An increasing proportion of the health care dollar is spent on prescription drags, these medications are costly, and the elderly are paying proportionally more of their income on prescriptions than the general population, according to recent estimates.1'2 Although drag importation is illegal, Americans are crossing borders in search of price relief by traveling to pharmacies in Canada or Mexico, ordering from non-U.S. Internet pharmacies, or becoming clients of local storefront pharmacies that serve as liaisons with pharmacies in countries other than the United States. In response, organizations and trade groups have offered suggestions for judging the quality Internet pharmacies. These recommendations can be used as benchmarks in assessing pharmacy Web sites. The following examines the extension of the recommendations to Canadian pharmacy newspaper advertisements. The purpose of the analysis is neither to endorse nor condemn importation, but to determine whether consumers have adequate information to make educated decisions about importing.
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