My point was not to "con" them, but to talk to them.
Every country has different custom rules. As soon they find an ingredient of a shipment in any prescription medicine, it's declared an illegal medicine import and confiscated here. With small amounts (decided by the custom officer) fined right away with € 50,-, otherwise € 260,-. On repeat up to € 2600,-.
Payed already 50,- each for a bottle of Alpha-Lipoic acid and a trial bottle with 7 tabs of Inflama-Rest, because of Nattokinase and Silimarins in it. No matter that these would be available at low doses over the counter here too.
Once had to repeal a fine of 260,- for a bottle of TMG tablets. Only didn't had to pay because they didn't process it in the required time within 15 months.
Each time I did talk to the officers on phone, and they agreed that this regulation seems more to protect the local market, than the costumer. Nevertheless, they would have to comply to their rules..
The West is losing its freedoms to a rising tide of Kafkaesque bureaucracy. In the US there is legalized highway robbery by federal and state agents that can seize money, cars, and any other property they deem might have some connection to drug trafficking, terrorism, or any other crime. Civil asset forfeiture is often used against minorities not charged with any crime whatsoever, and there is no administrative recourse. You have to sue them to get your property back, which can take years, cost thousands, and invite retaliation.
As for the case in the OP, bureaucracies respect those who know their rules (and treat them with the respect due to kings). On the FDA website, one will find the following--
Is it legal for me to personally import drugs?
In most circumstances, it is illegal for individuals to import drugs into the United States for personal use. This is because drugs from other countries that are available for purchase by individuals often have not been approved by FDA for use and sale in the United States. For example, if a drug is approved by Health Canada (FDA’s counterpart in Canada) but has not been approved by FDA, it is an unapproved drug in the United States and, therefore, illegal to import. FDA cannot ensure the safety and effectiveness of drugs that it has not approved.
FDA, however, has a policy explaining that it typically does not object to personal imports of drugs that FDA has not approved under certain circumstances, including the following situation:
The drug is for use for a serious condition for which effective treatment is not available in the United States;
There is no commercialization or promotion of the drug to U.S. residents;
The drug is considered not to represent an unreasonable risk;
The individual importing the drug verifies in writing that it is for his or her own use, and provides contact information for the doctor providing treatment or shows the product is for the continuation of treatment begun in a foreign country; and
Generally, not more than a 3-month supply of the drug is imported.
This FDA example provides a very tiny loophole, and is probably exaggerated to make it seem impossible. For MitoQ I would argue that it isn't a drug at all, but a supplement sold in the US, but perhaps not of the quality or form you need. (The only hit on the FDA website is a report that mitoquinone/MitoQ is a pro-oxidant that, in the case of cancer cells, "causes the upregulation of autophagy, and autophagy acts as an antioxidant feedback response triggered by cytotoxic levels of MitoQ." So probably it isn't on any list for confiscation...and probably not something you'd want to take unless you had cancer.)
Edited by Turnbuckle, 28 December 2015 - 11:36 AM.