BajaNomad

Health Certificate?

ckiefer - 5-8-2008 at 08:50 PM

Here's another trivia question:
I have heard that to receive your prescription and/or vitamins through the mail legally, or rather without being confiscated at the border, one must apply for a certificate from the Health Department in La Paz.
Anyone have any detailed information on this?
Gracias!

[Edited on 5-9-2008 by ckiefer]

fulano - 5-8-2008 at 11:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ckiefer
Here's another trivia question:
I have heard that to receive your prescription and/or vitamins through the mail legally, or rather without being confiscated at the border, one must apply for a certificate from the Health Department in La Paz.
Anyone have any detailed information on this?
Gracias!

[Edited on 5-9-2008 by ckiefer]


It is legal to bring prescription medicines for your personal use with you across the border as long as you have a valid US prescription and they are in the original bottle/jar/box with the prescription attached. It is illegal to have prescription medicines mailed to you in Mexico from the US unless you have an import permit from these guys:

http://www.cofepris.gob.mx/

You normally have to go through a customs broker to process the permits.

As with most things in Mexico, the law is enforced haphazardly. It is far less complicated to get a Mexican doctor to rewrite your prescriptions and have them filled in Mexico. Some medicines which require a prescription in the US are sold over-the-counter in Mexico. If you are worried about the quality of the medicines, there are many legitimate farmacias in Baja. Wal-Mart de Mexico has pharmacies.