Adderall = Illegal in many countries
Medication
I just recently researched this and realized a lot of countries outside of the US and Canada don’t allow Adderall at all. Like you will get straight up arrested if you try to bring your legally prescribed Adderall from your home country into Japan. This is making travel plans dicey at best and a straight up nightmare at worst.
Like I’ve literally tried every ADHD medication and IR Adderall is the only one that works for me.
I can’t imagine going on a trip to a country I want to visit only to sit on my ass unmedicated the whole time
Best
Open comment sort options
Best
Top
New
Controversial
Old
Q&A
Your body is unique, as are your needs. Just because someone experienced something from treatment or medication does not guarantee that you will as well. Please do not take this as an opportunity to review any substances. Peer support is welcome.
A moderator has not removed your submission; this is not a punitive action. We intend this comment solely to be informative.
If you are posting about the US Medication Shortage, please see this post.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
i went to amsterdam and berlin earlier this year. some EU countries have the “schengen certificate” which allows you to bring in prescription meds that are illegal in that country, including stimulants.
While Adderal is not legal to prescribe in Europe. Ireland and many countries allow tourists to bring a 3 month supply of the drug with them while on vacation. You will have to have a copy of your prescription, a letter form your doctor and the drugs must be in the original packaging.
(Note of you sell or even share the drugs you may be treated as a drug dealer and the penalties are severe.)
That's true in the country where it was prescribed too.
Yep! I’ve travelled to Europe twice in the last few years with my Adderall without any issues. I only brought enough for the days of my trip (plus a couple extra in case of delays), kept them in the original pharmacy container (which has the prescription) and had a letter from my prescribing GP. No one batted an eye!
It’s legal to prescribe Adderal in Ireland. It’s just not licensed for the treatment of ADHD
That is reasonable. If only all places were like that.
I find that I don’t need adderall when I travel because I don’t need to focus or get things done while I’m there. The first day or two I’m sleepy but I’m motivated to get out and experience the world without it.
I did study abroad in Australia so I took it with me but no issues there
Edit: I’d like to be clear that this is MY experience. I’m not giving anyone advice or telling anyone they also need to suck it up and go without meds. I’m saying it’s okay for me to do that, and it was a pleasant surprise when I’ve travelled without them because I couldn’t take it with me.
Yeah I feel you in that regard. My last trip to Central America I found myself not needing it as much as the trip went on but I felt like the first couple days would have sucked without it
ditto. active travel is filled with novel and interesting input every day that I didn't struggle. It's the "do something boring for 8 hours a day" that's a problem.
I would get lost so fast. I think i made 4 wrong turns today driving 15 minutes to a store I haven't been to before. I should have waited for the xr to kick in before leaving
Yeah, this would never work for me in a country where I'd have to drive. Luckily it seems like the public transportation is much more robust in most countries outside of the US; the only challenge would be keeping with the schedules.
Which is fine for you, but international business travel is a thing.
Concerta, Strattera or Vyvanse are ok and allowed in Japan. So there are alternatives. Japan has some weird as all get out ways of doing thing but the richness of life there for gaijin offsets the negatives.
Just went to Tokyo in June and almost brought my Vyvanse. I looked it up out of curiosity and found that while Vyvanse is ‘legal’ you still need to tell the government you’re bringing it and show it to the agents upon entering. I just left it at home for a week and had a good time.
For future reference, it’s easy to bring one of the approved stimulants into Japan. There are detailed instruction online, but you basically bring <30 pills and tell the custom’s officer. They’ll ask if you have any controlled substances and put you in a different line. If you need to bring a larger amount of pills in, you need to submit some paperwork in advance.
Not an ADHD med, obviously, but I had a friend who went to Dubai and needed his Xanax, and the hoops he had to jump through were nuts, including needing a prescription written in Arabic from an "approved" doctor. And you can't have more than a month's worth, no matter what. Also, you can be jailed in Dubai for having Xanax on your person, carry-on, or checked baggage, on a Layover!
