Drugs on line

President Bush last weekend called on Congress to pass legislation that would restrict the online sales of prescription drugs, but the president's request addresses "a symptom and not the cause of one of the country's top medical problems": the high cost of medications in the U.S., Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus writes. According to Lazarus, many U.S. residents, "including numerous seniors and people with chronic conditions, obtain prescription drugs from international sources not because they're scratching some itch for faraway places," but because "they can't afford U.S. drug prices."