Democratic and Republican Lawmakers Press Administration to Protect Personal Drug Importation

Prescription Justice: congressional efforts show personal drug importation transcends party lines

Brooklyn, NY, October 1, 2026 — Seventy-one House Democrats are urging the Trump administration to ensure that new U.S. Customs and Border Protection procedures taking effect October 22 do not prevent Americans from obtaining lower-cost prescription medicines from licensed pharmacies in Canada and other countries. Their letter comes as Republican lawmakers have separately raised concerns about the same issue, demonstrating growing concern across party lines about protecting Americans who rely on personal drug importation.

The Democratic letter, led by Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), asks the Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Homeland Security, and CBP to ensure that the new procedures do not prevent Americans from obtaining genuine, non-controlled prescription medicines for personal use when they do not appear to present an unreasonable risk. 

Prescription Justice strongly supports the Democratic letter and a separate letter from Republican Reps. Aaron Bean, Gus Bilirakis and C. Scott Franklin of Florida raising concerns that the new CBP procedures could interfere with Americans' access to prescription medicines from licensed international pharmacies. 

“We applaud this strong showing of congressional support for protecting personal drug importation,” said Gabriel Levitt, president and founder of Prescription Justice. “Access to affordable medicine is not a Democratic or Republican issue. Members of both parties are recognizing that we can protect Americans from fentanyl, counterfeit drugs and genuinely dangerous products without cutting patients off from prescription medicines they obtain internationally because they cannot afford them here.” 

The new CBP procedures will require international mail shipments subject to FDA requirements to be electronically entered through CBP's Automated Commercial Environment, giving the government substantially more information about incoming packages. The new procedures may also make it technically difficult or even impossible for individual patients to receive prescription drugs by international mail.

The Democratic lawmakers support CBP's goal of using better data to identify high-risk shipments, but caution that the new system should not result in personal-use prescription medicines being routinely refused. Instead, they argue, greater visibility should help the government distinguish dangerous products from lower-risk prescription medicines. 

The letter points to Section 804(j)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which states that enforcement should focus on personal importation that poses a significant threat to public health and calls for enforcement discretion for imports that are clearly for personal use and do not appear to present an unreasonable risk. That provision is separate from Section 804(j)(2), which authorizes FDA to grant individual waivers for personal importation.

The Republican lawmakers similarly expressed strong support for stopping fentanyl, opioids and illicit drugs while asking FDA and CBP to ensure that Americans seeking lower-cost prescription medicines from licensed international pharmacies are not inadvertently harmed by the new procedures. 

An estimated 2.3 million Americans with prescriptions purchase medicines internationally each year, according to research cited in the Democratic letter. The lawmakers are asking FDA and CBP to explain how personal-use prescription shipments will be treated under the new system, what criteria will be used to assess risk, whether the agencies will distinguish medicines obtained from licensed pharmacies in countries such as Canada from medicines obtained from unknown or unverified sellers, and how they will prevent interruptions in treatment. 

“FDA will now have more information about these shipments,” Levitt said. “A genuine prescription drug from a licensed Canadian pharmacy, dispensed pursuant to a valid prescription, is fundamentally different from a drug coming from an unknown seller. The new system should help FDA tell the difference.”

Americans can take action at Protect Importation.

About Prescription Justice

Prescription Justice brings together medical professionals, lawyers, public health experts, consumer advocates, businesses, and policy leaders focused on lowering U.S. drug prices through safe prescription drug importation. The organization advocates for policies that make lower-cost medicines accessible to Americans by protecting and expanding personal importation and advancing legislative reforms to expand wholesale drug importation beyond Canada.

Media Contact:
Gabriel Levitt
President and Founder
Prescription Justice
gabriel@prescriptionjustice.org

LIST OF CONGRESSIONAL SIGNATORIES

Mark Pocan (WI-02), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), Becca Balint (VT-01), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Brendan Boyle (PA-02), Nikki Budzinski (IL-13), Janelle Bynum (OR-05), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), André Carson (IN-07), Greg Casar (TX-35), Judy Chu (CA-28), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Sharice Davids (KS-03), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Diana DeGette (CO-01), Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Maxine Dexter (OR-03), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Lois Frankel (FL-22), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Chuy García (IL-04), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07), Val Hoyle (OR-04), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Robin Kelly (IL-02), Timothy Kennedy (NY-26), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Greg Landsman (OH-01), Rick Larsen (WA-02), George Latimer (NY-16), Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03), Sam Liccardo (CA-16), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), John Mannion (NY-22), Doris Matsui (CA-07), Kristen McDonald Rivet (MI-08), Morgan McGarvey (KY-03), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Joe Morelle (NY-25), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-01), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), Chris Pappas (NH-01), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Emily Randall (WA-06), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Brad Schneider (IL-10), Adam Smith (WA-09), Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Thomas Suozzi (NY-03), Mark Takano (CA-39), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Paul Tonko (NY-20), James Walkinshaw (VA-11), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), and Frederica Wilson (FL-24)