Probably best to avoid that evil shithole. They literally have slaves.
Totally agree, I would never go there, but the layover thing really freaked me out.
I’m on a plane to Japan right now and I’m my husband and I both are bringing in Vyvanse which is not allowed in Japan as it is a stimulant so we were able to apply for allowance to bring in what we needed 2 weeks prior and we have all the documentation with us for customs :) some countries will allow these meds under exception!
The novelty of travel, lack of responsibility, and flexibility in schedule might mean you can get by unmedicated (or differently medicated) for the short amount of time you're there. It's worth checking into other options rather than cancelling your trips, IMO.
Depends on the person and how badly they need their medication to function.
Some of us can barely focus long enough to make a bologna and cheese sandwich before going off and starting on a dozen different projects and chores only to get nothing done. Anything requiring any degree of higher thinking function like looking for a specific exit ramp to turn off at is not a good idea in those circumstances.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but it still boggles my mind that people assume what is legal in one place is going to be legal everywhere else. At a minimum, you should be checking on your prescription medication in whatever country you are visiting. Most countries have government websites that tell you what is ok and what isn’t.
There's so many bad takes in this thread!
Remember people ignorance of a law is not a valid defence strategy!
Although Adderall is illegal in Japan, as is straight IR dextroamphetamine (what I usually take), I got my doctor to prescribe me Vyvanse while in Japan, as it’s legal there. I have narcolepsy on top of my ADHD, so I need my stimulants regardless.
Maybe ask your doctor if they can switch you to Ritalin or Concerta for the trip's duration?
I travel to India for work regularly and never take a chance travelling with my Adderall. It sucks, because unlike leisure travelers, I actually need to be productive. I'll be sitting in my hotel room, beating myself up over how it's taking me 30 minutes to write an email that should take five, when I remember, oh yeah, I don't have the drugs that make it possible for me to function professionally. I can get by for a couple weeks, but it's a good reminder that I definitely wouldn't have my career if my ADHD was untreated.
Just leave your ADHD at home
My meds primarily give me EMOTIONAL REGULATION abilities..... So uh.... Unless they're gonna make a bed for me in a nice mental hospital for the giant emotional breakdown I'll have when I arrive, I'll go where I can be taken care of lol
Last time I travelled to Mauritius, and I had to contact the embassy and get approval to bring ADHD meds. They said I could take Ritalin, so I had to switch from dex to Ritalin for 2 weeks.
I had to switch to vyvanse for the time I went to Japan. And I still had to do paperwork to bring it.
I'm not on Adderall, but I'm on some really heavily controlled medicine, and I take oil that is illegal in other countries. But isn't in my own. I will also join the wait list for ADHD medication when I can.
So I have had to look into rules when it comes to travelling. I've not travelled to a country where I wasn't able to bring what I needed, but I have only checked countries I have travelled to. Which has been mostly European countries, but I have travel to the USA from the UK too.
The best thing to do is to check the laws on individual countries, because often for a medical need there is a way to prove it is okay for you to have. Like some of them will require a full doctor's note, others just proof that the medicine you have, is in fact for you. Like a copy of a prescription.
Some countries also have limits to how much you are allowed to bring in, and how. Like some countries require all medications to be in all their original packaging. With your name, and address labels on.
So honest just check in advance, and see what you can do.
I haven’t checked Japan, but for some countries where Adderall is not available locally, you can still bring it in with written permission before your travel. But you definitely need more than your prescription or a letter from your doctor.
I went to Lithuania over the summer. I brought a copy of my prescription, a letter from my doctor, and the original packaging. I was kinda upset that they didn't even check, haha! Even though they didn't check it, I'm not risking it. I definitely recommend calling the embassy before you travel.
I went to Japan in 2023 and did not know at the time that Adderall was illegal. I had no problem at the airport or in customs, nobody stopped me. I had my medicine in my purse, clearly visible in its prescription bottle.