http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-me...-entry-program

“Global Entry provides a level of trust not afforded to regular air travelers,” said Devin Chamberlain, CBP Port Director. “Violations of any kind will result in removal from the program.”

The violators, all returning U.S. citizens failed to declare personal use steroids and prescription drugs and failed to report the transport of currency over $10,000. Two events occurred February 26 and the last March 1, 2014.

This fits in with something a CBP officer told me recently, that they have found people using GE to smuggle drugs. I thought he meant illegal, but I guess I need to refresh my memory about what prescription drugs must be declared.

ETA: I can't find anywhere that asks you to declare prescription drugs, does anyone even know how you would do this with GE? Or even with the blue paper declarations form?

The CBP Web site says that "A valid prescription or doctors note is required on all medication entering the U.S." If I had to guess, the violators brought in prescription drugs (or other controlled substances) for which they didn't have a prescription that was issued in the U.S.

I don't recall offhand whether the kiosk questions specifically address this particular issue, but when there is something to declare (for example, large amounts of medications or those without accompanying prescriptions), GE members can still list the items in the spaces on the back of the paper form 6059B and speak to an agent from the GE lane.

What about prescriptions issued and filled in the USA prior to travel overseas? Do we need to declare standard things like antibiotics that we take every day and travel with everywhere? Or dermatological creams, etc that happen to be prescription?

(or are they more interested in controlled-substance prescriptions like heavy-duty painkillers, psychotropic drugs, etc?)


Here is what CBP.gov says about it--it's vague, in my opinion, about whether ALL medications must be declared, or only those with certain potentially addictive properties (what do you think?):

Medication

Rule of thumb: When you go abroad, take the medicines you will need, no more, no less. Narcotics and certain other drugs with a high potential for abuse - Rohypnol, GHB and Fen-Phen, to name a few - may not be brought into the United States, and there are severe penalties for trying to do so. If you need medicines that contain potentially addictive drugs or narcotics (e.g., some cough medicines, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, antidepressants or stimulants), do the following:

Declare all drugs, medicinals, and similar products to the appropriate CBP official;
Carry such substances in their original containers;
Carry only the quantity of such substances that a person with that condition (e.g., chronic pain) would normally carry for his/her personal use; and
Carry a prescription or written statement from your physician that the substances are being used under a doctor's supervision and that they are necessary for your physical well being while traveling.

This is an excellent question, ESpen36. I was also a bit mystified by this particular CBP news item, and I have been similarly unable to find satisfactory guidance on the CBP website. To mitigate a chronic medical condition, I take a controlled-substance prescription every day. This medication happens to be a steroid. My prescription, renewed every six months, is issued and filled in the US.

While I always carry the doctor's letter-of-medical-necessity (issued when I first got started on this medication), and the original container from Walgreens with the printed personalized label, I have never been asked by US (or any other) Customs officials about my medications.

There is no question about prescription drugs on the blue Customs form that we fill out when returning to the US or on its virtual (kiosk) equivalent. And since I also have GE, it is not clear how and where I should "Declare all drugs...to the appropriate CBP official." Yes I could speak to an agent from the GE lane as mikew99 suggests. But what is troubling is the lack of official guidance and consistency on this, e.g.: Why did these GE sweeps / demotions occur only at DTW, only over a specific period of time? Is this a hint of consistent increased enforcement at all GE airports in the future? Why should we suddenly consider using the blank spaces on the customs form to list personal items that we never previously had to list there?

Also, not all controlled substances are addictive drugs.

GE enrollment is enough of a hassle. Strange if we should now worry about GE status over legitimate prescriptions...

I think you are overthinking this. Their guidance seems clear to me: if you have a prescription medicine, declare it and have appropriate documentation.

If the kiosk does not have a question about prescription drugs, simply say to the officer after the kiosk, "I have some prescription medicine but the kiosk did not ask about them. Do I need to do anything?"

The officer will ask what kind of medicine, you describe what it is, and then the officer will say "you are fine, move along" or "please follow me."

The kiosk is when a declaration is made but a declaration may almost always be amended, which is the reason for the officer after the kiosk, so no matter what you do/say via the kiosk you can change it later.

The sin is in evasion or NOT declaring. If something gets confiscated after declaration you have done nothing wrong and will keep your GE (unless of course, you are in illegal possession of the prohibited/controlled item).

When GE membership is at stake, it's impossible to over-think an issue.

