So I’m on holidays away from the world of medicine at the moment, which is proving to be a nice break. However, being away from the hospital has proven to me that hospitals aren’t the only places that medical issues arise.

I was in Mexico last week, and whilst wandering around the streets of Ensenada I was startled by the amout of pharmacies – to the extent that often every second shop would be a drug store of some description. I was fairly surprised, and didn’t really get why there would be so many pharmacies in one place.  I asked my boyfriend (who is from the US) about it, and apparently there are a LOT of medications that are available in Mexico either without a prescription, or substantially cheaper than they are in the US. Amongst the drugs advertised were:

• Pretty much every kind of antibiotic: penicillin, amoxycillin, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, metronidazole, and oral antifungal medication
• Viagra
• Ritalin
• Disulfiram
• Premarin
• Paroxetine
• Valium
• Citalopram
• Tramadol
• Vicodin
• Oxycodone
• “Atridol” – a dangerous drug manufactured in Mexico. It is a combination of indomethacin, methocarbamol and bethamethasone and is not authorized for use in the US or elsewhere.
• Prozac
• Zoloft
• Phentermine (an anorectic drug for weight loss that has many drug interactions)
• Tretinoin
• Isotretinoin

Wowser. I’m pretty disturbed by this list – considering how restricted these drugs are where I am from. Many of these drugs are very dangerous and can cause death or serious side effects. Many of these drugs I am hestitate to prescribe, even with a medical degree! And isotretinoin I am not even allowed to prescribe, as I am not a dermatologist. I’m not going to go through the list and say why it’s frightening that these drugs are available, because I could write paragraphs on each of them – needless to say, I have never, in my sheltered existence, come across a place where medication was not regulated! I did not even fathom that such a place could exist.