I have heard from two that they are not willing to risk it but this is public talk to a near stranger. There is reason to think the India merchants may work out a way after the full impact of the 22nd takes effect.
1 Like
John is making a valid point, and one must think about how the legal system works. There’s an older thread I was reading yesterday with a similar statement about pleading to a judge about the import of scheduled orexin antagonists. It’s worthwhile for folks on the forum to think this through more carefully.
Both discussions share the assumptions that the offenses are too small for the authorities to bother with or for judges to take seriously. Those are not accurate assumptions. Our view of the risk is distorted because small cases rarely make the news and most of us don’t have direct experience with drug offenses.
What one has to consider is that these are slam-dunk cases that can get local law enforcement and DAs easy wins that boost their metrics. I chatted with one guy who went into detail about an interaction he had with two DHS agents who showed up at his doorstep over two vials of a steroid imported via international mail. Two vials! Many who order such things are prepared for that possibility and know how to handle the interaction to avoid immediate arrest and a house search, but I have not seen that kind of sophistication on this forum.
In some US states, you can be charged with a felony for possessing non-prescribed drugs without a prescription. Importing more than a 90 day supply of a statin on your person probably gets you a scolding and confiscation, but it’s at the officer’s discretion (or not depending on the number - because at some point, you force them to charge you with intent to distribute). Do you want to roll the dice with this CBP and find out what the number is? I wouldn’t. I entered the USA twice in the past two weeks, different ports, and they are not messing around.
As for controlled substances, the DEA may consider a few hundred dosage units to be too small for them to bother with, but they put you on a watch list and start watching. They’re too busy, but they cooperate with the local Postal Inspector who happens to be very friendly with your local law enforcement. The Postal Inspectors live for these opportunities - it’s why they exist and is the best part of their job! Maybe they decide to do a controlled delivery or just insert a thin, silent alarm that goes off when you open the package inside your house. They don’t even have to hand the package to you directly anymore. Seconds later, they are emptying your drawers and you are in handcuffs watching them destroy your home.
Why would they bother with an individual consumer? Again, an easy felony drug arrest that boosts their metrics! They don’t have to get lucky on a traffic stop or do any work because you’ve just handed yourself to them on a silver platter.
As your house gets turned inside out, your electronics are seized along with any and all drugs from India. They run forensics on the electronics to find proof of intent, including forum posts mocking the legal system. The prosecutor submits these to the judge who just lost any and all inclination to be lenient. How can he be when you posted your explicit intent to commit the crime and your strategy to avoid sentencing?
The best case outcome: thousands in legal fees, heavy fines, probation, and enrollment in a drug diversion program. You never import meds from anywhere ever again because every package is now monitored. You spend several months in close proximity to your home - no vacations - because you are randomly commanded to come in to pee in a cup within a few hours. Your employer wants to know why you keep missing work, and you need to watch what you eat so you don’t get a false positive. If you do, they are not going to retest - you think you’re getting the benefit of the doubt? No, a missed or positive test gets you a visit with your probation officer, and maybe a seat in front of the judge once more. Maybe he’s understanding, or maybe he’s in a bad mood and gives you jail time. If the latter, congratulations, you were already found guilty, but now it goes on your record. You are now a felon, so say goodbye to voting, owning firearms, and earning a decent income.
The odds of trouble are low, but everybody who goes through it was as surprised as you would be. The stress alone will take years off your life. Please, friends, do not make the mistake of thinking that just because a law is unreasonable that it will not be enforced.
7 Likes
Different topic, but this reminded me….
Decades ago, in the middle of the night, a TEAM of officers went to my sister’s house over ONE illegal cable box. If I recall, it was the FBI.
5 Likes
India postal services notification that my package left BOM International early Saturday. USPS says they don’t have it yet. This will be a test of how long customs is taking.
3 Likes
how can one self import? what happens if customs checks your bags and finds the “drugs”?
the WSJ article says:
The rule applies to any FDA-regulated mail shipment from any country, including smaller medication pipelines from India, the United Kingdom, Australia and Turkey. It doesn’t change regulations around Americans who buy medication in person while traveling.
I can’t say I’ve ever had customs evaluate my toiletries bag and medications in the past 20 years of travel. If they did, I suspect that as long as it sees to be in the normal “personal use” range of quantities I think we are fine, but do your own research. I have seen this scenario on social media: 2.5 year rapa supply ordered, thanks for the advice! - #27 by RapAdmin
3 Likes
The shipment made it to USPS with estimated delivery the 17th.