CBP in WA will tell you that OTC pain meds call 2-2-2's (basically like an OTC version of Tylenol-3 - it has codeine in it) can not be brought back to the US from Canada.

I've never seen it in writing, but then I have never seen Kinder-Eggs listed on a prohibited list either. It's perfectly legal to buy both of them in Canada, obviously without a doctor's prescription.

The 'sin' is in the eye of the beholder, CBP. If you 'over-declare' out of an abundance of caution, you can get some real aggro. If you innocently under-declare (like declaring 'chocolate candy' instead of 'Kinder-eggs'), you risk losing GE.

I've bought Paracetamol in the UK when I ran out of aspirin for a headache. Trust me, I declared it. I'm glad I did, because the CBP officer did not know what it was and had to research it to decide if it was allowed. It's available OTC in the UK, of course.

The other thing which is unclear to me is whether one must declare medication which they took with them from the US and have some leftovers of (I always travel with a couple days' reserves just in case). Or is it just meds brought in from elsewhere?

And then there's the issue of samples. Sometimes my docs will give me samples given to them by pharma reps so I don't have to spend the money. They don't necessarily give me a scrip with it so would have to get that I suppose?

Even US citrus fruit taken from the US to Canada and back to the US needs to be declared even when the fruit and receipt clearly indicates US-origin of the fruit.

For US-sourced prescription medications, the same rules for declaration on arrival to the US have sometimes been applied as for foreign-origin-foreign-purchased prescription medications.

My rule for myself is that it is better to excessively declare goods than underdeclare.

Patients ask me all the time for "a copy of their prescription." The whole point is that the pharmacist keeps the prescription when the medication is filled. And I almost never hand-write a prescription anyway (we use electronic prescribing.)

I usually tell people, "If it has your name on it, it's in original packaging from the pharmacy, and there isn't an inordinate supply, you shouldn't have a problem." Maybe I'm wrong, but that seems like common sense.

The only exceptions have been for those going abroad for more than--say--90 days, and they take Scheduled drugs. I'll write a brief letter saying that they're under my care. The other exception is that certain countries, most notably the United Arab Emirates, have specific bans on many medications, particularly anything for mental health. So I'll write a letter in those circumstances.

Otherwise, I think it's unnecessary. I take prescription drugs with me myself, and nobody has ever questioned it.

I remember an incident at a land crossing. An elderly woman had put a benzodiazepine (Ativan or something) into a pill box, out of its original container. She was detained and got some sort of absurd smack-down. It was admittedly a bad idea on her behalf (even if she wasn't traveling), but an absurd power trip by the customs officer.

The article talks about "personal use" steroids and currency over $10,000. Could this be someone buying steroids overseas and bringing them back to the US? That much extra cash. Maybe they didn't buy as much as they were planning.

Two comments.

My pharmacy will give me a copy of the prescription. They really don't like doing it, for obvious reasons, and they are not accustomed to doing it. They make a xerox and hand write over it in large letters explaining that it is only a copy, not to be filled, etc.

Of course, one has to remember that even copies of prescriptions can be challenged as forgeries and labelled bottles don't ensure that the contents are what the label says.

I routinely put pills and vitamins/supplements in different containers to save space. I'm not going to pay the outrageous price for a tiny bottle of aspirin just to have a properly labelled container for my travel supply. The pharmacist almost always dispenses ridiculously large bottles for the amount of pills inside, and even the smallest bottles are way larger than necessary if I only need a week's supply.

I think the ambiguity is deliberate. CBP makes it clear that you are to declare everything in certain categories and CBP will make the ultimate determination. Part of the rationale (although I haven't seen a specific example) is that CBP also enforces local restrictions that a pax might not be aware of.

For example, if you don't decare candy, you may be attempting to bring in Kinder Eggs without realizing that they are banned.

Furthermore, since candy counts as food, it MUST be declared. Even if you have GE....the kiosk question has changed to include the broader term "food," as another thread explains.

Exactly. Some unlucky people will find that there really is some candy that is prohibited.

They do that because rightly or wrongly the presumtion from CBP-ag is always that the fruit could contract a bug or disease outside the US and still bring it back in. Not saying that always makes sense, in Canada in the wintertime for example but that is their operations order.

They even make US persons declare purchases in DoD/military and government/DoS exchanges and commisaries too, though duty is not owed on the product it still has to be declared.