If you_re one of millions of Americans who will travel to Mexico this year, you may unfortunately be one of the few who will get sick or injured while on your trip. Serious illness or bodily injury should always be met with immediate medical attention no matter where you are. But if your ailment falls under the category of painful and obnoxious but otherwise non life-threatening, trying to make the best out of the rest of your vacation can be a difficult thing to do, and not suffering in your hotel room while the clock runs out almost impossible.
But Mexico_s dysfunctional public works and societal shortcomings have their advantages for the ill and injured American traveler. Americans used to a certain threshold of unhappiness to be reached before getting powerful prescription drugs are in for somewhat of a culture shock when dealing with Mexican medicamentos. It turns out that many drugs that the FDA has deemed a prescription necessary to receive are available over-the-counter in Mexico. What kind of medicines am I talking about? Penicillin for one; in Mexico antibiotics are considered a drug so necessarily accessible to the public that not only can you find some readily available in any drug store, they_re relatively cheap.
Drugs like Valium and Vicodin, at least the Mexican equivalents, are equally as accessible without approval from a physician. If you throw your back out on the beach or slip climbing a Mayan ruin, the kind of drugs that require making a specialist appointment and waiting for days to get in the US can be found within hours of the injury. Assuming you were hurt early enough into your trip, you could theoretically be ready to enjoy the rest of your holiday in as little as a day or so. But this access is not without its downsides, cautions, and potential consequences that must be discussed.
First off you must make sure you know that what you_re putting into your body is the drug you bought: one out of every five over-the-counter purchase of powerful pain relieving and muscle relaxing drugs in Mexico by tourists has been shown to be a forged drug. Be cautious, but don_t be paranoid; while they might not be giving you the drug you want, what they_re really giving you is at worst probably just a sugar pill.
Secondly, don_t think you just found the easiest way to save money on your prescription drug costs at home. Bringing undeclared medicine into the United States from Mexico, especially medicine the FDA has banned here, is a serious crime and border officials are not going to simply confiscate your pills. You will likely be detained and questioned for some length of time and possibly charged with a crime depending on what you did. Play it safe and leave the wonder drugs behind.
If you find yourself sick or hurt in Mexico, don_t give up on your good time. Exploit the advantages of being in a country where alleviating debilitating pain is considered an activity where the role of the doctor can be skipped. But just remember that the FDA is what makes sure the medicine you receive here is made and taken responsibly, so without such an agency it_s up to you to make these judgment calls. In the middle of a vacation-robbing aching back or a sore throat, however, that often isn_t a tough pill to swallow
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