Is it safe to buy my prescription drugs in Mexico?

More than 131 million Americans take one or more prescription drugs. If you’re one of them, you probably know that medications can be very expensive in the United States. And the costs just keep rising. This may have you looking to other countries for less expensive treatments, but is it safe and legal to buy your prescription medications in Mexico? The answer can depend on a lot of factors.

Why buy medicine in Mexico

Prescription drugs are a huge business in the U.S. According to a 2019 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report, nearly half of all Americans (48.6%) used at least one prescription drug in the previous 30 days. As a result, the cost of those drugs in the United States has skyrocketed. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reports that the average price increase per drug in July of 2022 was $250 or around 8%, which was larger than the same month in previous years. In addition, several brand-name drugs saw their prices go up by $20,000 or more in 2022—an increase of over 500%. 

Rising costs are due, in large part, to the way prescription drugs are treated by the federal government. “Drug patents result in higher prices because they help pharmaceutical companies set and control the price of prescription drugs,” says Collen Clark, a trial lawyer and founder of Schmidt & Clark LLP, a national law firm specializing in dangerous drugs. “There’s no government regulation, unlike in Europe and Canada, so companies can set the price of medications at their will.” The end result is that Americans pay more, by far, for prescription drugs than the citizens of any other developed nation.

All of that, unsurprisingly, has many people looking to Mexico for a more affordable way to purchase the medications they need. This is particularly true in the Southwest, where it’s possible to simply drive across the border to Mexican pharmacies. The benefits are obvious: People can get the same drugs for a much better price. 

Also, many drugs that are prescription-only in the U.S., including Lipitor, Viagra, Celebrex, and Nexium, can be purchased over the counter in Mexico. But if you’re thinking of getting your medications on a trip to Mexico, there are some important things to keep in mind regarding the safety and the regulations that dictate whether or not you can bring those drugs back into the U.S.

Is buying prescription drugs in Mexico safe?

To purchase prescription drugs in Mexico, you’ll need to go about it the same way you would in the U.S. You’ll need to get a prescription from a licensed Mexican doctor—a prescription from an American healthcare provider will not work—and purchase the medications at a registered pharmacy in Mexico. This is perfectly legal and generally safe, but it may not be quite as safe as it would be in the U.S.

“Buying drugs from American pharmacies allows people to feel confident that there is oversight from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),” says Aaron S. Kesselheim, MD, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Program on Regulation, Therapeutics and Law (PORTAL). “It may be unclear to the average patient whether the pharmacy they are buying from in Mexico is obtaining products via similarly safe supply chains. So people should do their best to ensure that the pharmacy they are buying from is appropriately licensed and regulated by the Mexican health authorities.”

Medicines purchased from unlicensed pharmacies could contain the wrong active ingredient or the wrong amount of active ingredient. In other words, there’s a chance the drugs you’re buying could be counterfeit versions that are unsafe or ineffective, even if they look just like the medicines your healthcare provider prescribed. Unregulated or counterfeit drugs may also contain harmful substances that can be toxic or carcinogenic. If a drug gets recalled, you might not hear about it if you bought the drug from a Mexican pharmacy. 

In addition to ensuring that the pharmacy you’re buying medications from is licensed and regulated, there are a few other steps you can take to help keep yourself safe.

• Don’t buy drugs without your primary care provider’s approval. Always follow recommendations from medical professionals when it comes to prescription medications. The use of prescription drugs is regulated for a reason. Using a medication that isn’t right for you can be dangerous, even if you can get a healthcare provider in Mexico to write you a prescription for it. 
• Make sure the medications are in their original packaging. Check to make sure the packaging is legitimate and hasn’t been tampered with. If the name on the package or the directions for use are in Spanish, make sure you have them translated correctly.
• Be very cautious about buying drugs that haven’t been approved for use in the U.S. If a medication is approved for use in Mexico but not in the U.S., it means that the FDA cannot ensure the safety or effectiveness of that drug. Mexico has a strong pharmaceutical regulation program, but it may not be as rigorous in some cases as its U.S. counterpart. “Since the FDA has no authority over these medications, there’s no assurance that these drugs were manufactured and produced under quality assurance procedures being followed by the United States,” Clark says.

What are the restrictions for bringing medications back to the U.S.?

In general, you can bring certain prescription drugs purchased in Mexico back to the U.S. provided they are among the most commonly prescribed drugs and you have a valid prescription or note from your doctor. However, not all drugs are legal to bring back into the U.S. The general rule of thumb is to keep the medication in their original container and limit the amount you bring back to no more than a three-month supply.

If you are leaving or entering the United States with a controlled substance, you must also follow these FDA guidelines:

• The medication must be in the original container in which it was dispensed to you.
• You must declare the drugs to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer when you cross the border.
• The medication must be for your own personal use (or that of an animal accompanying you). You may not bring back medications for someone else to use.
• The container label must have the medication’s trade or chemical name or the name and address of the pharmacy or practitioner who dispensed the substance and the prescription number.
• You are allowed to import up to 50 dosage units of controlled substances obtained outside of the U.S. for personal use. That number can be for one prescription or split between two or more, but the total doses cannot exceed 50.

If a medication hasn’t been approved for use in the U.S., the medication could be confiscated when you cross the border. If you purchase a drug that isn’t approved for use in the U.S., you can only bring it back into the country if you meet the following FDA requirements for personal importation:

• The product is for a serious condition for which effective treatment may not be available domestically either through commercial or clinical means.
• There is no known commercialization or promotion of the product to persons residing in the U.S.
• The product does not represent an unreasonable risk.
• The consumer affirms in writing that the product is for personal use.
• The quantity is generally not more than a three-month supply.

Additionally, you will have to provide the name and address of the healthcare provider licensed in the U.S. responsible for your treatment with the product or provide evidence that you started treatment with the product in the foreign country.

CBP agents may refuse a personal importation if the product is on an FDA import alert, appears to be intended for commercial distribution, or appears to present a serious risk to health. If a controlled substance in your possession exceeds the 50-dosage limit and appears to be for commercial distribution, you may face fines or arrest. If a refused medication appears to be for personal use, you can choose to leave it behind and give up any right to have it returned to you.

Can you order prescriptions from Mexico online?

For people who live in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, or California, it may be a simple matter to cross the border and go to a local pharmacy in Mexico, but other Americans don’t have that luxury. That’s why many Americans have resorted to purchasing medications online from a Mexican pharmacy. But is this practice legal, and is it safe?

The FDA allows customers to purchase drugs online from Mexican pharmacies and have them shipped to the U.S. under the same guidelines that regulate bringing drugs across the border. That means that you will need a valid prescription from a licensed healthcare provider, and the drugs must be approved for use in the U.S.

As far as safety is concerned, whether the online pharmacy is American or Mexican, the FDA warns that there are many unsafe online pharmacies and has the following suggestions. 

Beware of online pharmacies that:

• Do not require a prescription.
• Are not licensed.
• Do not have a licensed pharmacist on staff to answer your questions.
• Send medicine that looks different than what you receive at your usual pharmacy, or arrives in packaging that is broken, damaged, in a foreign language, has no expiration date, or is expired.
• Offer deep discounts or prices that seem too good to be true.
• Charge you for products you never ordered or received.
• Do not provide clear written protections for your personal and financial information.
• Sell your information to other websites.

Safe, high-quality online pharmacies should always be licensed by the proper authorities in their country of origin, require a valid prescription, provide a physical address and telephone number, and have a licensed pharmacist on staff to answer your questions.