Medications — Costa Rica
What travelers need to know about medications in Costa Rica. What is legal at home can be a serious crime here — each rule links to its official source.
Medications in Costa Rica: allowed only under specific conditions.
You may bring up to ONE MONTH'S SUPPLY of a prescribed controlled medicine - stimulants, opioids, benzodiazepines - with no permit and no prior authorisation. Above one month you must obtain Ministry of Health authorisation, applied for at least one month before you travel, with your prescription, a medical report no more than three months old, and the purchase invoice, all TRANSLATED INTO SPANISH. Schedule IV narcotics under the 1961 Convention and fentanyl in ampoules are barred outright, even if legal where you live.
Article 57 states NO penalty. The documented consequence runs through customs instead: controlled medicines are restricted-import goods, which art. 369 f) of Decreto 44051-H requires be declared, and art. 374 b) provides for seizure of undeclared merchandise that is detected. No fine or criminal exposure for a traveller is stated in the health decree, and none should be asserted - Ley 8204's offences bind "personas legalmente autorizadas" and commercial actors, not tourists.
§ SCIJ/SINALEVI, Procuraduria General de la Republica - Decreto Ejecutivo N. 45161, "Reglamento para el control de drogas, estupefacientes y psicotropicas", signed 17 June 2025, La Gaceta N. 166, Alcance 114, of 5 Sept 2025, in force 5 Sept 2025, art. 57. Corroborated by Ministerio de Salud, Junta de Vigilancia de Drogas, "Requisitos para los viajeros que estan bajo tratamiento con sustancias sometidas a fiscalizacion internacional" (ministeriodesalud.go.cr, JVD Requisitos, doc. 1205).