Staying Healthy in Mexico
Buying prescription Drugs in Mexico

• Five Very Important Points about buying Mexican medications!

Consider this to be a kind of cheat sheet or “Golden Rulebook”, in case someone else asks you for advice about buying Mexican medications:

1. Check with your doctor before you decide to take a new or different medicine.
2. Never try to purchase controlled medicines without a valid Mexican prescription.
3. U.S. or Canadian (foreign) prescriptions are not accepted in Mexico.
4. Always declare your medicines when asked to do so by U.S. Customs.
5. U.S. Customs imposes a fifty-dose limit on controlled medicines.

• A wealth of information on prescription medicines: rxlist.com review.

<http://www.rxlist.com>http://www.rxlist.com>

This huge website has lots of official information about the "Top 200" prescription medicines available in the USA. In fact, the site offers much the same information found in the Physician's Desk Reference (PDR), a huge book regarded as the “bible” of medications.

Patient Information Facts (Monographs) are given for each drug. A Monograph is the detailed information sheet that accompanies every prescription medicine sold by an American pharmacy. It's all here, from facts about clinical actions of a medicine, dosage and indications, to side effects. There's even a special section dealing with herbs. Last but not least, medicines are cross referenced on rxlist.com to similar formula medicines all over the world, with their local brand names. Another page lists average treatment costs with a particular drug.

In my opinion, rxlist.com is a top notch resource and I have bookmarked it.

• Verification of Facts and Sources of Information

United States Drug Enforcement Agency: San Diego Regional Office

United States Customs Service: Mr. Rudy Camacho, Director, San Diego Regional Office

United States Post Office, Washington D.C.

Mexico P.G.R., the Federal Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduria General de La Republica)

Mexico Policia Judicial Federal (Federal Judicial Police)

Mexico Sector Salud (Federal health and medicine monitoring agency) Mexico D.F.

IMSS Federal Health Care provider Mexico D.F. (Direccion de Administracion Primer)

Note: Except for the IMSS, Mexico’s medicine and law enforcement agencies are administered under The Secretaria de Gobernacion, which is a cabinet post under the President of Mexico.