-
My understanding is that you can bring a three month supply of prescription drugs into the US from Mexico. They must be accurately declared and not on any specific watch list. Quite what a three month supply might be mushy, but it isn't a year's worth.
So my estimate is that 1000 mg of Metformin is a common daily dose, times 90 days would be 90 1000mg tablets. If you want to push it, claim that you need 2000 mg per day.
If asked, state that the medication is for your personal use, not for resale. You might mumble that you use it to control your blood sugar. If asked if you have a prescription, reply honestly.
This all goes back to the early days of AIDS treatment. Foreign drugs that were not yet available in the US were being blocked at Customs. The solution was an FDA policy change to allow the importation of a personal use quantity of drugs from outside the US. I think the current rain dance is that it is still illegal to bring in prescription drugs without a prescription, but a three month supply for personal use is tolerated.
-
Hey RobH, thanks so much for the reply. How did you find out all this information?
Was also wondering, how I can find out the situation for Australia? Should I pretend to be a diabetic? What do you think?
Edit: nvm, just googled it.
https://www.tga.gov.au/entering-australia
It says that I still need to show them the presciption from a gp to bring the metformin into australia even though I may be able to purchase them from thailand without a prescription.
Is there a solution out there so I can actually regularly use metformin to increase my longevity? How have other people on here have gotten around this? How strict are customs? Would they confiscate my metformin if I bring them into Australia from Thailand without a prescription?
-
You might consider visiting Vanuatu instead of Thailand. The health authorities there seem genuinely concerned about health, without the overbearing control freaks and big pharma pressure that we experience in the US and, apparently, Australia. If you actually visit a pharmacy in Vanuatu, they could explain the practical requirements for export to Australia. Perhaps a prescription written by a Vanuatu doctor would be valid for Australia.
A pharmacy that I dealt with there sold medical kits for use on sailboats traveling internationally. If you're weeks out from any emergency services, you'd better carry whatever you could need in the way of medicines. The captain of a ship is essentially a doctor and pharmacist while in international waters.
I've had customs detain shipments of mine on several occasions. All have eventually been allowed through, except for a banana I couldn't take across the border from Canada to the US. Rules are rules, and our customs service saved California from that dangerous Canadian banana. When I actually reached California 400 miles later, the agricultural inspection station was closed. Not only closed, abandoned.
