Irish Drifter wrote:
.....concerns about narcotic pain relievers such as Oxycontin, tranquilizers such as Valium and other drugs which are more rigorously controlled in the U.S ..... these drugs do require a prescription in Costa Rica currently. The law however may not be being enforced.
Besides the usual 'pecker pills', I have bought many different types of drugs/antibiotics, for myself and/or friends back home. I've purchased Lortabs, Amoxycillin, Biaxin XL, Lipitor, Valium, Hydrocodone, Chlorotrimeton, Prozac and various muscle relaxers in farmacia's throughout CR, and have never been questioned whether or not I had a scrip for said drugs.
The only thing that I couldn't buy (without scrip) was morphine. A neighbor of mine has Loopiss (sp) disease, and she asked me to try to get her some of her medicines in CR. She wrote them down on paper, and I gave them to a chemist in a farmacia in Flamingo. Even though this chemist is a friend of mine, he said that he could not give me the morphine medicine. Other than that, I've never had a problem with just about anything in the farmacia's. YMMV.
Mikey-B