Like millions of Americans, I take allergy medicine. A few years ago, my doctor urged me to bid farewell to my local pharmacy and instead buy my medication from an online Canadian drug store, where it was cheaper. What terrible advice! The website was counterfeit and sent me “medicine” that was anything but — causing me to get severely sick for many months.

Millions of Americans could soon suffer the same fate. Congress is about to consider a bill that would make it legal for patients to import drugs from Canada. Lawmakers promise that the imports will be safe and effective. Unfortunately, that’s wishful thinking.