Posted At Houston Chronicle

BY : Clay Robison

A new state law intended to help Texas consumers buy less expensive prescription drugs from Canada was struck down Wednesday by Attorney General Greg Abbott, who ruled that it violated federal law.

The law, enacted by the Legislature last spring, had been put on hold pending Abbott's review.

The attorney general said the statute violates the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which "makes it an offense not only to import, but to 'cause' the importation of prohibited medications."

The U.S. government has generally ignored the importation of small quantities for personal use.

The provision, part of a broader law re-creating the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, had directed the board to provide information on a Web site to assist consumers in ordering drugs from as many as 10 designated Canadian pharmacies. It also directed the board to inspect the pharmacies to assure they met both Canadian and U.S. safety standards.

The pharmacy board sought Abbott's opinion after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration objected to the law.

In a letter to Gov. Rick Perry in June, Randall W. Lutter, an acting associate commissioner with the FDA, expressed concerns about potential health and safety risks. "In our experience, many drugs obtained from foreign sources that purport and appear to be the same as U.S.-approved prescription drugs have been of unknown origin and quality," he said.

Perry, however, couldn't veto the provision from the larger bill, which was necessary to keep the pharmacy board in business.

"By 'designating' certain Canadian pharmacies, promoting them on its Web site and expressly permitting Texas consumers to import prescription drugs that cannot be imported under federal law, the Texas State Board of Pharmacy would violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, as will Texas consumers and those Texas pharmacies that take part in such transactions," Abbott said.

State Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, who sponsored the provision, was unavailable for comment late Wednesday. But he noted previously that at least nine other states and the District of Columbia have had similar Web sites. He said the Texas program was patterned after one in Minnesota.

During House debate in May, he said brand-name drugs from Canada listed on Minnesota's Web site had prices that were between 23 percent and 75 percent lower than those listed by a major American retail pharmacy chain.

Hochberg also argued many Texans already are buying prescription drugs from Canada and Mexico, with no guarantees of safety or quality.

Abbott, whose jurisdiction covers only Texas law, said similar proposals in Maryland, Tennessee and Vermont have encountered legal challenges.

In seeking Abbott's opinion earlier this year, Gay Dodson, the pharmacy board's executive director, said the procedure set out in the new Texas law "would be equivalent to the board condoning, if not promoting, these Canadian pharmacies shipping prescription drugs into Texas."

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, the professional organization of state regulatory agencies, also wrote Perry in opposition to the Canadian drug provision.

Most of the nine members of the State Board of Pharmacy, all gubernatorial appointees, are pharmacists or have ties to the industry.