3 Likes
A First Sign of Clarity
And mostly good news I think.
You have a new message from Reet, Pharma Zone Overseas
Hello SirNow we can supply for 90 days maximum now
If you can provide prescription than that’s fine if not then you have to
pay for it 20 usdPrices will differ from now onwards
Regards,
Reet
8 Likes
This is great news. Makes it a bit more expensive per year i.e. 4@20=80 annual prescriptions and then the charge for freight 4@35=140 as opposed to $35 (ordering once a year) though these costs will spread over few meds as opposed to just one, so shouldn’t be too bad. Still way cheaper than sourcing it in USA.
The only part that it’s not clear is when they say “Prices will differ from now onwards”, I hope it doesn’t mean doubling in prices or something like that.
2 Likes
I need to reduce my inventory slightly before ordering.
Hopefully, someone who needs an order soon can get prices and post them here. I typically order: rosuvastatin, telmisartan, empagliflozin, sirolimus, and acarbose.
1 Like
Two days ago ordered some skin fillers from France by DHL delivery. Got a message from DHL today that delivery is scheduled for this Friday, Oct 16. No mention of any delays, fees, etc. and signature is not required.
3 Likes
My chat with Maulik- you have to love the guy!
6 Likes
Aww, that was a sweet interaction.
FWIW, I asked if there was any type of reship/refund policy and he said no. That was a fine answer as I was only asking…. Maybe that was just to me 
Or it’s new!
Ola! Yes - glad to hear you found an option.
And I’m not sure that would work for me…
I am in a rapa family. Me, my husband and furries all
take a dose once a week. Annual usage?
600 pills every year! And it is not easy to find
vets who will prescribe pet doses around here.
Sigh…
1 Like
I think this annoyance is a good time to experiment with less frequent dosing. I have started dosing bempadoic acid EOD. In January I’ll see how much my aboB increased. I’m betting it will rise very little since I’m already quite low (also using raptha). I’ll report back then. If it works then I’ve essentially doubled my inventory. If anyone has studies on this question please share. I could not find any hard data.
3 Likes
You are joining a hallowed American tradition. Desperate patients priced out of medication availability traditionally resort to pill cutting, dose lowering, missed doses and other heart rending measures. Sometimes that has tragic consequences, as when insulin users keep cutting doses to stretch out their supply and unfortunately sadly pass away. Now I see necessity has driven biohackers to join that tradition, although obviously in their cases it’s often not an acute matter of life and death, so there is some discretion.
So I hear you, and sympathize. I’m sad we’ve reached such a point, but you gotta do what you gotta do. It feels more and more like we’re being gradually strangled and all we can do is try to somehow eke out survival in increasingly dark times.
2 Likes
Thanks for the thought but if EOD turns out to be an insignificant effect then I’ll be grateful for the kick in the pants. My addictions are very powerful; I need all the help I can get.
2 Likes
Kelman!!! I just lost my 18 year old two weeks ago, but that rockstar cat and my 17 and 19 year olds are anything but a nuisance!!! The point, just as with humans, is keeping them as healthy as possible as long as possible.
4 Likes
I lost a cat recently to cancer (he was 16), and the whole point of life prolonging drugs like rapa is to help keep the pets alive longer in better health rather than as you say hard of hearing, demented, with CKD etc. - my only regret is not starting my cat on rapa when he was still healthy. If I can have my current cat (just today I came back with him from the vet - teeth cleaning) live into his senior years in good health, I think rapamycin (and SGLT2i for kidneys etc.) is a laughably small price to pay. If I run low, I’ll find a way to get more - I would never abandon my pet to “natural decline” if I can help it, quality of life is important and we do what we can for friends and family/pets. But everyone is different - a guy I knew from work divorced his wife the moment she was diagnosed with breast cancer; this is something outside of my brain capacity, I cannot even conceive of doing that if my wife, or my cat got sick or just old. Meawhile many people abandon pets when a health challenge or old age comes along, hey there’s always a new puppy. To each their own. YMMV.
2 Likes
Given a choice…
I always say choose both!
My golden retriever Glory was in the first phase of the Matt Kaeberlein Dog Aging Project. She was on the real pill, not the placebo. She had a good life with some health challenges towards the end until she passed away one week shy of 14. That is great for a golden!
I don’t want to be eternal. I want to live, live, live! then go to bed one night and wake up dead. Hah! Quality of life matters to me more than longevity.
My furries are my family, along with my spouse. So, I choose BOTH to protect, care for, and give the rapa to! Life is too short to short those I love…
3 Likes