liver227

Does anyone have any experience traveling in the United States with prescription medicines? My husband takes 15 different medicines and usually we pack them in individual plastic bags for each day. He has the paper prescriptions, but is it necessary to carry all these large bottles? Thanks

flanneruk

No of course it isn't.

I regularly travel to the US with not far short of a dozen different pills. I pack them however I choose.

I've never been stopped at US Customs (they really do seem to pick on their own citizens to bully, obviously aware their country needs all the hard currency it can get and that it doesn't do to upset rich foreign tourists).

Because Americans on boards like this get themselves into such a tizzy about their Customs, I always take my repeat prescription printout with me. But no-one's ever asked for it, and I can't find a single official reference on any US Customs website to any official requirement to pack medicines in any specific way.

I've decided it's one of those media myths, like the fantasy you can see the Great Wall of China from the moon.

Eleni

Here are the official US Customs rules:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/va...xml#Medication

Personally, I carry most of my drugs in plastic bags and have never had a problem. Sometimes I write the prescription numbers on the plastic bags and sometimes I peel the label off the drug bottle and stick it on the plastic bag. The one exception is for drugs that are controlled substances in the US. Those I carry in their original pharmacy containers. (For example, pain pills with codeine.)

IdahoTraveler

My husband and I travel with 12-13 medications between us. We use the small plastic 7-compartment pill boxes for the daily medication and put those in our carry on luggage. We put the rest of the prescriptions (in their original bottles) in a plastic bag in our suitcases. Have carried them all over the States and the world that way and have had no problems. Hope this helps.

ekscrunchy

I do not think this should be a concern, Liver. I have traveled quite a bit and the only time I have ever been stopped because of medication was when Japanese customs snatched my nasal spray years ago. Furthermore, I have never heard of anyone having their pill bottles examined, no matter how they are labeled or in the absence of labels. Has anyone here ever heard of this happening?

Eleni

Yes, I once had my pill bottles examined (and the names carefully checked against my passport), which is why I now carry the bottles for controlled substances.

liver227

Thanks for all your help,my husband was upset and hopefully this will calm him down.

ekscrunchy

Eleni, was this in the US?

Eleni

Yes, it was in Seattle, after a London-Seattle flight.

marginal_margiela

I have been travelling with booze and pills for over 20 years and I have never been questioned. I hate to carry all of my pills in seperate bottles, so I just dump them into one large jar--Percocet, Darvocet, Lithium, Prozac, Demerol, Xanax, etc.

In my opinion, I think that the "authorities" take a good look at you. If you look reputable--wearing Rolex watch and Gucci loafers--they leave you alone. If you look like a stoned hippie backpacker, they strip-search you.

This is why you should invest in Louis Vuitton luggage. Or, just look like an elderly couple from Nebraska. Take your pick, sweetie.

More sage advice from Thingorjus.