Recently, while visiting TJ with a friend, we went into a Pharmacy, as he wanted to see if he can buy Viagra. The Phramacy was on Revolucion Ave, can't remember the name.
They asked for $9/100 mg pill. Is this normal?
yep, I paid $400 pesos for a blister pack of 4 50mg pills. cut them in half, took about 25mg and spent the next 3 hours fucking the shit out of a pair of girls at La Mansion. First time I ever tried it!
$9 sounds like an ok price for true Viagra; I usually buy generics for about $5 and they work just fine.
Yes, but...
there is a risk taking meds bought like that in TJ.
For example, SDsurfer says he bought generic viagra and had a great time.
I have done the same.
The problem is that there is no such thing as generic viagra. It does not exist.
Pills sold as generic viagra are actually real viagra broken down and diluted and resold as a generic for a cheaper price.
As was the case for me and SDsurfer, this can work just fine.
However, there is a serious risk any time you do it that it has been broken down and diluted in a way that is dangerously unhealthy - using contaminated water; uncleanly processed; whatever - there are many such risks and they can be serious.
There is another risk to buying meds in TJ: getting busted for buying meds without a prescription from a MX doctor. There are older posts here on these problems and I have not recently looked into it and have no idea how the recent events with fed police/military coming to town may have changed things. But it is a problem i would look into before i bought any prescription in TJ. I know guys who have been jailed there for months for buying prescription meds in TJ - meds that were prescribed for them by US physicians but not by a Mex physician. I know this is not an issue for all meds - certain types of meds that more tightly controlled there are the ones to be concerned about...I do not have a list to give you; I just know it is a serious issue.
Some pharmacies will resolve this problem by having someone licensed to prescribe on site; others resolve it by paying off cops. The guy I know made the mistake of going to a pharmacy that was refusing to pay the bribe and had no Dr. on site. So the cops got even by busting customers of the pharmacy.
This happened several years ago and I have no idea if things have gotten better recently. Maybe they have and someone here can tell you better than me.
-- Modified on 5/12/2008 4:40:17 PM
I never knew the Mexican law about Viagra, but I have a pharmacist friend who swears that it is sold over the counter with no problem. He said the only concern is resale if you have it in quantity.
I have a flyer here that offers a box of 4 100mg for 409 pesos. The ad is from Gigante and says the price is good until the 2oth of this month. I find it difficult to believe that they would blatantly advertise this if a prescription was required by law.
Of course the Municipal officers will try to tell you a snickers bar is illegal, so you have to hold your ground with those guys. They don't use the law against you, they prey on your fear.
-- Modified on 5/13/2008 9:01:35 AM
bonitachika is correct, even when is not illegal to have viagra on you, TJ cops will try to tell you otherwise and scare you into giving them some if not all of your money.
My advice is to stand firm and not give in to them or better yet, when you buy the viagra, have some bottled water with you and take the pill inside the pharmacy.
I don't disagree with anything you wrote.
The prescription law I referred to is not about viagra.
It is about prescription meds that are deemed narcotics - things like strong pain killers and such.
But I don't have time to go dig up a list of what those meds are so I was just saying you got to know what you are doing before you buy prescriptions in Mexico on some kinds of meds.
I am pretty certain I posted a site to the list here a year or two ago; but don't have time to dig it out now.
When I was a boy there was a law the required somebody with a lantern to walk 100 feet in front of a motorized vehicle to warning all comers of its approach so as not to frighten horses. Everybody ignored the law. Until one day the police in a small town arrested some “hippies” for violating this law.
It is the same with the Rx laws controlling Viagra. The letter of the law says you need a Rx from a Mexican physician to buy Viagra in Mexico. Mexican law also allows you to bring personal usage quantities of medication with you to Mexico. If you bring Viagra with you then be prepared to prove you purchased it in the US. (Keeping it in the US prescription bottle is a good start.)
There is nothing the cops in TJ love more than a “legal shakedown.” If they can catch carrying Viagra without a Rx then the caught you fair and square. However,--contrary to what they may tell you—the penalty for possessing Viagra isn’t much. When push comes to shove I doubt they’d bother to really arrest you and take you to see a judge. So stand firm and tell them you aren’t breaking the law.
Last year there was a big problem with cops shaking down tourists who didn’t have a Rx. Under the new mayoral administration this currently isn’t a much of a problem.
