Thinking about doing an overnight or multi-hour visit south of the boarder, and was thinking it might not be a bad idea to pick up some enhancements (Viagra Etc) to keep things rolling along. Can you buy it or a generic equivalent in the Pharmacy's down there without a perscription?

Thanks for any help.

Tijuana pharmacies do not ask for a prescription (Rx) when selling erectile dysfunction (ED) medications.    

(I recommend a 20mg Levitra over a 100mg Viagra.  Levitra last longer and has fewer side effects than Viagra.)

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Legally in Mexico you need a Rx to buy any Category IV medication, which includes ED medications.  However, the pharmacist is not required to keep a record of the sales of Category IV medications.  The result is that no TJ pharmacy will ask to see a Rx.

There is a reason for what seems like a strange law to most Americans.  Pharmaceutical companies want Latin America to follow US and European laws--it provides them with legal protection.  However, historically in Latin America many people have been too poor to see a doctor.  The result being that for many people for many years pharmacists have been the front line health care provider.

The other result is laws like those governing Category IV medications in Mexico.  (Which are blood pressure meds, diabetic meds, ED meds, and many other non-additive medications.)  You're supposed to show the pharmacist a Rx, but the  pharmacist isn't required to keep a copy on file.  The net result is the patient and pharmacist do an end run around the doctor with the pharmacist listening to the patients symptoms then telling the patient what medication to take.   Not a perfect system, but better than having people go without medication because they (historically) can't afford to see a doctor.

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There was a time  several years ago when the cops in TJ would use this otherwise never enforced law to shakedown tourists.  If the cops caught you with ED medications they'd ask to see your Rx.  (They'd keep an eye on pharmacies and stop tourist when leaving the pharmacy.)  When they caught you without a Rx while  carrying medication a Rx was needed to buy they'd threaten to arrest you to get a bribe.

Back in those days I'd advise people to get a Rx.  I also advised those who didn't get a Rx to buy a coke and take the ED medication before leaving the pharmacy. That way (if you didn't have a Rx) all the cops would find was a coke.

I'd also advise people to tell the cops to go ahead and arrest them if they were caught carrying ED meds without a Rx.  The cops would huff and puff, but always let you go.  (The fine was something like $35.00, although the cops would try to scare you into thinking you'd do prison time as if ED meds and narcotics had the same penalties.)

Fortunately the days of cops shaking down tourists for carrying ED medications without a Rx are long gone.  They ended around 2008 when Jorge Ramos replaced Jorge Hank as Tijuana's mayor.  

Which leads into one of my favorite stories about Tijuana.  When Jorge Ramos became mayor he gave the Tijuana cops a lot of cease and decease orders--which they ignored.  (They'd been getting rich under the old mayor and saw no reason to change their ways.)  So Jorge Ramos had the President of Mexico send in the army to take over law enforcement duties.  They then took away all the guns from the Tijuana cops--replacing their guns with sling shots!

The plan was to run ballistic checks on the guns and find out who was working on the dark side.  Rather than surrender their guns about half the cops quit.  The mayor then started conducting financial audits on the cops--and more cops quit.

Ramos significantly raised their salaries to the point its now one of the better paying jobs a man without a college education can have.  He also sent all the cops (on rotation) to a police academy set up by US instructors.  Last, but far from least, he hired a police chief who was death on corruption and cops working for the dark side.

It's a different set of cops today.  The Tijuana police force today, while far from perfect, is light years better than it was before Jorge Ramos became mayor.


--burt/arm chair historian & first hand witness









-- Modified on 9/22/2012 4:13:33 PM

60 minutes a while back, claimed many  of the ER drugs sold in Mexico (TJ) were made in China with high lead concentrations.    60 minutes calls itself a magazine.   Entertainment often and not always thorough, but I think about it before "you pay your money and take your chances"

Speaking of money.  Other than seeing the M.D. is it cheaper.  Senior Citizens have long since stopped their med-buying trips to TJ prior to 9/11 for lack of saving money.  I'd get a price from COSTCO and call an Rx down there.  Go online for one of their Farmacias, maybe Calimax has a Farmacia.

Now there is the question of safety going across that border.  Know the farmacia your going to and take a cab $5 directly there and back $5 to the border.  Park your car  $15   $25  what's your doctors copay?  How  much is gas r/t to the border.  Now if you drive Mex car ins = no savings and a 4 hour border wait coming back to the US.  I was driving in TJ Sat. before last, even  with Mex Car Ins.  crazy drivers,B border changed streets to border different. Hit or be hit by anything your in for a hassel and you better have an old car a new one draws attention.     The only way it pays is call one of their 3 reliable escort agencies and for $150/hr  to $330 for over night you get a legal licensed tested cute chica and room and you can buy your med.

END OF MESSAGE

Some Calimax's have pharmacies, as do other large grocery stories.  But they don't have the lowest prices.

The pharmacies at the border and on Ave. Revolucion have higher than average prices.  On Constitution, one block west of Revolucion, between about 5th and 6th there are a lot of pharmacies catering to locals.  They have better prices.

I find the pharmacies inside the Comercia Mexicana have some of the best prices.  (The best prices, however, are found in Colonias that Gringos seldom visits.  Otay has better prices than Tijuana, and Tecate better prices than Otay.  But the cost of gas doesn't make a trip worthwhile.)  There is a Comercia Mexicana in the Plaza Rio shopping center, across the street from the Cultural Center (CECUIT).  It's in a Zona Rio (not Zona Norte) area, which is Tijuana's financial place.  The Zona Rio is a good place for tourists to visit as it has some good hotels and great restaurants.  Plus it's very near the border.

Prices on some medications are much better than those in the US.  Generally these are medications which face generic competition--both the name brand and the generic tend to cost less than in the US.  However, medications which are still under patent usually cost the same in Tijuana as they do in the US.

One fairly new legal change is that you now need a Rx to buy antibiotics.  Most Farmacia Similaries have a doctor's office attached to them.  It costs 350 pesos  (under $3.5) for an office visit.  There are doctors on duty during the day and early evening hours; it's usually no more than about a 15 minute wait.

The Farmacia Similaries similaries only sell generic medications, but they have good prices.  They're located all over Tijuana.  (I've had good luck using the one on about 10th and Ocampo, in downtown TJ.)

Great history lesson.

This actually makes sense.  Overuse of antibiotics is a public health hazard.  It leads to antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" that are both more numerous and more resistant to first- and second-line antibiotics.  I'd actually rather see restrictions on antibiotics than on common recreational drugs.

Relevancy to hobbying, just to keep this on-topic:  there's a strain or three of gonorrhea around that's resistant to all but the strongest, last-line-of-defense antibiotics.