US Customs and prescription drugs (not mine)

Hey everyone

Here's the situation:

-inlaws have been in Florida for past three weeks. My wife and I are flying down to see them in a few days.
-father in law forgot his pain medication and has asked us to bring his pills with us
-these are not narcotics, but do require a prescription to get
-bottle will be unopened as we just picked up the prescription today

Are we ok to transport this into the US? It's not our prescription, the name on the bottle is obviously not either of ours, etc. I don't want my FIL to be in pain but I also don't want to get thrown in jail on a drug trafficking charge. I've looked around the internets and can't find an answer. Tried the US consulate here but can't actually find a live person. Would love any insights/advice anyone has.

Thanks!

I'd mail them, or better yet, send them Fed-X.

US Customs agents get special training in douche-baggery and extra points are earned for starting problems involving senior citizens' medication.

Haci Richard wrote:I'd mail them, or better yet, send them Fed-X.

US Customs agents get special training in douche-baggery and extra points are earned for starting problems involving senior citizens' medication.

Agreed on both counts.

Thanks, gentlemen - if this happens again I think I'll do just that.

I talked to someone in US Customs, she said it definitely wasn't allowed, then she said it might not be allowed, so then I realized she was talking out of her ass and didn't know for sure what the law was. However, I assume she was probably as knowledgeable as the average customs agent and if she thought it was a bad idea then anyone rooting through my bags would probably feel the same way.

She gave me the phone # for the FDA and I spoke to someone there, he said that sure it was perfectly fine as long as we had a copy of the prescription and a copy of my FILs passport showing it was for a Canadian citizen. I'm not convinced this is accurate but my wife was hammering me pretty hard about refusing to bring her father his pain medication (I've seen him during one of his episodes and it is pretty bad) so I figured this was as good a compromise as I was going to get.

Wife and her sister called the doctor, (Canadian) doc said it was perfectly legal to just take it down no prescription/ID/nothing, so her sister took it with her when she flew down, no issues.

I still think it was a stupid thing to do. I just kept picturing the conversation if the pills were uncovered Oh, those aren't my drugs, I'm just holding them for a friend.


So all in all, I've discovered 2 things:

1) This has apparently never happened to anyone ever in the history of Canada/US border crossings, as there is absolutely no firm source I could locate which would tell me yes/no definitively.

2) Virtually nobody (except my wife and her sister) thinks it's a good idea

Open it and put it in an over the counter bottle (think, Advil).

AnnaMpls wrote:Open it and put it in an over the counter bottle (think, Advil).

I would just put it in the mail, Fed-Ex is best.

will0502 wrote:I would just put it in the mail, Fed-Ex is best.

So what do you put on the waybill for Fed-Ex

BTW FedEx is a ripoff , 5 days from Bowmanville ON to my place in El Salvador, USPS regular mail is almost as fast from San Francisco!

*sigh* everything is slower up here in Canada.

will0502 wrote:*sigh* everything is slower up here in Canada.

One exception, the overzealous TAXMAN

Ummm....you guys do realize this thread is over a year old don't you???

I forgot about the rule where if it's a year or older, the information is absolutely useless and can never be used again.

EMH wrote:Ummm....you guys do realize this thread is over a year old don't you???

Yup but just can't resist commenting on a fellow Canuck's silly statements.

Guess the dredging up old threads must be the thing to do now as the site owner dredged up the dormant 'Sensitive topic: Nonlethal weapon thread' for some unknown reason

busman7 wrote:

EMH wrote:Ummm....you guys do realize this thread is over a year old don't you???

Yup but just can't resist commenting on a fellow Canuck's silly statements.

Guess the dredging up old threads must be the thing to do now as the site owner dredged up the dormant 'Sensitive topic: Nonlethal weapon thread' for some unknown reason

This person's been waiting over a decade for a response. Maybe it's time someone stepped up and answered her question!!!

accomodations-in-germany-t1564.html

EMH wrote:

busman7 wrote:

EMH wrote:Ummm....you guys do realize this thread is over a year old don't you???

Yup but just can't resist commenting on a fellow Canuck's silly statements.

Guess the dredging up old threads must be the thing to do now as the site owner dredged up the dormant 'Sensitive topic: Nonlethal weapon thread' for some unknown reason

This person's been waiting over a decade for a response. Maybe it's time someone stepped up and answered her question!!!

accomodations-in-germany-t1564.html