Chicago Sun-Times: [ Consider the source ]

Consider the source

You are right: "Americans shouldn't have to pay more for medicine" [editorial, Oct. 27]. But neither should the governor of Illinois try to balance the state budget on the backs of state employees who use prescription medicine. His plan to reimport drugs from Canada in an effort to save money is prescription roulette, with employees taking all the chances.

In most cases, perfectly safe drugs leave an easy-to-follow paper trail from a legitimate manufacturer to a legitimate wholesaler to a legitimate neighborhood pharmacy. Sometimes the trail goes directly from a pharmaceutical company to a pharmacy, hospital or other licensed health care provider.

In other cases, though, the trail gets cold, and medicines may pass through several unregulated wholesalers, unregulated storefront operations and borderless Internet drugstores before ending up in the hands of consumers. It is during this process that drugs become suspect to mishandling, deliberate alteration, dilution and counterfeiting.

The FDA says it would require hundreds of millions of dollars, years of planning and additional staff to monitor the large-scale reimportation suggested by the governor. Loopholes in federal and state regulations make it tough to follow the drug trail. Some states, like Illinois, have few barriers against setting up shop as a wholesaler, and there's no all-inclusive requirement that distributors document a drug's origin or quality as it makes its way to the consumer.

In other words, unsuspecting retail outlets buying drugs of an unknown origin turn around and sell them to unsuspecting consumers with no idea what they are selling, leaving consumers at the mercy of chance. Consumers need to be concerned about buying prescription drugs across borders or over the borderless Internet with no one assuring them they are safe or even that they are getting the exact drug their doctor prescribed.

No foreign source of prescription drugs accepts responsibility for any harmful effects or deaths from reimported drugs.

Conrad F. Meier,

senior fellow in health policy,

Heartland Institute

Factory-direct savings

I just finished reading your excellent editorial about the higher cost of prescriptions for Americans. Clearly, the drug companies have a right to sell outside the United States and to charge whatever they want. If, however, they think it would be "dangerous" for us to buy reimported prescription drugs, why don't they just sell to us like they are selling to Canadian and European pharmacies: directly. That would save time, transportation cost and be equitable for all.

The new medications are wonderful, and I am alive because of their use. However, most of the popular prescriptions are also financed by grants, individual trusts and groups of people who run races, sell things "for charity," have telethons and even stand on corners in the rain with cans for their cause. I don't see the pharmaceutical companies going bankrupt. Their greed is showing through their guise of caring about my health.

Linda Fisher, Palatine

Murphy's flaw

It seems that Public Guardian Patrick Murphy is the first and the loudest politician to call for resignations of fire personnel due to the tragic fire downtown. While I sympathize for his loss of friends and co-workers, I find his accusations of blame to be somewhat misplaced.

Perhaps his call for a grand jury investigation is just what is needed. Just how many years have his employees been made to work under these dangerous conditions while he was in charge? A little soul-searching would do him just fine

God bless the victims and their families.

Jeremiah J. Dwyer,

firefighter, Engine Co. 30,

Portage Park

Save County, save taxpayers

Regarding Cook County officials' headstrong intent to get bids to demolish Cook County Hospital [Metro Briefs, Oct. 29]: Spending millions to demolish the hospital and be left with nothing but the whistling wind is the antithesis of what ought to be done to help extricate this city from its deep budgetary crisis.

The shameless audacity of the Cook County Board President John Stroger and his cronies when they say they have the best interests of the taxpayers at heart! Were that true, they would do everything in their power to help developers come up with sound economic ideas that would turn this amazing, irreplaceable edifice into a useful structure.

Laura Stigler-Marier,

Lake View

Don't rub it in

Nowadays, when the television is turned on, all we see is news about stars, how much money they receive, and how many cars they're able to afford. We all know they are rich beyond our wildest dreams.

However, in a time when millions of people are out of work, these shows, such as "It's Good To Be . . ." and the new MTV show coming soon called "Rich Girls" are a slap in the face to those of us who work real jobs for a living.

We are all used to celebrity news, but I believe there is too much information nowadays about the money aspect in these tough economic times.

Viki Bottando, Tinley Park

Where's he get off?

[Metra Chairman] Jeffrey Ladd insulted the intelligence of Metra Electric riders with his comments that Metra is not a social welfare agency, and in the Oct. 29 Sun-Times, he had the nerve to add insult to injury by threatening to eliminate stops on the Electric line! What is he thinking? There were more than 150 commuters crowded into the Homewood Village Hall on Oct. 28, and yet he chose to send two board members rather than appear himself. What kind of leader is he?

I am proud to say that I am the woman who asked that evening: "If California can recall a governor, can we recall a chairman?" That question, which received an ovation, was intended for Ladd. Apparently, he would rather eliminate stops than solve problems. The commuters on the Electric line are not asking for favoritism; we are asking for equality.

Ladd's board members stated their salaries were $15,000 per year for their position. What's Ladd's? He should save us the recall and resign now!

Lisa Landvogt, Homewood