As the old adage says, “politics makes strange bedfellows”. None stranger perhaps than last June when the state of Maine opened the door to well-funded and well-organized international criminals by legalizing online drug purchases from internet pharmacies by its citizens. The intention of the law is to allow Maine’s inhabitants access to cheaper drugs abroad than are available here in the US. Whatever the rationale, the predictable consequence of the law is to fully open the doors of commerce in Maine to online providers of counterfeit and substandard medicines. Other states are watching the Maine model and may well follow suit, with potentially disastrous consequences for their citizens.
