Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008

Floor Speech

RYAN HAIGHT ONLINE PHARMACY CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - September 23, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. CAPPS. I thank our chairman for yielding and for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6353, the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy bill. And in doing so, I want to pay tribute to its author, BART STUPAK, who would be here giving this statement except that his voice ran out tonight. So I am stepping in on his behalf, but it is something that I truly support as well.

Nearly 7 million Americans are abusing prescription drugs; more than the number of individuals who are abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, ecstasy and inhalants all combined.

Over the past 6 years, we have witnessed a dramatic 80 percent increase in prescription drug abuse from 3.8 million to 7 million. That's more than double. A large number of individuals are obtaining their prescription drugs over the Internet through rogue Internet pharmacies.

Purchasing drugs online without a valid prescription can be simple: A consumer just types the name of the drug into a search engine, quickly identifies a site selling the medication, fills out a brief questionnaire, and then clicks to purchase.

The risks of self-medicating, however, can include potential adverse reactions from inappropriately prescribed medicines, dangerous drug interactions, use of counterfeit or tainted products, and addiction to habit-forming substances.

Several of these illegitimate sites failed to produce information about potential adverse side effects, effectiveness, and where the pharmacies are located.

A 2004 GAO study obtained 68 samples of 11 different prescription drugs, each from a different Web site. GAO found that 45 online pharmacies provided a prescription based on their own medical questionnaire or had no prescription requirement. Among the drugs GAO obtained without prescription were those with special safety restrictions and highly addictive narcotic pain killers.

The tragic case of Ryan Haight has already been mentioned. His mother has testified before Congress and is nationally known. Ryan died at the age of 18, as has been stated, from an overdose of pain killers, including Vicodin. He ordered these over the Internet without a legitimate prescription while he was a 17-year-old minor.

The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act would bar the sale or distribution of all controlled substances via the Internet without a valid prescription. In order for a prescription to be valid, it must be issued by a practitioner who has conducted at least one in-person examination of the particular patient.

H.R. 6353 would also require online pharmacies to clearly display on their Web site a statement of compliance with U.S. laws and DEA regulations. This would allow consumers to clearly identify which pharmacies are safe and which are not.

This legislation also creates a new Federal cause of action that would allow a State attorney general to shut down a rogue site selling controlled substances in any State and increase the penalties for all illegal distributions of controlled substances classified as Schedule III, IV or V substances.

This legislation is supported by the administration, including the DEA and FDA, the Chain Drug Stores, Go Daddy, eBay, Federation of State Medical Boards, and the Fraternal Order of Police.

I encourage all of my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation. I thank Congressman LAMAR SMITH, Congresswoman MARY BONO MACK, Senator Feinstein, Chairman Dingell and Ranking Member Barton. I also want to thank Virgil Miller, Ryan Long, Caroline Lynch and Jeff Spalding with the committee staff, and Erika Orloff of Mr. Stupak's personal staff for their hard work on this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source