The pills were Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen, aka Vicodin.


definately stolen!

I think if the MIL had prescription, then he should be ok, but just to be safe I would carry a copy of prescription or doc's note.

"Vikings?" Definitely stolen and "redistributed for recreational purposes," not to mention profit. IMO, these are more accurately described as "controlled substance" and not merely "prescription medicines," I suspect - that is how HM Customs might perceive them in the hands of someone who is not the patient they were prescribed for. (I don't suspect you'd have served time in durance vile, but your mother-in-law might have had to do some fast talking.)

Carrying them on might have not been so great either, if the TSA etc. got nosy at this end, given the circumstances.

$300 worth of Vicodin would be around 700 pills. Even in a labeled Rx bottle, carrying it under someone else's name could be considered a "commercial quantity."

Maybe he meant street value. I have heard you can get 5-10 bucks a pill on the street. Sounds fishy.

I am sure there were not that many pills in the bottle, it wasn't that big, looked like a standard prescription bottle. MIL told me how much they were worth and maybe inflated the value to ensure I took them to her.

And then there's the $20 per pill street price for Vicodin.

I wonder how MIL would know the street price of narcotics, then again, how do you? :p As an aside to that, I've never had anything stolen from my bags until a recent SNA/SJC flight when my electric razor was lifted from my very rarely checked bags :-(

Very Fishy..all prescription drugs are free for over 60's in the UK..Its also unlikely any UK NHS doctor would prescribe more than 40 and as she had already been on Vacation in US she had presumably used some. Getting a large priscription of any expensive prescription drug form a UK doctor is always difficult. But the maximum co-payment is only around $12 for any prescription in the UK. So why the worry. :confused:

Maybe she was a very young MIL though.

"Yes, officer, those are mine."

"No, I don't have the prescription. They're not really mine. I mean, I put them in there, but they're for my mother-in-law. She left them at my place by mistake when she visited over Christmas. I'm bringing them back to her."

"No, I don't know why she got so many all at once."

"No, I don't know what she takes them for."

"No, I don't know what she's been doing for the past four months."

"You mean these can be sold on the street? I had no idea!"

See the first paragraph of FWAAA's post #15. This is not a scenario that is likely to turn out well for the "importer." The best that can be hoped for is custody until you can contact the MIL and have her produce a valid prescription. The worst is worse. Much worse.

All of the people who said you hadn't broken any law are most likely incorrect. You were in posession of a controlled substance without a valid prescription. That's basically the whole story. The fact that somewhere, in some place, there's a person who does have a valid prescription for this medication isn't relevant. You posessed them, and you don't have a prescription for them. That's illegal in most places, and these are strong narcotics.

If I had to *guess* I'd say they were taken by customs, who just didn't feel like dealing with you or charging anything, since it was fairly minor. It's equally plausible that they were stolen, everyone knows what those are for.

And with all due respect, your story boils down to - I had narcotics and I was "holding them for a friend" and is this OK?

Usually, no.

I suspect the story would probably be believed. After all, why would someone be smuggling drugs from the UK to the US and back into the UK His MIL is from the UK, correct? The pills are from the UK. He was traveling to the UK.

If he's an addict and these aren't his is one plausible reason isn't it?

I believe if they had been confiscated by HM Customs or security,) the container would be gone as well, IMO. Not to mention, if it had been Customs, I suspect they'd have had the OP in for a nice chat.

The reason many were incorrect is that the OP stated "prescription drugs," not "controlled substance." FT - where "the rest of the story" didn't originate, but us taken to, er, new heights.

I think the story and the pills and everything about this is a load of codswallop.