<story><title>Mailed asthma, cancer, erectile drugs are seized the most, despite opioid claims</title><url>https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/07/health/fda-drug-shipments-khn-partner/index.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gtop3</author><text>Our prescription drug system needs an overhaul.  This isn&amp;#x27;t a matter of all drugs are illegal to import because of quality control issues.  You can import aspirin, if you are so inclined.  This is asthma and cancer medication being seized because of an overly tight control of prescription drugs.  I understand that some drugs sold overseas are not suitable for human consumption. I understand that some drugs require close supervision.  I argue that many medications are quite safe to take without supervision and using doctors as gatekeepers functions primarily to increase the billings generated by sick people.  I think the bar for what medications are prescription and which medications are OTC needs to be reevaluated. Perhaps the way in which we market drugs and disclose there risks should be reevaluated simultaneously.&lt;p&gt;Imagine taking away someone&amp;#x27;s asthma medication and thinking you are making America a safer, better place.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sithadmin</author><text>&amp;gt; I understand that some drugs sold overseas are not suitable for human consumption&lt;p&gt;Frankly, a lot of FDA-approved drugs sold in the US aren&amp;#x27;t suitable for consumption, especially generics manufactured outside the US. The FDA simply doesn&amp;#x27;t have the resources to enforce good manufacturing practices and product consistency, so a lot of subpar medication manages to slip under the radar and into the US market. The situation is much more grim for non-US buyers, who often get products of significantly worse quality.&lt;p&gt;&amp;#x27;Bottle of Lies&amp;#x27; by Katherine Eban[1] provides a thorough and very unsettling exposé on the issue.&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;books&amp;#x2F;review&amp;#x2F;bottle-of-lies-katherine-eban.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;books&amp;#x2F;review&amp;#x2F;bottle-of-li...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Mailed asthma, cancer, erectile drugs are seized the most, despite opioid claims</title><url>https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/07/health/fda-drug-shipments-khn-partner/index.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gtop3</author><text>Our prescription drug system needs an overhaul.  This isn&amp;#x27;t a matter of all drugs are illegal to import because of quality control issues.  You can import aspirin, if you are so inclined.  This is asthma and cancer medication being seized because of an overly tight control of prescription drugs.  I understand that some drugs sold overseas are not suitable for human consumption. I understand that some drugs require close supervision.  I argue that many medications are quite safe to take without supervision and using doctors as gatekeepers functions primarily to increase the billings generated by sick people.  I think the bar for what medications are prescription and which medications are OTC needs to be reevaluated. Perhaps the way in which we market drugs and disclose there risks should be reevaluated simultaneously.&lt;p&gt;Imagine taking away someone&amp;#x27;s asthma medication and thinking you are making America a safer, better place.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Tozen</author><text>&amp;gt; This is asthma and cancer medication being seized because of an overly tight control of prescription drugs.&lt;p&gt;Actually, many of these are medications (even life saving ones) being seized to protect inflated pharmaceutical pricing and profits at the expense of poorer Americans (and those lacking health care).  Significant numbers of people are ordering the medications out of desperation.</text></comment>