Travelling with drugs
 

Hi

I'm planning a 12month or so trip and woulds be interested in peoples experiences of travelling with medication.
I am type 2 diabetic and need to take tablets.
What can I do to avoid having problems with customs etc ?

cheers

John

I've been all over the place by plane, car, motorcyle, boat and have meds for diabetes, high blood pressure, pain killers etc.never had a problem.
the stuffs not in the boxes but are still in the origional blister packs.carry a prescription just in case.customs people have seen them and passed no comment, they are not idiots, it's obvious i'm not a drug smuggler even when i've got 2 or 3 months worth on me.
if you go to certain areas you may get someone try and tap you for a bribe but just tell 'em he can keep them...that usually does it.anyway you can get diabetes pills in most of europe ceaper than the uk!

I've traveled all over the world in one way or another, and I finally realized that no one cared a bit about what sort of medications I'm carrying....so I consolidated them, re-packed them in mis-matched containers, left behind all the paperwork, even forgot what a few of them were for. Never been a problem yet, although some are definitely controlled substances (e,g, opiates) everywhere.

Mileages vary, sometimes greatly. But I suggest not bothering to obsess unduly over it.

Mark

Thanks guys

I'll just bung em in and not worry about it then

cheers

John

Speaking of drugs. I got into an interesting situation back in '77 when I had a packrack malfunction in the middle of the Khyber Pass, 'went back to Peshawar to have it rewelded and a local passed my pillion passenger a block of hashish (unasked for and for no charge - ostensibly included as part of welding costs). When we arrived at Kabul that evening I discovered I had it in my trouser pants - I must be the first person to actually smuggle, albeit inadvertently, hash in to Afghanistan.

Garry from Oz.

John, my mum's type 2 diabetic and makes frequent trips round Europe. She's never had a problem, either when she was on pills, or now she's onto injections, I think most customs people recognise it as proper medication easily enough.

I would make sure you carry a couple of copies of your doctor's prescription though, but that's mainly in case you lose your meds, so you can seek out replacement. Also if you're going anywhere hot there's a range of water cooled med bags that'll keep your pills cool (often there's something in the small print about keeping drugs at room temperatures and on a bike in the sun, they're likely to go well over that.

Finally there's also those little bracelets you can get which say "I'm a diabetic" on them, you never know.

Hi Axlebrit

I've not had any problem in Europe either

Its the rest of the world I'm not sure about

Thanks for your suggestions

cheers

John

I have never had problems and no one seems to care.

The recomendation is to keep medications in its orgional packaging - whether in the orgional box or bottle from the drug company or the bottle with label from your pharmacy.

A writen prescription in a plastic zip bag is a good idea in case you meet up with some official idiot that you've pissed or need a refill in a place that actually requires a prescription or needs to more information for looking up the medication (spelling, and doctor lingo).

No one should have a problem with that...if you can confirm your diagnosis there shouldn't be a problem taking meds... :mchappy:----------------------------

Hi,

The first time I travelled further than europe with epilepsy meds I took a doctors note. I don't bother any more, but you might want to if it'll mean you are more at ease. I think I would if I was going anywhere that didn't see a great deal of tourists or had drug smuggling problems.

Matt :)