Cheap Cuban medicines fill Miami cabinets

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Tue, Sep. 30, 2003

Cheap Cuban medicines fill Miami cabinets
The movement of pills and ointments between Cuba and South Florida goes both ways, despite U.S. rules meant to keep out untested foreign drugs.
BY ELAINE DE VALLE
[e-mail]

Cheap Cuban drugs fill S. Florida cabinets

When Angelina Hernández feels that tightness in her chest and breathing becomes a burden in the middle of the night, she doesn't reach for Primatene Mist.

Her nightstand is stocked with Salbutamol, the made-in-Cuba asthma inhaler shipped to Hernández by her sister in Havana.

It usually happens the other way around: Medicine and first aid supplies are sent by the ton from Cuban Americans in South Florida to loved ones in Cuba, where many items are scarce. But the journey increasingly goes in the other direction, too, as more recently arrived Cuban refugees seek the comforts -- or cough drops -- of home.

Although many remedies are scarce there, the Cuban government recently made it even easier for tourists to get medications manufactured on the island to the outside world: A new pharmacy kiosk at José Martí International Airport in Havana dispenses all types of drugs -- sans prescriptions -- for U.S. dollars. (snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/6894282.htm

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. These insurgents are stealing from American pharmaceutical companies!

Just when you thought America's free market was safe from communist agitators!

These terrorists must be rooted out, rounded up, made an example of!

[Nevernose]

8. That was pretty clever. n/t

[L4d]

2. I get American drugs cheap in Mexico

They're a fraction of the price as in America.

So if I get a burn when I'm cooking (or a sunburn), I slap on some Silvodene that I bought in Mexico. Same exact med as what we get here, only 8 bucks for a bottle. In the states, it's at least $25.

My husband's Advair (asthma med) is $37 in Mexico. It's well over $150 here. That $37 is cheaper than my insurance's prescription co-pay of $40!

The list goes on and on.

And never mind that I also have to pay for a doctor's visit, on top of the script co-pay, just to get those meds here.

I understand people on the Canadian edge of America get similar deals.

[scarlet_owl]

14. Here Here!

When I was in Mexico earlier this year, I stocked up on Salbutamol for my asthma and Olmefin (Clomid). I just wish I could go back more often.

[Mika]

3. Cuban-Americans can go to Cuba while American-Americans can't.

Don't members of the Dem party find this abridgment of our travel rights an insult?

Why is it that Americans cannot travel to Cuba while Cuban-Americans and Cuban resident aliens are allowed to go to Cuba? Are they some kind of "special class" of citizen/resident?


Do any DUers find it unusual that Cuban-Americans travel to the Cuba they "fled" from to get cheaper meds?


Does this raise any questions in DUers minds about the legitimacy of the claims that the extremists in Cuban-American community make against Cuba, who, at the same time, they return for vacations, family trips, and cheap medicines manufactured under the socialist medical system there?


Its time to end the unjust sanctions placed on American's travel rights.

[Ernesto]

4. NOW NOW

Remember that many of these exiles are good repuke supporters. The feds might just "look the other way. Florida is a critical state for the chimp/beast's election plans. I'm sure the pharmaceutical
corporations will understand on this one.

[Mika]

5. Not quite.

"Remember that many of these exiles are good repuke supporters."


If I remembered that, I would be remembering something that isn't true.

Uncommon sense..

chart from www.opensecrets.org



There is a firestorm over this drug importation story in Miami. The hard core "exile" minority is dead against this.. because in their minds it represents support for the Cuban government (not to mention the obvious about the socialized health care system w/drugs in Cuba).


Underrepresented by the US media, the MAJORITY of Cuban-Americans support ending the sanctions against Cuba (and Americans). The extremist minority of hard core anti Castro-ites seem to catch all of the press, and we uninformed Americans end up mistakenly believing that they represent the entire expatriate Cuban community. Don't fall for that line of BS.

The majority of Cuban immigrants coming to America do so for the same reason that immigrants from all over the Latin Americas come to America.. more money/jobs, not a hatred of the socialist government in Cuba (as exemplified by their purchases of Cuban meds on return trips to Cuba). Plus, despite the fact that the US offers over 20,000 legal immigration visas to Cubans who legally qualify, the US 'wet foot/ dry foot' policy allows ALL CUBAN ILLEGAL ENTRANTS TO STAY AND WORK W/GREEN CARD WITHOUT A CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK. An illegal immigrant's dream.

