As pointed out by *Jack Shapiro, an internationally-known 
healthcare marketing consultant "For the first nine months of 
this year, the U.S. imported $40 billion in pharmaceuticals and 
exported only $21 billion. In 2003, we imported $50 billion and 
exported $23 billion." So what makes buying from your local U.S. 
based pharmacy any safer then purchasing from Mexico or Canada?

Many of today's elderly (U.S.) cross the borders of Mexico and 
Canada in order to get their prescriptions filled at a huge 
discount. For some it has become a necessity because they 
simply can't afford necessary drug treatments any other way.

But what about those who don't live near the borders; how can 
they take advantage of these savings? Fact is there are a lot 
of prescription drugs that can be purchased online from 
international locations for a fraction of the cost people 
pay here in the United States. A good example of this is 
RXMex.org where many of today's best known brand drugs 
can be found such as Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, Zocor, Zoloft, 
Propecia and more. However they not only offer name brand 
drugs at sharp discounts they also give seniors the opportunity 
to buy generic versions of most of these name brand drugs for 
savings that can reach up to 80% less then their name brand 
counterparts!

When a drug company first invents a drug (eg. Prozac) that 
company is the only one allowed to make that drug for a certain 
number of years (approximately 10 years in the US). After this 
time period, other companies are allowed to make the same drug. 
These drugs are called generics. The original drug (eg. Prozac) 
is called a brand name drug. Brand name drugs and their generics 
are IDENTICAL in terms of active ingredients. The generic pills 
may look different (because they are made by a different company)
but inside is exactly the same active ingredient which works in 
exactly the same way. The only difference between brand name 
drugs and generic drugs is that generics are always less 
expensive.

Most all drugs found at http://www.rxmex.org require a 
prescription so this licensed pharmacy can fill most orders by 
having the purchaser fax them their prescription and the shipped 
order can be tracked online. Another benefit to ordering this 
way is that there is no tax to be paid and orders are shipped 
internationally.

While some headway has been made in the last year or so in 
regards to reducing prescription drug costs for seniors, for 
now it's simply not enough for so many of our elderly. With 
the political clout of today's drug companies who converge on 
Washington D.C. like vultures I'm not sure the costs will ever 
get to the point where it should be. Until then places like 
http://www.rxmex.org with their name brand and generic low cost 
versions of many prescription drugs will continue to be another 
excellent low cost source for today's seniors. 

Stephen Dayton is the author of this article, featuring RxMex 
Pharmacy, a website providing people information and options 
to save money on their prescription drug purchases by buying 
Generic Prescription Drugs:  http://www.rxmex.org