Make sure your medicine can come along for the ride
Your medications are such an ingrained part of your life that you hardly give them a second thought. But when you’re traveling abroad, you must, not only to maintain your routine but also to stay out of trouble with the authorities.
A reader brought this to my attention by asking a question about Adderall, a medication often prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She was traveling to Asia and had learned that it is not allowed in her destination.
Adderall is a stimulant, said Dr. Glenn Hardesty, an emergency room physician with Texas Health Plano. “It does not produce the effect that an amphetamine does,” he said, “and it is technically different.” But, he noted, customs or other officials and a country’s law may not see it that way.
That’s just one of the medications that might set off alarm bells. Another: Sudafed, which can be used in making meth. But mostly, Hardesty said, “It’s the narcotics and psychotropics that cause concern, and it’s hard to know what countries will have problems (with their import) and which will not.”
Routine medications such as those for blood pressure generally aren’t a problem, Hardesty said. But, he added, “As a general rule, medications that are considered problematic here probably will be problematic elsewhere.” Those are the ones, he said, that you can’t walk into a drugstore and buy off the shelf.
Call the embassy or consulate of the country you are planning to visit and ask specifically about your drug and whether there is a limit to the amount you can bring into the country, said Victoria Sowards, director of wellness and nursing resources for Passport Health, which offers immunizations and counseling to people who travel internationally.
Carry with you a letter from your doctor that gives the name of the medication, the dosage and why it is prescribed. If you’re carrying syringes for insulin injections, a letter explaining why you have them may be helpful.
When you pack your medications, Sowards said, make sure they are in their original bottles with the patient’s name on the bottle.