[Ernesto]

12. Thank's to Mika!

WOW this is a great example of what this forum is about! Get the facts out..... Learn whats really happening!

[Mika]

13. Welcome Ernesto

Hi Ernesto :hi:

Please stop by the "Cuba threads" on DU.

There are a few of us "insane pro Cuba crowd" who advocate learning from and about Cuba and US-Cuba relations. Some of us have been to Cuba, several many times - as have I.

There's a lot for DUers to learn about Cuba. One of the best ways to facilitate that is to end the unjust abridgment of our travel rights that prevents Americans from freely traveling to Cuba to see the place with their very own eyes, to make up their own minds based on personal interaction with Cubans along with experiences and observations of Cuba. Cuba is NOTHING like the the American government and miamicuban "exiles" propaganda misrepresentations of it.

[Osolomia]

16. The folks in small town American are not being fooled by the “exiles”!

Here’s today’s example of a zillion such editorials opposing the embargo that have been cropping up in newspapers all across the USA for several years now, and there’s been a steady stream of them in recent weeks as the Senate prepares to vote on the issue:

Wednesday, October 1, 2003
Amarillo Globe-News, Texas
Editorial: Cuban trade embargo not worth free-market cost

Politics often gets in the way of sound principle, as in the case of the United States' trade embargo against Cuba.

The principle of free trade has given way to the politics of a bygone era, in which the United States used economic sanctions to fight communism near our shores.

The U.S. trade embargo should be lifted. It should have been lifted long ago. It has grown so unpopular that politicians of all stripes oppose it.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs acknowledged to a business group downstate recently that opposition to lifting the embargo is weakening in Congress.

More…
http://www.amarillonet.com/stories/100103/opi_cubantrade.shtml

If so many of all political stripes all across the country figured this one out long ago then why can’t DUers and the 2004 Dem presidential candidates do so too by now?

Especially since Roger Noriega is expected to officially announce Bush’s latest Cuba policy within the next few days while Mikail Gorbachev speaks against it at a summit in Miami this weekend and the issue is on the table in the Senate following a bipartisan majority vote in the House last month despite Bush’s threatened veto!

[Judi Lynn]

6. More on denying Americans' right to travel

September 30, 2003

The Cuba Fixation
Shaking Down American Travelers
By TOM CRUMPACKER

Why does our government want to prevent us from seeing and learning about what is happening in Cuba? It says its purpose is to deny hard currency to Cubans so that they will change the way they have organized their society. If so, it's the first time in history we've been forced to sacrifice one of our fundamental freedoms in order to implement a foreign policy objective.

From the beginning American courts have recognized and protected our right to travel to and in countries at peace with us, and our Supreme Court has repeatedly held this is part of the liberty we can't be deprived of without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment. Moreover, because travel often involves learning and exchange of ideas, our First Amendment rights of speech and association are also implicated. As former justice William O. Douglas once observed, "Freedom of movement is the very essence of our free society, setting us apart...it often makes all other rights meaningful." (snip)

(snip) There have been bills pending in Congress for at least five years to repeal various aspects of the Cuba embargo, including the travel restrictions (see proposed "Bridges to Cuban People Act"). However under the rules a few powerful men called "party leaders" get to decide what and when matters are voted on, and no votes have been allowed on the merits, just on the yearly Bush Administration budget requests for enforcement money.

Our Congress responds primarily to campaign contributions and powerful lobbies. The Cuban people have neither. Nevertheless two weeks ago the House voted for the third successive year to deny enforcement money for the travel restrictions, and this will come up in the Senate soon. If Americans can travel freely to Cuba, they will learn for themselves what is really going on there, rather than having to rely on the inaccurate official propaganda. If this happens, hopefully the entire embargo will be relegated to the place where it belongs -- the dustbin of history. (snip/...)

http://www.counterpunch.org/crumpacker09302003.html

[eridani]

7. Those of us close to Canada go there instead

WA State Health Care for All has a list of Canadian docs (same treatment for half the price) for use by uninsured people here. We also send people up there by the busload for meds.

