a_grz_vr

Hello to everyone.

If anyone takes medication, please find out whether it contains a controlled drug or not. IT'S VERY IMPORTANT.

I take testosterone, and I kind of just found out by accident that I needed to look into this. Luckily I did.

If you travel with a controlled drug, first you need a letter from your GP. If you want to travel with 3 month's of it, you need to send that letter to the drug and firearms licensing unit (part of GOV) who will send you a licence. It takes a minimum of 10 working days.

The risk of not doing this could result in something as serious as imprisonment.

I still have to see the doctor to get my letter; but yes I'm a bit pessimistic and I'm not even sure the doctor would have known anything about the letter, and would have just let me walk out of the door, without saying anything. Actually, one of my doctors didn't even know what my illness was. So no, I don't have a lot of faith in doctors ahaha. Actually, it was ME who diagnosed myself, ME who wanted to be referred to the specialist, and on top of that my family didn't believe me either (and some of my relatives still don't, despite me having had DNA and blood tests done, they don't even believe a DNA test...).
Anyway...

Be informed!!!

It's bad enough that someone has a health problem; then they could even make your life worse by sending you to prison for taking the medication you need.

This is how I found all of the information. If you use all of the links, you can read about everything in more detail:

I started on the GOV website:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-italy#healthcare

Right at the bottom they say:
"You should also check your prescriptions are legal in Italy".

Follow that link:

On this page, you can check the controlled drugs list. Look for the DRUG, not for the MEDICINE. In my case, TESTOSTERONE is the drug, the medicine is not on the list (in my case, TOSTRAN).

At the bottom of that link, a contact:
Drug and Firearms Licensing Unit
[email protected]

I also contacted L'AGENZIA DEL FARMACO:
Centro Informazione Indipendente sul Farmaco - FarmaciLine | AIFA Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco
Who told me:
Il medicinale Tostran non autorizzato in Italia e dunque, dovendolo acquistare in Italia, dovrebbe essere importato secondo procedure che sono note alle aziende sanitarie Locali

For who doesn't speak Italian, it says that my medication (not drug) isn't authorised in Italy. I don't know if that means it's illegal or not, but from the DRUG AND FIREARMS link, there is a severe warning:
"You could get a fine or go to prison if you travel with medicine that’s illegal in another country - check with the embassy of the country you’re going to before you travel".

The DRUG AND FIREARMS unit told me I have to contact the Italian Embassy/Consolate (I don't know the difference, so I contacted both).

Surprise surprise, the Embassy responded almost immediately. I wasn't even expecting them to read my email, to be honest.

Go to this page:
Modulistica
Then ASSISTENZA SOCIALE,
DOC 2
You'll get a WORD document written in English and Italian.

I hope this helps anyone who is looking for information on travelling with medication.
Bye!

Geordieborn

Super information thanks. WoW what a list for people who are ill to have to deal with, right minefield

MrsTeapot

Thanks for the tip.

If you travel to Italy via train all the way from UK or via Ferry then trains, does anyone check your bags for medication like they can at an airport?

a_grz_vr

ahaha no idea...I hadn't thought of that kind of travel, actually

a_grz_vr

Yes it's a bit long...many of you helped me on here so I wanted to contribute in my own way...I had to collect information from various places, so I thought it would be nice for somebody else if they could see it all in one place.

a_grz_vr

Another update!
If you want to contact the Italian consulate/Embassy in England about medication, here is the correct email address (so you don't have to go through the main/general contact):

[email protected]

a_grz_vr

I'll write here what the consulate told me. I had to contact them because the information wasn't helpful enough. Earlier in this thread I mentioned a word document. It mentions needing to show a prescription. This obviously means that the office who made those rules actually doesn't know how the healthcare system works in the UK. The patient isn't allowed to keep a prescription after they've used it. So I contacted the consulate about this.

They said to make sure the stickers on the medication boxes are kept on (the sticker has both your name plus the symbol of the pharmacy with their details). They also suggested I get a photocopy of the prescriptions and get that same sticker put on the copies.

Also, if you read through the link on the GOV site, it states that you need a doctor's letter. The consulate said that the doctor should mention in the letter the copies of the prescriptions.

None of these instructions are included in the information provided by GOV and by the Italian Embassy in England. I had the time to look all of this up (and stress about it as well). So if anyone is wondering how it works, maybe this information saves them a bit of time!

Pulaski

Also bear in mind that non-prescription/ OTC medications from the UK may not be legal in Italy. For example some medications containing Codeine can be purchased in the UK without a prescription, but require a prescription in Italy, therefore carrying them into Italy is unlawful.

PSG2014

As a quick aside on this topic (which is very interesting by the way), they do not seem to sell normal packets of paracetamol tablets here in Italy? Any ideas why ?

PSG

philat98

It is sold under the name Tachipirina. You can buy it on the internet.

OliveCameToo

PSG - Ask for 'paracetamolo generico', it's cheaper.

modicasa

Tachipirina is a 1000mg dose of paracetamol - the same as a Beechams hot lemon extra or a lemsip cold and flu sachet. Other paracetamols tend to be 500mg. As to why youcant get them in the supermarket, its bcause they tried but he chemists went on strike to protect their monopoly.

PSG2014

Ha !! that explains it................I have friends bring them over from the UK nowadays, it is one of those strange things. Thx y'all for explaining,

PSG

Pulaski

If you ever travel to the US you can get paracetamol (known as "acetaminophen" in the US) here for a fraction of the price in the UK - as little as 1p/500mg tablet.