I fly internationally about once a month for my business, and less often domestically. So I have watched the security scrutiny post 9/11 as it has morphed itself into what it is today, month by month. What it is now is basically focused almost entirely on the prevention of weapons, potential weapons and explosive devices from getting on board the aircraft in a passenger's posession. Security at airports could care less what meds you have with you in personal use quantities.

I always travel with a quantity of un-prescribed meds in my toilet kit or my carry on: this will iinclude Xanax in blisterpacks, Ambien in blisterpacks, ritalin in blisterpacks, in addition to some 30mg codeisan tabs which i keep loose and throw in with the aspirin. On top of this I always have a US prescribed bottle of Claritin, a US prescribed bottle of Cipro, various anti malerial prescriptions (depending on where I;m going), US prescribed bottle of diphenoxylate (a kind of super-immodium), various quantities of multivitamins and herbal supplements, OTC aspirin, effervescent aspirin from Germany, Excedrin PM in a bottle, plus a quantity of Mylanta in blisterpacks, Comtrex Head Cold capsules in blisterpaks, and Dentyne Ice Chewing Gum in blisterpaks. It adds up to quite a travelling medicine cabinet, a sea of blisterpacks.(but I know from trial and error it's better to carry it around and never use it that to not have it when you need it badly)..

I have had my tweezers and fingrnail clipers confiscated, I have been pulled aside and questioned so long I almost missed my plane when I forgot about the pair of scissors in my carry on, but nobody has ever, either upon leaving the US, entering a foreign country, or returning to the US from abroad, never has anybody looked twice at the medicaton I carry with me. I carry modest quantities appropriate for my length of travel (usually a week or 10 days), so if confronted i will either claim personal use or just let them flush it all. But nobody is interested. All eyes are sharpely attuned to thwarting the next exploding shoe, not hassling you about your foreign benzo's.

Ewebp is right, do not hide them, Just toss them in your dopp kit or in with your books and papers along with a bottle of vitamin C tabs. Carry them on or put them in checked baggage. I would strongly reccomend you not declare them though, whatever that customs form says. If you declare to US customs that your are importing for personal use a quantity of a controlled substance, you're just inviting a degree of scrutiny that would otherwise not materialize. Your benzos are not what they are looking for. But if you force them to pay attention they will play by the book, which could involve confiscation or worse.

My single nervous moment came when I was standing in the passport line at Denpasar airport in Bali a few years ago. There is a very large sight posted above your head that declares national policy of DEATH TO DRUG SMUGGLERS. With difficulty I convinced myself that a guy with 10 5mg valiums and 6 ambien in his toilet kit probably was not the guy they were itching to exevute for his sins.