I am slowly planning my return to Canada and wonder if there are any restrictions on taking medicines out of DR to Canada. As I won?t have access to any health insurance for the first 3 months I would like to take boxes of my Thyroid Levothyroxine medicine for those months. Will they take it away once I land in Canada?
- Thread starter juanita
- Start date
Restrictions on medication out of DR?
I travel with a lot of medications and have never had a problem, but that's the US. If I were you, I'd get a note/prescription from your doctor prescribing the meds to you, so you can show that if they question you. I doubt it will even come up, especially for Synthroid. If it were a controlled substance/narcotic pain killer it would be a different story.
i need a medication that I cannot find here in the DR. Not controlled or recreational, just not common. I could but it here if they just stocked it.
In the USA, my prescription has expired so I cannot buy it there without going to a specialist AGAIN, don't want to spend that time & money. And the medication is very expensive there anyway.
So my question is about Panama restrictions on medications and availability of the less common ones.... are their pharmacies better stocked than the DR? I think I could go to Mexico, but there are flights from SDQ to Panama City direct.
A few years ago, coming back to Canada after a few months stay in the D.R. I have been asked by the canadian immigration & custom agent if I had some medicines that can be bought without prescription (over the counter) in the D.R. I had a box of ampiciline 500mg for which a prescription is needed in Canada and that I had bought without prescription in the D.R. I said yes and they took it away.
I presume that if you buy it with a prescription they are not going to take it away from you.
Thanks all for your responses. Just found this info on the Travel.gc.ca website:
Bringing back to Canada prescription medication that is not available here
Health Canada allows you, as an individual, to import a three-month supply of prescription medication for your personal use or for an immediate family member. You must personally bring the medication over the border in hospital or pharmacy dispensed packaging. Don't forget to inform your own doctor about the prescribed treatment.
Bringing back to Canada over-the-counter medication that is not available here
Generally, you may return to Canada with a three-month supply of over-the-counter medication for your personal use or for an immediate family member.
Bringing back to Canada prescription medication that is not available here
Health Canada allows you, as an individual, to import a three-month supply of prescription medication for your personal use or for an immediate family member. You must personally bring the medication over the border in hospital or pharmacy dispensed packaging. Don't forget to inform your own doctor about the prescribed treatment.
Bringing back to Canada over-the-counter medication that is not available here
Generally, you may return to Canada with a three-month supply of over-the-counter medication for your personal use or for an immediate family member.
Import and Export Policy for Health Products Under the Food and Drugs Act and its Regulations (POL-0060) [Health Canada, 2010]
5.2.1 Canadians returning from abroad
So as not to interrupt a course of treatment, Health Canada may use enforcement discretion to permit Canadians returning from abroad to bring with them on their person:
A single course of treatment or a 90-day supply based on the directions for use, whichever is less, of a health product.
The health product must be for the individual’s own personal use, the use of a person for whom they are responsible and with whom they are travelling, or for use on an animal for which they are responsible and with whom they are travelling.
The health product must be in one of the following:
Hospital or pharmacy dispensed packaging;
Original retail packaging; or
have the original label affixed to it which clearly indicates what the health product is and what it contains.
Oops, took me a while to hit save... saw you already found it
5.2.1 Canadians returning from abroad
So as not to interrupt a course of treatment, Health Canada may use enforcement discretion to permit Canadians returning from abroad to bring with them on their person:
A single course of treatment or a 90-day supply based on the directions for use, whichever is less, of a health product.
The health product must be for the individual’s own personal use, the use of a person for whom they are responsible and with whom they are travelling, or for use on an animal for which they are responsible and with whom they are travelling.
The health product must be in one of the following:
Hospital or pharmacy dispensed packaging;
Original retail packaging; or
have the original label affixed to it which clearly indicates what the health product is and what it contains.
Oops, took me a while to hit save... saw you already found it