Mailing Dutch prescriptions to US expat currently in the States

January 2, 2023 8:41 AM

My friend is a US expat in NL and has some "don't miss them or you're going to have a bad day" prescriptions that he takes regularly. How do I get him his medication?

My friend is an American ex-pat on a long-term spousal visa living in the Netherlands and has some "don't miss them or you're going to have a bad day" prescriptions that he takes regularly (daily/weekly/as-needed).

He will spend the next several months in the States undergoing treatment for a different medical issue so needs to be able to receive his medication semi-regularly. CBP's website seems currently only to offer information for foreign nationals (the "I am U.S. citizen. Can I have medications mailed to me from outside the United States?" link seems to be broken).

Most aren't controlled (opiates, etc) as far as I can tell, (though some are) and all of the medications have current prescriptions have been renewed for months/years. One or two seem to be available in the US, but some aren't, and some that are (nearly)free here are $1000/dose in the States so... weekly plane trips would be less expensive though similarly out of reach.

Is there either someone I can call at CBP to find out the procedure to follow here, or anyone with experience doing this?

posted by Seeba to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total)

This mostly seems to be under the FDA, rather than CPB. Here's some contact info for you:

The FDA is responsible for pharmaceutical admissibility determinations. If you have any questions as to whether a specific pharmaceutical may be imported into the United States, please contact the FDA, Division of Import Operations and Policy at [phone].

If you have any questions regarding the importation of a controlled substance into the United States, contact the DEA, Office of Diversion Control, International Drug Unit at [phone].

For more information, please visit FDA's website on 5 Tips for Traveling to the United States with Medications or FDA's Regulatory Procedures Manual for Importations.

You may also email the FDA's Import/Export Team at [e-mail]
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If he needs to bring medication from outside the US, the advice seems to be:

"You are only allowed to carry a 90-day supply of medicines. Anymore, and you should have it shipped to you. This should have a copy of your visa, prescription and I-94 dates. For a prescription of more than 90 days, you can get it shipped to your local US address through mail or courier services like FedEx or UPS."

https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/5-tips-traveling-us-medications
https://www.fda.gov/industry/import-basics/personal-importation
https://www.path2usa.com/traveling-with-medicines-to-the-usa-everything-you-need-to-know

There are some links to this document BUT I don't think it's actually a list of what's allowed into the US - I think it's a formulary list for people (detainees?) who are under ICE care.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 9:00 AM on January 2, 2023

It's surprisingly hard to find definitive information about this online; I've tried. But I can tell you my experience with mailing medication to the US -- I've done this twice successfully.

I live in Canada. Twice now, I've had friends visiting the US who forgot their important medication, and asked me to mail it to them. Both friends happen to be US citizens, but live in Canada and were only visiting the US.

As far as I'm aware, this is legal as long as the medication is for personal use and you're sending less than a 90-day supply. However, I'm not certain of that, and the following is not legal advice.

The first time, it was an eye medication that I sent via FedEx. The person at the courier counter was pretty strict about the paperwork -- she insisted that all the pharmacy documents as well as the payment receipt be included in the package. Luckily, I had these with me because I had just picked up the prescription on behalf of my friend.

The second time, it was another friend's ADHD stimulant medication that I sent via DHL. I was a bit more worried about this one, since it's a controlled substance and I also didn't have the original pharmacy paperwork. But the person at the courier counter didn't seem concerned; she wrote the medication name and dosage on the customs declaration and the shipment went through just fine.

Some notes:

• The MOST IMPORTANT thing is that the medication is in its original packaging, and the name on the bottle matches the name of the recipient.
• Include as much of the original pharmacy paperwork as possible.
• Be honest about what's in the package. Getting a package stopped by CBP sucks, but lying on the declaration is much worse.
• Both medications I've sent in the past were FDA-approved and available in the US. I'm not sure whether regulations differ for medication that's not FDA-approved.
• In my case, I was only sending one medication at a time. I imagine that a package containing multiple medications might attract additional scrutiny.

Good luck!
posted by mekily at 9:26 AM on January 2, 2023

I've shipped meds into the US twice for a Canadian citizen visiting the US.
I followed these instructions from fedex.
You'll still need to check if it's fda approved, but the actual sending should be relatively straight forward.
posted by platypus of the universe at 4:31 PM on January 2, 2023

Thank you all!

Admittedly I was so focused on: "this is a border control problem" that I didn't think of the FDA.

Metafilter to the rescue... will update later on progress
posted by Seeba at 2:38 AM on January 3, 2023