Trieste. When we wore shorts, mum and dad would take us on board the legendary 600, heading across the border to Tito's Yugoslavia. We bought petrol, meat and cigarettes at bargain prices. Today people from Trieste run to nearby Slovenia, but to stock up on Viagra and other drugs that cost much less.
With Marshal Tito still alive, the journey behind the Iron Curtain, a stone's throw from home, was adventurous, at least the first few times. The graniciaries, the border guards, armed with machine guns and with the red star on the sachet, looked like terrible big men. Those who lived in Trieste had the «propusnica», a pass that allowed you to pass through the smaller crossings. Woe to bringing a few more grams of meat to Italy, or a carton of cigarettes too many. If it worked out for you, you'd have a bad time, otherwise they could keep you on guard for a night.
The world is changing: Tito's Yugoslavia no longer exists and neither do the border bars with neighboring Slovenia which has become part of the European family. There is no saving, as in the past, for petrol and even less for meat and cigarettes.
The new frontier of low cost is the magical blue pill, which makes you young again, at least in bed and all its local derivatives, much cheaper than in Italy. Pharmaceutical spending in Slovenia by people from Trieste also concerns anxiolytics and medicines for osteoporosis, according to the Julian newspaper "Il Piccolo". Swarms of spry old men over 60 move to Rabuiese, Skofie or Capodistria, just across the border, to stock up on Viagra. The 100 milligram package of the magical blue pill costs 34.19 euros in Slovenia, compared to 55.50 in Italy. The substitute, Cialis, with four 20 milligram pills is sold by Slovenians at 46.11 euros compared to 56 in Trieste. But the product that seems to be going very well is Vizarnis, the Slovenian generic of Viagra, which costs just 33 euros.
«Pfizer, which produces Viagra, has a commercial policy in Italy and another in Slovenia. We are the losers because the multinationals "sow" in the new countries. Any drug, however, must be taken when needed and not for the offer you buy three and pay for two »explains to «Il Giornale», Sandro Fumaneri, president of Federfarma in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
The convenience of buying in Slovenia mainly concerns category C drugs, which have fixed prices here. If men aim for Viagra, women over fifty with osteoporosis problems go to Slovenia to buy ad hoc drugs such as Evista in tablets. «One of our regular customers always buys three packs at a time – explains to Il Piccolo, Jadranka, owner of a pharmacy in Koper -. And, according to him, he spends an amount that in Italy would allow him to buy just two». The savings per pack is almost 8 euros. The low cost pharmaceutical also works with sedatives and anxiolytics, such as 1 milligram of Xanax. Over the border it costs about half compared to Italy, but also less than the generic one sold by us. Some Slovenian pharmacies, close to the border, guarantee that customers' 50% arrives from Italy. The prescriptions of the Italian general practitioner are also valid in Slovenia and the cost of the drug can be deducted from taxes. From Trieste pharmacies there is no lack of reply: «Many Slovenians and Croatians also come to buy medicines from us, because they can't find them at home or they cost more
