In the United States today, the prescription-drug market may be large, but it is not cheap, and research indicates that it may be getting even more expensive. Other countries, such as Canada and Mexico, have a seemingly less-expensive supply of prescription drugs.

A research study comparing prescription-drug prices in different countries found that the United States is the second-highest in price, after Japan. Canada’s drug prices were the lowest, and researchers believe it was due to the ratio of per capita income.

“The [United States] has higher prices, but it also has higher income,” said Patricia Danzon, the study’s lead author.

However, many senior citizens lack the health insurance to cover the price of the prescription drugs they need. While in many other countries the government controls the prices of drugs, the United States has a free-market economy, which allows the drug distributor to control the prices at its own discretion.

“We are told that research and development is so expensive because sometimes developing a new drug doesn’t go anywhere. By the time they have found a successful drug they have spent billions of dollars,” Consumer Advocate and University of Wisconsin professor Martha Gaines said.

Justin Laube, a UW sophomore, said he is outraged about the high prices in the United States.

“I think it is incredibly unfair that the prices of prescription medication are jacked up in the [United States]. The less-expensive drugs that are sold in other countries aren’t just imitations; the sick thing is that they are made and distributed by the same U.S. companies, yet for hundreds of dollars less,” Laube said.

While Congress is trying to make a program under Medicare for senior citizens to get cheaper medicine through Canada, the prices are still quite high. Prescription-drug companies put a patent on their drugs, which controls the exclusive license of the company to make and manufacture the drug. This allows the company to set the prices they choose for the drug.

Patents are intended to give the company credit for creating the drug, Gaines said.

The problem is that companies will release a drug similar to others that have been released before it, with a different patent, making the market even larger, and the prices even higher. Buying medication through Canada might be a cheaper way to get prescription drugs, and some seniors have taken to doing just that, according to Ron Pollak, executive director of the consumer group Families USA.

The concern with buying medications through Canada, however, is that the drugs might not be of the same quality as the drugs sold here.

“While consumers should get their drugs at the cheapest prices, they need to make sure they get the same … quality of drugs,” Gaines said.

UW students can use Student Health Insurance Plan, a health-insurance plan sponsored by UW that offers affordable care for students. Although SHIP is inexpensive for the average college student, there are some things it is lacking, such as coverage for prescription drugs for asthma.

“It’s astounding to me that SHIP wouldn’t cover asthma [drugs] when probably thousands of UW students have asthma,” Gaines said.

Prescription drugs are not only high priced, but they are also highly abused. In 1999, an estimated 4 million people, about 2 percent of the population age 12 and older, had used prescription drugs non-medically within the previous month. Of these, 2.6 million misused pain relievers, 1.3 million misused sedatives and tranquilizers, and 0.9 million misused stimulants, according to the 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. NHSDA is an annual survey on the nationwide prevalence and incidence of illicit drug, alcohol and tobacco use among Americans age 12 and older.

SAMHSA also reports that the misuse of prescribed medications may be the most common form of drug abuse among the elderly. Older people are prescribed medications about three times more frequently than the general population, and they have poorer compliance with directions for use. Overall, men and women have roughly similar rates of non-medical use of prescription drugs, with the exception of 12 to 17 year olds. In this age group, young women are more likely than young men to use psychotherapeutic drugs non-medically. Also, among women and men who use either a sedative, anti-anxiety, or hypnotic drug, women are almost twice as likely to become addicted.