Just a warning about prescription meds

Just 2 days ago flying out of Zurich, I had to empty my carry on bag at the first of 2 security checks. They were particularly interested in my prescription inhalers. After the second security check, there were 2 separate passport checks. Keep your prescriptions in the original containers and give yourself a lot of extra time at the airport if flying in from Europe!

What a pain. Our insurance requires us to use mail order which means we get 90 days worth at a time and they are all in big bottles (even tiny pills.) That's going to take up a LOT of room in my carry-on bag.

Contact your mail order. They can provide you with a smaller bottle with a label for you. I am a Pharmacy Tech and we do this all the time for people.

You should always carry any meds in a bottle with a prescription label when outside of your home.

Contact your mail order. They can provide you with a smaller bottle with a label for you. I am a Pharmacy Tech and we do this all the time for people.

 

You should always carry any meds in a bottle with a prescription label when outside of your home.

Up to now I've done the same as many others and transferred meds to smaller & easier to pack containers. I think I'm a convert now and will always use the prescription bottles. Good to know we can request smaller bottles. Thanks for sharing.

I do think it was TSA for us to fly OUT of London to Ireland.

Nope. TSA handles NO travelers that are not flying out of a US airport.

At some foreign airports, you may pass through US Immigration and Customs there, instead when you arrive. But security is still local.

Nope. TSA handles NO travelers that are not flying out of a US airport.

 

At some foreign airports, you may pass through US Immigration and Customs there, instead when you arrive. But security is still local.

Okay. It was a pretty crazy trip. Into London, then to Bruges, back to London, then to Ireland, back to London, then back to New Orleans.....LOL I saw so many uniforms, it was wild.

Over a drink, I can tell you about some seriously crazy itineraries. :)

But yours does sound wild.

Im finding more and more here in the states that each airport has its own set of TSA rules. We flew from BWI to Boston a couple weeks ago pre cruise. Easy peasy. Take out your liquids and go through security. On the way home we flew out of San Juan to Orlando,. They were a bit more picky but nothing overly dramatic. Then from Orlando back to Baltimore it was remove all food items no matter how big or small, place them in separate tray, Do not put anything in your shoes, do not put shoes with anything else and remove carry on bags from the trays even if the straps want to get caught in the rollers. However, with all of that done, no one said a word about the bottle of water I had forgotten about in the bottom of my carry on. It wasnt until i got home that I realized it was even there.

As for meds, im sure they will keep changing the rules as we go along. I think every time someone new gets put in charge of an airport they decide to make new rules to show they are in charge

I'm not a lawyer, and I don't play one on TV, but from years as a truck driver, I know that technically US law requires medications to stay in their original containers when you are traveling. Yeah, it's a pain. But remember, THAT is the law that Rush Limbaugh broke and got in big trouble over. And it doesn't have to be any heavy heavy fuel, just an unidentified prescription medication. I keep non-prescription meds in their original bottles, too.

Rush was busted for obtaining thousands of narcotic pain pills from multiple physicians over a relatively short period of time.

Just a thought- as prescription drugs in the EU are always in blister packs (no pill counting now), perhaps some customs officers are more curious of people carrying pills in unmarked bottles?

I'm not a lawyer, and I don't play one on TV, but from years as a truck driver, I know that technically US law requires medications to stay in their original containers when you are traveling. Yeah, it's a pain. But remember, THAT is the law that Rush Limbaugh broke and got in big trouble over. And it doesn't have to be any heavy heavy fuel, just an unidentified prescription medication. I keep non-prescription meds in their original bottles, too.

That is not correct. US law requires proof of prescription. Nowhere in US federal law does it say prescriptions have to be in the original containers.

Just a thought- as prescription drugs in the EU are always in blister packs (no pill counting now), perhaps some customs officers are more curious of people carrying pills in unmarked bottles?

I have, on occcasion had blister packs but most of my RX are in pharmacy bottles as are most common in U.S. YES< certtainly ohspitals use blister packs and phar macy customers often can request and get blistter packaging. Inspectors in EU certainly know huge percentage of U.S. travelers use RX bottles, it is not as though that is something they would puzzle a bout. :)

Just a thought- as prescription drugs in the EU are always in blister packs (no pill counting now), perhaps some customs officers are more curious of people carrying pills in unmarked bottles?

OH there is still pill counting by the chemist, unless the doctor ordered "an arms length" of your pill. ;p

How TSA operates changes constantly. Think about it. :)

OH there is still pill counting by the chemist, unless the doctor ordered "an arms length" of your pill. ;p

Yah, but whose arm? Doctor's?, Patient or extreemely tall, long arrmed pharmacist? :D

How TSA operates changes constantly. Think about it. :)

But by law they have nothing to do with drugs unless they are liquid.

I have travels a lot with pills in the seven day boxes and never had a problem with TSA. I never saw anyone have problem with pills and TSA.

Tell me how TSA knows if a pill bottle that looks like it is from a pharmacy really is? Are you suggesting that TSA should pull aside all people and call the pharmacy to make they are real?

I can print out labels if you want. I can also print out a prescription with a docs signature that you can't read.

Tell me how TSA knows a bottle of vitamins contain vitamins and not heroin?

Those are reasons that TSA does not get involved. It takes trained people and trained dogs in many cases.

And who smuggles drugs OUT of the US? :D

Those are reasons that TSA does not get involved. It takes trained people and trained dogs in many cases.

 

And who smuggles drugs OUT of the US? :D

Good points

Prescription meds in cardboard boxes?

My prescriptions come in press out foil strips contained in a cardboard outer box. The foil strip contains anything between 7 and 30 individual tablets The box also contains the information leaflet.

I haven't had a bottle of pills in as long as I can remember. Only liquids come in bottles these days.

My prescriptions come in press out foil strips contained in a cardboard outer box. The foil strip contains anything between 7 and 30 individual tablets The box also contains the information leaflet.

 

I haven't had a bottle of pills in as long as I can remember. Only liquids come in bottles these days.

You don't say in what country, ' only liquids come in bottles as tha=gt is not the case in U.S. I have seen pills in bottles in Canada in the last two or so years.

This is current law in every US state.

Please specify the "this" to which you refer.

This is current law in every US state.

What is?

If you're referring to original bottles, you are not correct.

The post is titled ‘warning’. If you don’t believe the OP’s account of what happened, then don’t take the warning. I don’t really understand why people feel the need to dispute someone else’s experience simply because it hasn’t happened to them.

The post is titled ‘warning’. If you don’t believe the OP’s account of what happened, then don’t take the warning. I don’t really understand why people feel the need to dispute someone else’s experience simply because it hasn’t happened to them.

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