Report on attempting to import a peptide into Thailand

[phoenix22]

Hi All,

I'm posting this information so that it will be available to other people who might want to know about this.

I purchased 30mL of a peptide (a ghrelin mimetic) from a 'research chemical' company in the US, and had it sent to my Thai address using Viabox mail forwarding service (TNT was the shipping company).

I had assumed that this would get in fine, given how freely available other substances are here (steroids, other hormones) which are actual restricted substances in many western countries.

However the item was held by customs. I was informed by the shipping company that if it was a medicine, it could not be imported individually, and if it was a research chemical, I needed to provide proof and do paperwork to that effect (such as a letter from a relevant institution), and submit these along with my passport in person to Customs in Bangkok. In addition to this, they cannot forward the item on to another country, since this can only be done as an export (passing customs first).

Needless to say this is prohibitively difficult.

I will reserve my opinion on such regulations, since it is extremely strong and would detract from the informational nature of this post.

Hope this is useful to others.

[h90]

steroids are restricted in Thailand.....

[Sheryl]

Yes, they are- could get in serious trouble for importing them.

OP it was likely the use of a shipping company that caused your problem. Never use one, just have things shipped by regular air mail, and will rarely have a problem with small quantities of legal substances. Couriers and the like virtually guarantee customs problems in my experience.

[ClutchClark]

Yes, they are- could get in serious trouble for importing them.

OP it was likely the use of a shipping company that caused your problem. Never use one, just have things shipped by regular air mail, and will rarely have a problem with small quantities of legal substances. Couriers and the like virtually guarantee customs problems in my experience.

Very useful information.

Thanks

[AyG]

steroids are restricted in Thailand.....

The substance the OP describes is not a steroid. It's a polypeptide. AFAIK polypeptides aren't banned. You can buy Peptein 4000 in any supermarket here.

[h90]

steroids are restricted in Thailand.....

The substance the OP describes is not a steroid. It's a polypeptide. AFAIK polypeptides aren't banned. You can buy Peptein 4000 in any supermarket here.

It refers to: "I had assumed that this would get in fine, given how freely available other substances are here (steroids, other hormones) which are actual restricted substances in many western countries."

Most of these things are restricted, but you can buy them illegally.....

[Kalbo]

Yes, they are- could get in serious trouble for importing them.

OP it was likely the use of a shipping company that caused your problem. Never use one, just have things shipped by regular air mail, and will rarely have a problem with small quantities of legal substances. Couriers and the like virtually guarantee customs problems in my experience.

I concur completely with what Sheryl has written above.

[h90]

Yes, they are- could get in serious trouble for importing them.

OP it was likely the use of a shipping company that caused your problem. Never use one, just have things shipped by regular air mail, and will rarely have a problem with small quantities of legal substances. Couriers and the like virtually guarantee customs problems in my experience.

I concur completely with what Sheryl has written above.

yes regular air mail is the way to go.....

I would just word that different: Couriers virtually guarantee to GENERATE customs problems.

[phoenix22]

OP it was likely the use of a shipping company that caused your problem. Never use one, just have things shipped by regular air mail, and will rarely have a problem with small quantities of legal substances. Couriers and the like virtually guarantee customs problems in my experience.

Good info, thanks. Unfortunately the US forwarding company only offered courier options, probably for tracking/proof-of-arrival reasons.

[h90]

OP it was likely the use of a shipping company that caused your problem. Never use one, just have things shipped by regular air mail, and will rarely have a problem with small quantities of legal substances. Couriers and the like virtually guarantee customs problems in my experience.

Good info, thanks. Unfortunately the US forwarding company only offered courier options, probably for tracking/proof-of-arrival reasons.

You can try Ebay. On complete different things, I found people who simply send it off.

Another good idea is of course if you know someone in the country who can forward it for you.

I have customer who anyway go to the post office every day. For them it is no hassle to forward things for me, or retired parents or grandparent are often willing

[phoenix22]

Unfortunately Ebay is not really a market place for things like peptides.

Edited October 2, 2014 by phoenix22

[robblok]

I have imported peptides in the past they were held at customs too. I told them it was not for human use and it was for research. It got through but it required time at customs. It is not something I am going to do again.