BajaNomad

Buying prescription Meds: USA prescription required

caj13 - 9-23-2019 at 11:19 AM

Ok so you want to buy your prescription meds in Mexico. Do you need a prescription from a doctor (USA? or otherwise?)
or if you just bring in the bottle with the info on it, will they fill that?

SFandH - 9-23-2019 at 11:45 AM

Are you asking about buying medicine in Mexico and then taking it back to the US, or are you asking about buying medicine in Mexico to use in Mexico?

BajaBlanca - 9-23-2019 at 12:09 PM

Most pharmacies in TJ accept the info on the box and fill your prescription!

caj13 - 9-23-2019 at 12:10 PM

Quote: Originally posted by SFandH  
Are you asking about buying medicine in Mexico and then taking it back to the US, or are you asking about buying medicine in Mexico to use in Mexico?

yeah, buying in mexico, bringing it back to USA. since they just raised my co-pays again, i suspect mexico is the way to go

SFandH - 9-23-2019 at 12:36 PM

Quote: Originally posted by caj13  
Quote: Originally posted by SFandH  
Are you asking about buying medicine in Mexico and then taking it back to the US, or are you asking about buying medicine in Mexico to use in Mexico?

yeah, buying in mexico, bringing it back to USA. since they just raised my co-pays again, i suspect mexico is the way to go


I'd check https://www.cbp.gov/ for info or ask an officer at the border.

JZ - 9-23-2019 at 01:04 PM

Not technically allowed to bring it back to the US w/o a US prescription. But unless it's Xanax or Oxy, I wouldn't worry about it.

sancho - 9-23-2019 at 02:26 PM

Quote: Originally posted by JZ  
Not technically allowed to bring it back to the US w/o a US prescription. But unless it's Xanax or Oxy, I wouldn't worry about it.









I'll go with this post. However walking back from TJ couple
yrs. back, saw a large box at end of US Customs counter with
dozens of confiscated med containers, don't know what
they were

Alm - 9-23-2019 at 02:38 PM

CBP are usually Ok with a small amount of meds, most times they won't even ask to open the bag if you are a pedestrian or on a bus and they see it on the screen. With a car the odds are better yet. BUT, technically it's not allowed.

In Mex pharmacy you either need an old packaging, or there is a Dr in the back room or across the street who will write you Rx for a few bucks.

mtnpop - 9-23-2019 at 03:28 PM

Have never had a problem or needed a script. just took the bottle in and the pharmacy can usually match up the drug.
have done blood pressure, statin, gout, thyroid, but also have always been driving when coming back to U.S. so they are not visible and you don't blurt out look at what I have. guess if a full blown search got required then probably a problem.
if your meds are on the rise have you checked out GoodRX Gold ??? they have filled some of ours for a tenth of what the insurance covers..

Lee - 9-23-2019 at 03:41 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Alm  
CBP are usually Ok with a small amount of meds, most times they won't even ask to open the bag if you are a pedestrian or on a bus and they see it on the screen. With a car the odds are better yet. BUT, technically it's not allowed.


Wondering how you know this?

At best, citing CBP policy that is enforceable but, generally, not enforced, is a questionable thing to write.

These statements may or may not be true. Wouldn't bet money on it.

I would say meds, without prescriptions, are not high priority for CBP.

''Usually ok,'' no.

caj13 - 9-23-2019 at 04:55 PM

Quote: Originally posted by mtnpop  
Have never had a problem or needed a script. just took the bottle in and the pharmacy can usually match up the drug.
have done blood pressure, statin, gout, thyroid, but also have always been driving when coming back to U.S. so they are not visible and you don't blurt out look at what I have. guess if a full blown search got required then probably a problem.
if your meds are on the rise have you checked out GoodRX Gold ??? they have filled some of ours for a tenth of what the insurance covers..


thanks i will check them out. If i put the MX pills in my pill bottles, how would they know it came from Mx. nothing but statin & colesterol redux anyway

Lee - 9-23-2019 at 07:23 PM

Quote: Originally posted by caj13  

thanks i will check them out. If i put the MX pills in my pill bottles, how would they know it came from Mx. nothing but statin & colesterol redux anyway


Never thought of that. Creative idea that'll work.

Alm - 9-24-2019 at 06:15 PM

Lee, I reported my personal observations, - lax attitude upon seeing small quantity of meds on the screen.

CBP are guided by FDA regulations on personal importation of medications, this is where a person should go if this matter is of importance.

Unapproved foreign versions of FDA approved medications are not allowed. Approved versions should be accompanied by prescription in English, to prove that this is for personal use. How hard they could go on you, I don't know because they never tried. Bringing more than 90-day supply is not a good idea - according to FDA.

[Edited on 9-25-2019 by Alm]

ZipLine - 9-26-2019 at 03:53 PM

I've never been asked about medications, except once, when I got a stern talking to from an ill-tempered border guard at Tecate. He said that I'd better have an Rx for everything I might ever bring across. As I was just crossing for a day trip and had nothing, no problem.

He certainly must have thought I looked like the guy his wife was messing around with!! If I had burped even, it would have been off to the waterboarding room. But I know how to say, "Yes, Sir!" and "No, Sir!". And that is "Sir" with a capital "S".

So, a lot of it depends on which side of the bed the guy/gal woke up. And if you look like the person their spouse left them for...