[JackDragna]

9. The sad thing about our health care..

..is that the average Cuban probably gets better medical care than the average American. Our level of technical expertise is higher, but there's more access to drugs and the costs are lower for routine care. It's also important to note that other countries have no problem selling the Cubans drugs or other medical supplies.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Cuba started trying to create cheap versions of expensive drugs

to bring help to poor countries years ago, you're right.

Here's a an article I grabbed from google on this predicament:

(snip)
Cuba issues double trade challenge



Fidel Castro wants countries to ignore US patent laws

Cuban President Fidel Castro says Cuba has developed its own Aids drugs and will help Brazil and South Africa challenge US patent laws to provide cheaper treatments for Aids sufferers.
Referring to the multi-pill treatments, the president confirmed that Cuba is producing "those famous cocktails", and challenged multinational pharmaceutical companies to protest.

The US in particular has been accused of using patent laws to try to stop developing nations producing drugs generically, insisting they import American-made drugs at Western prices. (snip)

(snip) "We will fully support Brazil and South Africa, encouraging them to ignore US patents and produce the drugs to save the millions of lives that can be saved," said President Castro.

Official Aids treatments can cost between $10,000 and $15,000 per patient per year, far beyond the reach of a huge majority of sufferers.

By comparison, generic treatments can cost as little as $1 per sufferer per day. (snip/)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1230204.stm

[Mika]

11. Other countries have no problem?

"It's also important to note that other countries have no problem selling the Cubans drugs or other medical supplies. "

Huh? What other country's government manufactures drugs and other medical supplies? I don't think any do.

Its the businesses in foreign countries that are targeted by the US embargo on Cuba. This is one more reason that 99% of the world community votes against the US sanctions on Cuba in the UN every year.

The US's Helms-Burton law (the mainstay of the embargo on Cuba) is extraterritorial in function. Any foreign business that sells product to the Cuban government is banned from selling that product in the US market. For example, despite the German government's normalized relations with Cuba, Bayer AG cannot sell aspirin to the Cuban health care system at the same time as they sell Aspirin in the USA. Bayer obviously chooses the larger and more profitable market.

[Say_What]

15. Without question, Jack

While the hypocritical US points an accusatory finger at other countries and preaches *human rights abuses* this is what's happening in our own country.

From yesterday's SF Chronicle:

<clips>
California is home to more people without health insurance than any other state, according to U.S. census figures for 2002 released today.

About 6.4 million Californians, or 18.2 percent of the state's population, lacked coverage in 2002. Because of the state's large population, California leads the country in the sheer number of people going without health care. California ranks sixth in terms of the percentage of a state's population without insurance.

Nationwide, 43.6 million Americans, or 15.2 percent of the country, are living without health insurance, a number that jumped 6 percent from 2001 as more people lost their jobs and insurance premiums continued to rise. In 2001, about 41.2 percent or 14.6 percent of the population was uninsured.

The numbers come out at time when health care is playing a growing role on both federal and state levels. In California, the state Legislature recently passed a law that could force employers over a certain size to cover their workers or pay into a state pool.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/09/30/HEALTH.TMP

---

Homelessness is another problem that is rampant in the US. As poor as Cuba is there, everyone there has a roof over their head. Unlike the USSA, Cubans are guaranteed through their constitution the basic neccessaties of life: healthcare, housing, food, and eduction. In the US, to add insult to injury, it is now illegal in many cities to be homeless.

<clips>

WASHINGTON, DC- In Milwaukee, a church has been declared a public nuisance for feeding homeless people and allowing them to sleep there. In Gainesville, police threatened University of Florida students with arrest if they did not stop serving meals to homeless people in a public park. In Santa Barbara, it is illegal to lean against the front of a building or store, and no one can park a motor home on the street in one place for more than two hours.

These ordinances and activities demonstrate the increasingly hostile attitude in the United States toward people who are homeless, according to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless that was released today. This report examines occurrences since January 2002 and documents civil rights violations perpetrated against people experiencing homelessness.

With the highest unemployment rates in almost a decade, more people are becoming homeless, and as the economy continues to tighten, it is causing financial crises for shelters and service-providing agencies. Though nearly all cities still lack sufficient shelter beds and social services, many continue to pass laws prohibiting people experiencing homelessness from sleeping outside.

