The president of the Maine Pharmacy Association, Christopher Gauthier, cites former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s report attacking the importation of foreign prescription drugs into the U.S. in an op-ed column in the April 28 Bangor Daily News.

Gauthier writes how “scary” this importation is from a safety point of view and quotes Giuliani as stating that links may exist between these pharmaceutical imports and terrorist groups and organized crime (although no proof is offered other than so-called “credible sources”).

What Gauthier does not cite is the source of the funding that Giuliani received to write his report. Giuliani and his consulting group were paid to write the report by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, the trade group that represents the pharmaceutical industry whose pricing practices and greed have forced people to seek their prescriptions from other countries.

Marc V. Schnur

Islesboro