I think I would make some inquiries with CBSA before trying this. If you can purchase them without a prescription, what would CBSA say when you come back through the border with bottles of pills without your name on the bottle.

I don't know how drugs are controlled, there must be different schedules or classifications. Although purchasing in other country may be legal, importation may not.

Very valid point Koddie. Some research is always required. http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d19/d19-9-1-eng.html covers the basis of bringing back medicine from foreign countries:

Take away points from my reading of the site above (I'm not to be quoted as I'm simply synthesizing my understanding of e document) :

1) don't bring back "controlled" meds (think narcotics)
2) you're allowed to bring back a treatment worth or 3 months worth of a medicine
3) that medicine must be in a pharmacy or hospital dispensed packaging (note that there are no mention of the need for a prescription or prescription label!)

So, from what I've read, there are no issues with bringing a small amount of those pills. For antibiotics, a single treatment will be roughly between 10 and 40 pills depending on which one and what for. So bringing back 200 amoxicilin tablets could possibly draw negative attention. If you take other regular prescription meds (say Pantaloc for heartburns...) then you should easily be able to bring back 90 pills based on 1/ day for 3 months.

Again, (disclaimer here!) this is just an option based on my interpretation of things. I would also make sure everything seem as legit as I can make it : all labels very clearly readable, no mixed pills, bring receipts from an official pharmacy, etc

If anything, let's open this one for discussions: does anyone have experience with this?

So I looked online at fish antibiotics....

Have you looked in pet stores and any other places that sell pet stuff?

So I looked online at fish antibiotics....

Have you looked in pet stores and any other places that sell pet stuff?

Yes, a few different brand name stores and privately owned spots in AB, SK and ON. All that they have are liquid forms and tend to have add ons. (Amoxicilin and stuff that makes your scales shiny and fins longer anyone?).

Have you had more luck finding something OldTimeGardener?

helicopilot, thanks for the link. I read the CBSA site the same way you do. The only hang up I see is the Drug Identification Number (DIN) and General Public (GP) number. Any drugs products in shipment (I read this to include being carried) that lack evidence of DIN/GP compliance will be detained and will be referred to Health Canada. The DIN is assigned by Health Canada, so I doubt it would have the DIN. This may be a problem.

However, one the travel.gc.ca website the information for bringing over the counter and prescription drugs back to Canada mirrors the information on the CBSA website but there is no mention of the DIN and it is referred to as a 90 day supply rather than 3 month supply.

The Health Canada website makes me think only visitors to Canada can bring in drugs. For Canadian residents it seems to be restricted to Canadians bringing drugs back so as not to interrupt treatment. If your treatment started in Mexico then you could bring them back.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/compli-conform/import-export/gui-0084_biu-uif-eng.php

Three different government web pages with slightly different twists on the same information. Tough finding any factual information on the web because everything refers to taking medication from Mexico to the U.S.

I think if one was to bring back a 3 month supply of properly packaged and marked amoxicillin (schedule F Part 1) or azithromcin (schedule F Part 2) you would likely be successful if it was declared as the CBSA inspector should be working off the same information as there web site. However this may not be the case and problems could develop. Similar to the 10 round pistol magazine in a non restricted rifle fiasco with the RCMP.

Stop by your local farm supply or Peavey Mart. Back in the far corner there is often materials available for treating livestock. At least in Alberta this strategy seems to work.

Thanks for the tip, Canadian Giant,

I would encourage everyone going that route though to make sure the medicine is simply what you are looking for with no additives. Unless those medications come in the regular pill sizes (250-500mg), then dosage calculation may become tricky.

We have relatives living in Mexico. Last time we were down there, kid got sick. Doctor wrote her a script for antibiotics. Pharmacist asked how many refills did we want? Huh we answered? It's for 1 round. No problem he says, we can photocopy it as many times as you want.

They do use some older line meds and meds not approved in Canada, so do your research.

I think I will stick to herbals as I haven't taken antibiotics more then twice in the last 40 years.

This is a really interesting topic. Hopefully I'm not too late as this dates back to January...

First of all, I think it's important to point out that antibiotics have different target. Some of them are best used for certain infections while others will not work miracle for the exact same. It's still in a way, specific. With that in mind, I wonder if the antibiotics for fish, even without the additives for colourful fins or whatnot, are relevant for the treatment it'll be taken for?

Also, as we are in Canada, with our particular health system, the cost of those pills are greatly reduced because of the public provincial insurance or private insurance for those who have that. Hence, if it's a possibility to have them for a legit reason, in Canada, it'd really be more cost effective than importing them... and let's not even mention the problems with authorities for bringing them in...

What I mean by a legit reason, is a perfectly legal, and reasonable way. So here's my workaround:

A few years back, I was planning to go out of the country for an extended period of time, in a what we'd categorized as a developing country. It's totally normal to go to your medical physician prior to your trip to get all your shots and it's accepted to ask for prescriptions for certain things IN CASE YOU GET REALLY SICK out there. A few things my family and I got prior to our departures, just to be on the safe side:
Tetanus shot, typhoid shot, Hepatitis A&B, malaria pills, pills for if you have diarrhea (can't remember what it was called...), amox or cipro... I also had a recurrent case of eczema so got a small extra tube of my regular lotion with cortisone in it.
As you can tell, it's nothing really out of the ordinary that someone would need to go to a trip, than some really useful things you could put in your BOB. That being said, next time you go for a trip somewhere, I suppose you could ask for some of what you need without really impacting the heavy cost to the Canadian Health System as you would take that precaution (always better that than to have you brought back ASAP in a plane for medical care...) Chances of you using them during your trip are pretty low, and hey, if you didn't, then they're welcomed in your BOB, no? 🙂

Hope that helped.