Almost 70% of the cities surveyed in the first report have passed at least one or more new laws specifically targeting homeless people since January 2002, making it increasingly difficult to survive on the streets. Cities are attempting to make it illegal to perform life-sustaining activities in public, while at the same time refusing to allocate sufficient funds to address the causes of homelessness.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/civilrights/crim2003/index.html

---

Poverty:

<clips>

1.7 Million More Americans Fell Below Poverty Level in 2002

September 26, 2003 - The number of Americans living below the nation's official poverty line rose by 1.7 million from 2001 to 2002, reaching a total of 34.6 million (12.1 percent of the total U.S. population), according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The number of families under the poverty line rose by roughly 400,000, reaching a total of 7.2 million (9.6 percent of all American families). The number of people living in severe poverty-those whose incomes are less than half of the official poverty level--grew by over 600,000 in 2002 to a total of 14.1 million.

http://www.naeh.org/news/poverty02.html

[Say_What]

17. Cuba's medical success story

Cuba's medical and healthcare achievments are well known throughout the world, except of course in the USSA.

From a 2001 BBC article:

<clips>

As speculation continues over the health of 75-year-old Cuban President Fidel Castro, one thing is certain - he does not have to worry about the medical attention available to him in his own country.

This year's crop of Cuba's leading medical students have just received their certificates from Castro at a ceremony in Havana.

Many Cubans see them as the cream of society, taking their skills to the remote corners of the island as well as to other developing countries such as Haiti, Honduras and Paraguay, and several African countries.

Cuba is not a rich country, but when Castro came to power in 1959 his socialist government set about building a health system that would benefit the whole society.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1535358.stm

---

Before the Revolution under US supported puppet dictator Batista:

• 75% of rural dwellings were huts made from palm trees.

• More than 50% had no toilets of any kind.

• 85% had no inside running water.

• 91% had no electricity.

• There was only 1 doctor per 2,000 people in rural areas.

• More than one-third of the rural population had intestinal parasites.

• Only 4% of Cuban peasants ate meat regularly; only 1% ate fish, less than 2% eggs, 3% bread, 11% milk; none ate green vegetables.

• The average annual income among peasants was $91 (1956), less than 1/3 of the national income per person.

• 45% of the rural population was illiterate; 44% had never attended a school.

http://www.thegully.com/essays/cuba/000305cubastats59.html

[Mika]

18. Great posts, Say_What

Thanks for the links and adding some perspective on the rights to quality of life that Cubans have demanded of themselves, and achieved a broader reach than America has.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Judi Lynn]

20. Here's a short summary of some work Cuba has been doing in cancer research

The Cuba watchers among us have heard of Cuban strides in this area for years:

Cuba’s Cancer Promise

Castro’s Medical Scientists
Rival Developed World’s

Drugs being developed at a high-tech Cuban research center could someday be at the forefront of treatments for cancer. (Centro de Inmunologia Molecular/ABCNEWS.com)




By Barry Brown
ABCNEWS.com
H A V A N A — In Havana’s west end, past fluttering palm trees, aging apartment buildings and modern restaurants, is Cuba’s gleaming biotech barrio.
For nearly 30 years, thousands of scientists working in the 38 institutes along 206th Street have created a scientific community that is the result of an eight-year, $1 billion government venture.

There, at the Center for Molecular Immunology, researchers in one of the world’s poorest countries have developed cancer drugs now in clinical trials at respected labs in Canada and England. Those drugs could someday prove to be a boon for patients all over the world — except, perhaps, for Americans.

Vaccines Are the Thing
Scientists in Cuba, as in many more-developed countries, are working on cancer vaccines that would, rather than block a disease, use a patient’s immune system to attack it once it’s in the body.

The drugs, in an early phase of human trials in Cuba (see related story), are seen as a potential treatment of the most severe solid cancer tumors that develop on the head and neck, and in the brain, lungs, breasts and ovaries. (snip)

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/cubacancer990312.html

[Bamboo]

19. Isn't an embargo the same as a boycott.

Drug companies charge an "intellectual tariff" since the pill costs little to stamp out,like a music CD.Tariffs are supposed to be bad but copyrights are the same thing as a tariff.We limit the immigration of nurses to the US which is an "immigration tariff",if there is no nurse around then I suffer.We have farm subsidies for businesses that produce too much and copyrights for businesses that produce too little.I would like to see some "fair trade" products with the customer in mind.