-health-insider.com.

Importing cheaper prescriptions from abroad is a subject that continues to fester, and will flare again this month with a changing of the guard at the Department of Health and Human Services. Sunday, January 9, 2005 Read the full story at mainetoday.com.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An Upland man who smuggled tens of thousands of counterfeit viagra tablets from China and manufactured hundreds of thousands more pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy, trafficking in counterfeit goods and causing a counterfeit drug to ge made or sold. Thursday, January 6, 2005 Read the full story at sfgate.com.

NEW YORK (AP) – Americans purchasing their drugs from Canadian online pharmacies didn't save as much money last year as they did in 2003, with the average discount dropping to 29 percent from 38 percent, a new study found. Wednesday January 05, 2005 Read the full story at wjla.com.

Pressure from US drug companies and more recently President Bush is causing the pendulum to swing against importation of Canadian prescription drugs. By Christopher Rowland, Globe Staff January 5, 2005 Read the full story at boston.com.

CHICAGO – (KRT) – Citing an increased U.S. demand that threatens to pinch Canadian drug supplies, health officials in that country are considering a plan to shut down cross-border prescription sales to Americans over the Internet and through the mail. BY JOHN CHASE, Chicago Tribune Posted on Wed, Jan. 05, 2005 Read the full story at tallahassee.com.

George Santayana observed that "Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim." What else can explain the feverish insistence of the supporters of drug importation to press on in the face of a comprehensive and well-documented report that concludes that importation of medicines from price controlled countries is not only a form of price controls, but…