Imported Meds into Aus

Australian Drug Discussion Please

Western Australia.

My sister has gone and ordered thirty 1mg xanax (alprolozam) from a online pharmacy in india. Her friend has done it before and they arrived and the tablets were loose inside a thick envelope (no blister packs). At first we were under the impression its legal to import 3 months worth of mediation from these pharmacys.

http://www.tga.gov.au/docs/html/bringmed/persimp.htm#question

I just were at the TGA website and it states that we cant import xanax from online pharmacies (there in appendix B under alprozolam).

So like now they are on the way. we dont have a prescription and we just foundout its illegal to import them anyway. What should we do? Just hope they dont get detected then as soon as they arrive write "Return to sender". If customs (TGA) does detect them whilst in trainsit in the mail what are the possible legal consequences?

So much for self medicating. Her anxietys going to be alot worse when she finds out she broke the law.

[edit] Fix link

Hasnt this thread already been answered? Where have the replies gone?

You actually thought it was legal to import them? Online pharmacy prices are much more expensive than medicine in Australia with the PBS, I find it hard to believe you were buying them overseas to save money. Regardless as you know it is illegal, and if customs intercepts them they will send you a letter stating that if you attempt to import medication illegally again you will be prosecuted. If it is your first attempt they will not take any legal action.

While this thread is open i'll take the opportunity to ask if anyone knows the legalities of importing tramadol to NSW? It's not a restricted import under federal law nor is it a prohibited or restricted drug under NSW law except that NSW has analog laws with codeine a restricted drug and erowid lists tramadol as a synthetic analog of codeine.

A related question; has anyone esp. anyone young had any experience bringing back a 3 month supply of unrestricted medication back from somewhere like Thailand even though its legal does it make customs likely to take you out the back tear your stuff apart and strip search you?

scaredaussie: I think Cowboy Mac pretty much summed it up....
dabb: in my opinion if you dont have a valid Australian prescription for the substance and its a prescription substance here dont try it. You could easily get in trouble regardless of your age. I believe Tramadol is prescription only medication here in Australia making it illegal to import without a valid Australian prescription.

^Only some perscription medicines are subject to legal controls when importing, you can get this information by poking around the TGA website. It wouldn't make much sense for the government to require people to go through hassles to bring in small amounts of any medication that may be perscription in Aus even when it's not considered dangerous or addictive as Tramadol isn't.

/Edit - I don't think possession of perscription drug without a perscription is a crime either unless it's a schedule 8 drug.

It's technically illegal to import medicines that are listed in Australia without a prescription from an Australian doctor.

In reality a lot of stuff will get through, so long as it doesn't have abuse potential.

e.g. most people who have ordered selegiline will get it no problems, because it can't be abused.

Benzos, on the other hand, can, and the matter may be investigated.

In any case, Benzos are certainly restricted and so possessing them in your state without a doctors prescription is illegal.
e.g. in NSW check the Poisons Act

VelocideX: Thank you. I was pretty sure I was stating the law when I said what I did above. The law is generaly pretty black and white about this sort of thing.

if its unregistered mail and you open it or accept it its probably pretty much your neck.
if its delivered by hand and your asked if the person its addressed to lives at the address in question and you say yes your responsible for it.

The thing is... why bother importing these pharmaceutical meds when, if you need them for insomnia, etc... you will get a prescription.

I don't condone or encourage lying to doctors or anything, but there's been times where I've told the doctor "It's been a stressfull week", or... "I haven't slept properly in 2-3 days" (which is true anyways) and he'll hand me over a prescription to Valpam (Valium), or Temazzies anyways.
Just let the doc know that you will only use them for "sleep" and not to get into an anmesiac state and you shouldn't have any troubles.

But, I'll post a warning. As easy the availability of Benzodiazapines are, if used incorrectly (eg: before work, when you're not planning on sleeping, all the way throughout the day), you will acquire a not-so-healthy addiction to them. That's exactly why they're monitored through the medical records, which IMO is fair enough.

You're also possibly saving money, and/or getting ripped off (not to mention getting into shit!) by going the most legitimate way about this.

I wouldn't expect to be getting anything like Xanax from your local doctor, unless you would really need it... or you are going through very, very intense withdrawals.

Benzos don't have much recreational benefit anyways. They're good if you wanna hit the sack, not bad to smoke a few cones as the benzos are kicking in. I can guarantee you will sleep, if you don't you have serious sleeping issues.

So you honestly think someone from overseas seems to know your name AND address, and is just going to send you prescription and potentially-abuseable drugs through the post? That's pretty farfetched.

In western australia i really doubt id be able to get a prescription for any benzos when im 19

Why would it be harder in Western Australia than it is in Victoria, or anywhere else for that matter? Don't they have Pharmacies up that way?

Even though Benzos have a very high abuse potential for some, alot of doctors don't think twice about prescribing them to patients that need them, regardless of the patient's age.
Take Ritalin and pharmaceutical amphetamines for that matter. I think I was just reading a thread a couple of days ago here about the "uprise in abuse" in Western Australia, with amphetamine medications.
Children as young as 10 years old are prescribed these very drugs.

In western australia i really doubt id be able to get a prescription for any benzos when im 19

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Bullshit.

If you aren't an idiot, and know how to play the doctor, you can get em no worries!

^^^ Not everyone knows how to "play their doctor" though. Whilst some of us may be fantastic liars; others arent.

People can always learn

sorry to be harsh, i was drunk

Jimity said:

^^^ Not everyone knows how to "play their doctor" though. Whilst some of us may be fantastic liars; others arent.

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How hard can it be? Read up on anxiety disorder, tell the doctor the symptoms, and relate em to some stories, and u will get a script. No matter where u are in Australia, u just gotta go the the right doctor. Xanax is harder to get... but benzos like valium, temaz, nitro, serepax are damn easy to get

Funnily enough, i hope the 19 year old doesn't get the scripts, cause i doubt he needs them otherwise his doctor would have already presribed it. Another benzo addict in the making , another statistic in a governmental report, another reason to control this substances even more .