Don’t believe you need a Rx to buy Viagra? Did somebody—like a pharmacist—tell you a Rx isn’t needed? Ever read the package. It says in black and white that the sale of Viagra requires a Rx.
Still don’t believe a Rx is needed? Then why not read what the Mexican Secretary of Health has posted on his website:
The Mexican government provides the following on-line information that all (who speak Spanish) can review.
http://www.salud.gob.mx/unidades/cdi/nom/072ssa13.html
5.11.1 En la etiqueta de los medicamentos, se deberá expresar la clave de registro sanitario, tal como
se indica en el oficio de registro, seguida del número romano de la fracción que corresponda a los medicamentos, ambos con la misma tipografía y tamaño, y de acuerdo a la siguiente clasificación:
I. Medicamentos que sólo pueden adquirirse con receta o permiso especial, expedido por la Secretaría de Salud;
II. Medicamentos que requieren para su adquisición receta médica que deberá retenerse en la farmacia que la surta y ser registrada en los libros de control que al efecto se lleven;
III. Medicamentos que sólo puedan adquirirse con receta médica que se podrá surtir hasta tres veces;
IV. Medicamentos que para adquirirse requieren receta médica, pero que pueden resurtirse tantas veces como lo indique el médico que lo prescriba;
V. Medicamentos sin receta, autorizados para su venta exclusivamente en farmacias, y
VI. Medicamentos que para adquirirse no requieren receta médica y que puedan expenderse en otros establecimientos que no sean farmacias.
Medications fall into one of several categories (or schedules):
Category I medications may only be taken with permission of the Secretary of Health. Usually they are experimental drugs.
Category II drugs require the pharmacy to keep records on who bought the medication. They will probably keep your Rx and you will need a new Rx each time you visit the pharmacy.
Category III medications are limited to three refills. Obviously records should be kept by the pharmacy.
Category IV medications require an Rx from a Mexican physician. However, the pharmacy is not required to keep records about who bought the medication.
Category V medications do not require an Rx. They can only be sold in a pharmacy.
Category VI medications do not require an Rx. Their sale in not restricted to a pharmacy (think of something like Aspirin sold in grocery stores).
In many Latin American countries so many people lack money to visit physicians that pharmacists often provide medical care. Hence laws requiring a Rx are seldom enforced. The pharmacy may even tell you that you don't need an Rx for Category IV--> medication. However, the law is on the books and an "enterprising cop" can use it to extort money. (Fortunately, this seldom happens.)
Most prescription medications--including Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra--are Category IV medication. (Cialis's registration number, for example, is 181M2002 SSA IV.) The regulation above says these medications require a prescription from a Mexican physician and that it can be refilled as many times as the doctor indicates.
The thing about category four medications is no recording keeping is required. So the pharmacy can’t be help accountable for dispensing medication to somebody without a Rx. Which is why most pharmacies say a you don’t need a Rx. (I have, however, encountered pharmacies that want a Rx. When Viagra was new on the market most Tijuana pharmacies required a Rx. Things, of course, are different now.)
for taking the time to clarify what I was referring to in my posts above.
Yeap the price is about right.
You can buy any ED meds in TJ without any problems includes Viagra, Levitra, Cialis.
You can not buy narcotics things like sleeping pills, pain meds without a doc.
That is one of the things that the cops are looking for when they stop and frisk you. Viagra and Vicodin. They WILL arrest you. Be smart.
Regarding RXs, we went to a Mexican doctor and DID get a Vicodin prescription, following an article in the S.D.Union/Tribune to the letter. We were not hassled by the cops at all. But at the border, when asked if we had anything to declare, my friend with the legal prescription mentioned the vicodin. We were taken aside and the American customs officials said it was illegal, they needed to confiscate it, and it was probably counterfeit anyway. So we threw away $100 worth of legal medication (my friend had a pain diagnosis by American doctors, and prescriptions here for the same pain). Did we get conned? Who knows? Was it worth it, losing the cost of the drugs, the cost of the doctor visit, and the 2 hours in the filthy doctor's office? No.
It's just not a good use of your time. Lawful or not, is that really how you want to spend an evening in Tijuana?
The "taking one pill with bottled water in the pharmacy" solution is really a good one.
-- Modified on 5/19/2008 2:59:46 PM
TJ cops can't arrest you for having Viagra on you, the most they can do is present you before a judge who most likely than not will give you a mild fine if he doesn't drop the case at all.
Cops are after your money, they don't want to waste time at some judges chambers.