Business got easier for Scott Reed when the state Legislature in 2005 made it legal for Nevadans to import prescription drugs from Canada.
Reed owns Reno-based Canada Prescription Service of Nevada, a mail-order house serving one of eight Canadian pharmacies licensed to send drugs to Nevada consumers.
Before the legislation, Reed had worked more than a year in an uncertain legal environment.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has opposed the ability of Nevada consumers to order prescriptions from Canada, contending the state's arrangement with Canadian pharmacies violates a closed distribution system within the United States because the FDA cannot regulate Canadian pharmacies.
But Louis Ling, general counsel for the state Board of Pharmacy, contends that Nevada's importation system is by far the safest of any state.
"We have a handle on these pharmacies that no other state has," Ling says. "All the other states don't license anyone. Therefore they don't have any regulatory authority. If somebody gets hurt there is very little recourse. Here in Nevada, if someone has a complaint they can make it to us. The consumer has a layer of protection that isn't afforded by other state systems."
The eight state-approved pharmacies including the one with which Reed works face annual inspections and are regulated by the state board of pharmacy.
Reed says the passage of the bill and the links of Canadian pharmacies with a state-sanctioned body put his company on solid footing.
"It has given us legitimacy and credibility from the standpoint of the consumer," says Reed, 54. "The pharmacies have all been inspected, which ensures the consumer is dealing with a licensed Nevada pharmacy just like a Longs, Rexall, Costco or anyone else."
Still, Reed emphatically stresses his limited connection to any Canadian pharmaceutical services.
"All I do is mail-order processing," he states. "We have never represented ourselves as a pharmacy, nor would we. I am not a pharmacist."
Pricing is the biggest reason why Nevada residents are seeking their drugs from Canadian pharmacies.
Canada Prescription Services offers often-prescribed drugs such a Lipitor or Zoloft at prices that are a third or a quarter of that charged by American retailers.
"The difference in pricing is dramatic," Reed says. "I routinely save people thousands of dollars."
Reed says over the past two years he's built a client base of more than 1,000 people. Roughly 80 percent of his clientele is seniors. The rest either have no insurance or little insurance.
To place an order, Reed needs a medical release, medical history, and original scrip issued from a licensed Nevada physician. Reed transmits that information to Langdon, where the scrip is re-written by a Canadian doctor.
The pharmacy, which pays CPS a fixed monthly commission, mails the medication directly.
Reed says his firm has thrived, too, because he is a point of contact for consumers.
"They are not dealing with a Web site, they are dealing with a face. We provide security, safety, privacy, and we guarantee delivery."
Canadian pharmacies can't mail prescription drugs in liquid, intravenous or injectable forms, nor can they ship medication that requires refrigeration or special handling.
Each Canadian pharmacy must have a toll-free number so residents can speak directly with a pharmacist, and they can't sell drugs that are generic in Canada but are not available as generics in the United States.
Reed says word of his services has spread through advertising, promotions and direct mail to the medical community.
"Doctors are very supportive of what we do. I get a lot of referrals," he says. "The bottom line is that seniors bear the brunt of this by paying full retail prices on drugs."
