Search for prescription bargains can lead to jail
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-08-12-prescription-...
8/12/2004
By Charisse Jones and Valerie Alvord
Officials and politicians on both sides of the border are taking steps to clarify the rules about Americans buying prescription drugs and bringing
them back to the U.S. after a 66-year-old Phoenix man was arrested and spent nearly eight weeks in a Mexican prison.
Raymond Lindell was arrested in Nogales, Mexico, after he bought 270 Valium pills in May at a local pharmacy, according to the Mexican Federal Police.
News reports said he was initially charged with possession of the drug for sale and transport over the border. The charges were eventually dismissed,
and Lindell was released last month.
The retiree says he went to Mexico in search of cheaper medicine for his wife after his insurance company stopped covering Valium, a popular
tranquilizer.
Lindell's case raises questions given that he had a large amount of a controlled substance and allegedly did not have a valid prescription.But the
incident has also focused attention on the plight of seniors who travel to Mexico and Canada to buy prescription drugs that are more expensive at
home.
No arrests since June
Esmeralda Aguirre, who works for the Mexican Federal Police, says Americans are arrested for carrying controlled substances without a prescription
roughly two or three times a month.
"Usually it's Valium," Aguirre says. "Sometimes they are younger, and they want to sell it on the streets. But it's very common for them to be senior
citizens. ... They come here to buy it because it's cheaper. What happens is they forget their prescriptions at home. That's when they get busted, and
that's when they get in trouble."
There have not been any arrests since June, and Aguirre says she knew of no crackdown on U.S. residents. "It may be that the pharmacies are being more
careful."
But the Nogales Chamber of Commerce is eager to lure wary tourists. The chamber is working with city and state officials in Mexico to create a guide
on prescription drugs that would be placed in pharmacies and distributed along the border to U.S. citizens.
The newest edition of a legal guide for tourists in Tijuana will include a page on prescription medicines. And an information sheet provided by the
U.S. Consulate discourages Americans from going to Mexico to make such purchases.
It points out that U.S. citizens have been "arrested and their medicines confiscated by the Mexican authorities" even though people had prescriptions.
Arizona state Rep. John Huppenthal says thousands of seniors travel from his state each month to buy medicine in Mexico. But the rules governing the
purchase of prescription drugs can be confusing.
Technically it's illegal to bring a controlled substance from another country into the USA. It's also illegal to bring in prescription drugs. But U.S.
citizens are generally allowed to bring in medicine so long as the amount is not so great that it appears to be for sale rather than personal use,
says William Hubbard of the Food and Drug Administration. Those suffering from a life-threatening illness such as cancer or AIDS can bring home a
90-day supply of an experimental drug not available in the USA.
"If they declare the drug to our inspector, they'll advise it's not legal," Hubbard says. "But we don't arrest them or take the drugs away unless it's
a large amount ? like if ... your trunk's full."
Customs officials are more specific, allowing people to bring in a 60- to 90-day supply of medicine, says Jim Michie, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs
and Border Protection. The person with the prescription must declare the medicine and have it in its original container. The person must also have a
copy of the prescription or a letter from the doctor, Michie says.
Weak enforcement
In Mexico, laws regarding the purchase of prescription drugs can be unclear. Luis Cabrera, consul general of Mexico in San Diego says that "for the
drugs that require a prescription in Mexico, that's the law and it has to be complied with."
Yet in border towns, where people pass out fliers directing tourists to the myriad pharmacies lining the streets, some say a prescription can be
bought for only a few dollars.
"Generally, the enforcement in Mexico has been weak and haphazard," says Paul Ganster of the Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias at San
Diego State University. "And when occasionally Mexico decides to enforce things, someone walks out of the door of a pharmacy and gets arrested."
Despite the risks, buying prescription medicines across the Mexican border remains appealing because they can be at least 30% to 50% cheaper, experts
say.
In Europe and Canada, such drugs are often sold for 40% to 60% less than in the United States, says U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill. He is a sponsor of
a bill that would allow importing drugs OK'd by the FDA from approved facilities in 25 industrialized nations, including Canada and members of the
European Union, but not Mexico. The bill passed the House of Representatives in July 2003 and is awaiting action by the Senate.
"Literally thousands of people in my district rely on buying drugs in Mexico and many of them are seniors," says U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, a Democrat who
represents San Diego. "Theoretically, if you have a prescription, it's legal in Mexico to buy them. But we have a lot of situations where we have
people in jail right now for buying prescription drugs. And some think it's because they just didn't pay the right bribe."
Even with the prescription discount cards available this year under the new Medicare legislation, seniors are finding it more cost effective to buy
medicines off the Internet or abroad, Emanuel and others say.
Demand remains high
Official figures on the number of people crossing into Mexico to buy prescription drugs were not available. But Marv Shepherd, a pharmacy professor at
the University of Texas in Austin, estimates that 25% to 30% of the roughly 25,000 Americans crossing the bridge at Laredo, Texas, into Mexico on any
given Saturday are making prescription purchases.
"It's an enormous benefit of living in a border state that you can, without too much expense, go take advantage of the fact there are lower-priced
drugs nearby," Huppenthal says.
Sandra Santos, 48, works for a private customs broker in Laredo, but she has no insurance and crosses the border to get prescription sinus medicine."I
try very hard to make sure I have my prescription with me all the time, and I check to make sure I get it back from the pharmacist," Santos says. "If
I couldn't get the medicine there, I really don't know what I would do."
In addition to legal issues, some point out that there is also a safety concern.
The information sheet provided by the U.S. Consulate says law enforcement officials believe that as much as 25% of the medicines in Mexico could be
"counterfeit and substandard."
But seniors and others continue to flock across the border.
Once a month, Rockport Tours in Corpus Christi, Texas, takes a bus with 50 people, most of them seniors, on a 2?-hour ride to Nuevo Progreso, Mexico,
near the southern tip of Texas.
While half the passengers are seeking a pleasant meal and maybe a margarita, the other half are getting dental work, buying eyeglasses and purchasing
medicine, says Rockport Tours' owner, John Leyland.
"I know there are some who go down every month or every other month simply for that reason," he says. Mostly, "they're going down to get ... things
for diabetes or rheumatism."
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