Cayetano lauds drug-law move
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Capitol Bureau Chief
The Bush administration has issued a legal opinion in support of a Maine law to make prescription drugs more affordable, and that opinion may boost a similar law just passed in Hawai'i, according to Gov. Ben Cayetano and lawmakers.
The Hawai'i law would create a purchasing pool in 2004 to negotiate discounts on prescription drugs for more than 220,000 Hawai'i residents who have no prescription drug coverage. Cayetano signed the bill into law Friday.
Also on Friday, U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson filed a legal brief with the U.S. Supreme Court urging the court to allow Maine's law to be implemented. That makes it very unlikely the court will intervene to block the Maine law, said Greg Marchildon, Hawai'i state director of the AARP.
"It allows Hawai'i to move forward without having to feel on this thing that we're going to get sued and we're never going to get anywhere," Marchildon said.
The Maine Rx program has been stalled since 2000, when a federal district judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking the law in response to a lawsuit by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
The industry argued the law interferes with interstate commerce and is contrary to the federal law that created the Medicaid program. Later, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston's First Circuit disagreed and lifted the injunction, and the issue is now before the Supreme Court.
Even if the court allows Maine to implement its law, the issues raised by the drug industry still will be pending in federal court.
In Hawai'i, state Rep. Roy Takumi said the solicitor general's opinion is a "clear victory" over the drug companies. Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Waipahu), is the author of both of the prescription drug bills that just passed.
