Medical freedom / M1
Antibiotics without prescription
The person wants to buy a course of amoxicillin for a sinus infection without seeing a doctor.
What we score
Can they buy it, and what happens to buyer or seller if they do without a prescription?
Default assumptions: Unless a vignette says otherwise, the person is a 30-year-old citizen of sound mind with no criminal record, acting alone, on their own behalf and not for profit, in an ordinary residential area. Where subnational units (states, provinces, cantons, Länder) make their own law, each unit is scored and the result is weighted by population. 'The state' includes police, prosecutors, courts, regulators, tax authorities and anyone acting on their orders, including platforms obeying takedown orders.
Score anchors
Both the law score and the practice score use these anchors. Half points are used when a country sits between two of them.
| Score | What it means for this vignette |
|---|---|
| 10 | Sold over the counter, no gatekeeper. |
| 8 | Behind the counter: a pharmacist sells on request after brief questions. |
| 6 | Prescription needed but easy to get on request (e.g. cheap online prescribers), or personal import allowed. |
| 4 | Prescription needed and the doctor's discretion decides. |
| 3 | Buying or selling without a prescription is an administrative offence. |
| 2 | Crime: fine or under 1 year. |
| 1 | Crime: 1 to 5 years. |
Evidence used: Medicines act scheduling; pharmacist-prescribing rules; personal-import rules; enforcement against pharmacies selling without prescription; de facto availability.
How each country scores
| Country | Law | Practice | Process | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6.0 | Amoxicillin is prescription-only. Since 2019, pharmacists may dispense prescription-only medicines without a prescription for indications listed by the Federal Council or in 'justified exceptional cases' after direct contact (Therapeutic Products Act Art. 24(1)(a)). Pharmacy and telemedicine consultations make prescriptions easy to obtain. Individuals may also import a one-month personal supply (AMBV Art. 48). |
| United Kingdom | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6.0 | Amoxicillin is prescription-only under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, and selling it without a prescription is an offence for the seller, not the buyer. Prescriptions are easy to get: NHS Pharmacy First (England, from 2024) lets pharmacists supply antibiotics for acute sinusitis under protocol, and online services offer free questionnaire consultations with private prescriptions delivered the next day. Antibiotics are issued only if clinical criteria are met. |
| New Zealand | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6.0 | Amoxicillin is a prescription medicine under the Medicines Act 1981, and selling it without a prescription is an offence for the seller, not the buyer. Prescriptions are easy to get from GPs, telehealth services or pharmacist prescribers. Personal import of prescription medicines needs a NZ prescriber's letter or prescription (up to 3 months' supply), and Customs may detain parcels until this is verified. |
| United States | 5 | 6 | 0 | 5.6 | Amoxicillin is a prescription drug under 21 U.S.C. 353(b)(1). Dispensing it without a prescription misbrands it, a federal crime for the seller under 21 U.S.C. 333. The buyer commits no offence. In practice a prescription is easy to get from cheap same-day telehealth services, and pharmacists cannot sell on request. |
| Ireland | 5 | 6 | 0 | 5.6 | Amoxicillin is prescription-only, and supplying it without a prescription is an offence for the pharmacist, not the buyer. The pharmacist-prescribing Common Conditions Service (2026, under the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024) covers 8 conditions including UTIs and impetigo, but not sinusitis, so a GP or online-doctor consultation is needed and antibiotics issue only at the doctor's clinical discretion. Revenue's guidance says the personal-use import exemption covers only medicines carried by travellers, not those sent by post or courier, which are detained. |
| Mexico | 3 | 7 | 0 | 5.4 | Since August 2010, antibiotics may be sold only against a prescription that the pharmacy retains (Secretaría de Salud acuerdo of 27 May 2010; LGS art. 226). Selling without one exposes the pharmacy to COFEPRIS administrative sanctions; the buyer faces nothing. In practice, about 18,000 doctor's offices attached to pharmacies give about 10 million consultations a month for 0-50 pesos and routinely write the prescription on the spot. |
| Denmark | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5.0 | Amoxicillin is prescription-only, and pharmacies may not dispense it without a prescription; the buyer commits no offence. Since 1 January 2026, people may import antibiotics for their own use by post or in luggage from EU/EEA countries, and in luggage up to 3 months' supply from non-EU countries, if they can document the medicine is for themselves (prescription or receipt). Getting a Danish prescription depends on the doctor's judgement. |
| Czechia | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4.0 | Amoxicillin is prescription-only. Pharmacies may sell only registered non-prescription medicines by mail order (Medicines Act § 85(1)), so lawful online purchase without a prescription is impossible. Supply requires a doctor's e-prescription at the doctor's discretion. General practitioners are accessible through public insurance. |
| Netherlands | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4.0 | Amoxicillin is prescription-only (UR). Only pharmacists and dispensing GPs may sell it (art. 61 Geneesmiddelenwet), and violations draw administrative fines from the Inspectorate (art. 101). Art. 67 forbids prescribing over the internet to patients the prescriber has never met, which rules out instant online prescriptions. Buyers are not penalised, but access depends on a GP's judgement, and Dutch GPs are restrictive with antibiotics. |
| Germany | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3.2 | Amoxicillin is prescription-only (§ 48 AMG). A pharmacist who dispenses it without a prescription commits a crime: up to 1 year or a fine (§ 96 Nr. 13 AMG). The buyer is not punished. Getting it requires a doctor, in person or by telemedicine, who decides at their own discretion. Import by mail of prescription drugs also requires a prescription. |
| Singapore | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2.8 | Antibiotics are prescription-only medicines. Supplying them without a prescription is an offence under the Health Products Act, punished with a fine of up to S$50,000 and/or up to 2 years' jail; buyers are not penalised. Pharmacists cannot sell amoxicillin on request. A doctor, including a telemedicine doctor, decides whether to prescribe, and personal import also requires a prescription. |