Visted TJ and Mexico for a few days recently.

Here is the rub... TJ now has very few pharmacies that can legally sell controlled substances, of the 100 or so I visited only 10 would sell controlled meds. All but one of the 10 did not require a script, but that one wanted an exoborant amount of money.

TJ doctors, which are not real easy to find(best bet is to look in the downtown TJ area)and are now asking around $40-20usd for one script(OUCH!!). That realy dosnt matter, becasue the price of most meds even with a script was crazy... I actually found it cheeper to go to the local big supermarket to their(Walmart style) pharmacia to purchase z-pack and retin-a. Supermarket med prices were better than the negotiated prices with the street pharmacies, not to mention that if they carry the beer or wine you want, you will save several dollars and hassels with that purchase.

Oxys could be found from waiters/taxi trivers/etc, but at $1 a milligram. I actually found that the street vendors or the waiters were able to give better deals on meds, but beware of not having a script in TJ.

If you really want to save some money you need to drive at least 50-120 miles down the baja strip. I will have to look up the specific towns, but many of them now cater to US visitors and have very reasonable prices for food, beer, meds, and 4-5 star lodgeing and in general the people and towns are much more relaxing(compared to TJ). If one had a car, a drive down the baja coast would be a trip worth taking just for the sites and beautiful ocean views!

The foot hike back into the US is now a little more laxed... No metal detectors were observed, unless they pick you out for some strange reason. Your bags of corse are still x-rayed, but over all the trip(s) back were shorter and with no hassels.

To sum it up..... For some reason the apparent authorities that be in Mexico are now cracking down in TJ, and the once rampant med sales, and illgal activites have all but ceased. I really got the feeling that TJ is trying to get rid of that dirty ol town image and get in the tourist that dont mind spending 2-4usd for a beer or 2-4 for a shot(OUCH)!!!

Anyway, Im back and glad to see DB is still here after my two week escape from reality.

Drew