Dysfunctional Canada Pharma System and Drug Shortages

[zechs]

https://www.thestar.com/amp/business...e-problem.html

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It pains me to link a TorStar article, but this is the only one that has actually had any substance to it and I will admit was some properly researched writing.

So TL;dr is that Health Canada is a shitty bureaucratic nightmare? Isn't healthcare a provincial area? Why does Alberta have to worry about importing drugs to Health Canada's standards (like bilingual labelling)?

Is this another area of federal encroachment Alberta needs to look into changing? This is only an issue in Canada, and it appears to be wholly caused by gov incompetence.

This spreads into other areas (like asthma medication, yes, sucks to my asthmar) and other drugs, so I am trying to get a better understanding of the system.

I always assumed that OTC medicines were distributed in regular supply chains but it sounds like I'm mistaken? Is there a special separate wholesale/distribution system specific to medicine including OTC? I can literally go on Amazon.com right now and buy any OTC medicine I want, so this seems like a tremendously costly, inefficient, and stupid way to deal with medicines like advil and tylenol.

[Darkane]

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https://www.thestar.com/amp/business...e-problem.html

Paywall bypass
https://www.textise.net/showText.asp...e-problem.html

It pains me to link a TorStar article, but this is the only one that has actually had any substance to it and I will admit was some properly researched writing.

So TL;dr is that Health Canada is a shitty bureaucratic nightmare? Isn't healthcare a provincial area? Why does Alberta have to worry about importing drugs to Health Canada's standards (like bilingual labelling)?

Is this another area of federal encroachment Alberta needs to look into changing? This is only an issue in Canada, and it appears to be wholly caused by gov incompetence.

This spreads into other areas (like asthma medication, yes, sucks to my asthmar) and other drugs, so I am trying to get a better understanding of the system.

I always assumed that OTC medicines were distributed in regular supply chains but it sounds like I'm mistaken? Is there a special separate wholesale/distribution system specific to medicine including OTC? I can literally go on Amazon.com right now and buy any OTC medicine I want, so this seems like a tremendously costly, inefficient, and stupid way to deal with medicines like advil and tylenol.

I don’t think this is wholly true. There are some OTC medicines that are regulated by a DIN (like vin, but drug). These are only sold during working hours when a pharmacist is physically present. Some of these are the hard to get children’s medicines too.

I’m not sure if Amazon can deliver these, but they might have a policy agreement with HC or something.

Go to a Sobeys after pharmacist hours and you’ll literally see locked up sections of isles with medicines.

[zechs]

You may be correct on the Amazon.com thing, I went to double check and I think a cookie issue kept it from updating to my Canadian address.

So then why is there such tight control on OTC drugs? I can buy tylenol and advil at the corner store.