Is 4-HO-MET legal in Australia?

Legal status

Controlled federally as a drug analogue of a listed drug; its border status is conditional and the Poisons Standard does not place it. 4-HO-MET (metocin) is not named in F2026L01327, in the Criminal Code Regulations 2019 or in Schedule 4 of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956, each as in force on 2 October 2026. Criminal Code s301.9(1) makes a substance a drug analogue of a listed drug if it is, among other things, «a structural modification obtained in one or more of the following ways», including «(iii) by the replacement of one or more of the groups or atoms specified in subsection (2) with one or more of the other groups or atoms specified in that subsection», or «(d) any other homologue, analogue, chemical derivative or substance substantially similar in chemical structure». Controlled drug: 4-HO-MET is 4-AcO-MET, which Schedule 1 item 3 lists («4-Acetoxy-N-methyl-N-ethyltryptamine (4-AcO-MET)»: 2.0 kg, 250.0 g, 2.0 g), with the acyloxy group replaced by a hydroxy group, groups specified in different paragraphs of s301.9(2) ((a) and (c)), which s301.9(1)(c)(iii) plainly describes; so it is a controlled drug at 4-AcO-MET's quantities. Border: 4-AcO-MET is not in Schedule 2, and the nearest listed border controlled drug is psilocine (Schedule 2 item 195: 0.1 kg, 0.1 g), from which 4-HO-MET differs by an N-methyl group becoming N-ethyl, a swap within the one alkyl paragraph s301.9(2)(b). The method used for every row is a reading, not a rule the Act states: a modification that limb (a) or limb (c) plainly describes is treated as making a drug analogue; one contestable modification (a swap within one paragraph of s301.9(2), or a core ring replaced), a single limb (d) change from the listed drug, or an express exclusion or different listing in the Regulations is treated as making the exposure conditional; anything more, including adding or removing a ring, is treated as outside s301.9. Because s301.9(1)(c) allows a modification «obtained in one or more of the following ways», the tier this gives can depend on how a change is described, and nothing read settles which description governs. On that method 4-HO-MET is a controlled drug, and a border controlled drug only conditionally. Described another way the step is plain: psilocine's N-methyl group gaining a methyl group in place of one of its hydrogen atoms, a hydrogen atom («hydrogen atoms», (2)(d)) replaced by an alkyl group ((2)(b)). Because s301.9(1)(c) allows a structural modification «obtained in one or more of the following ways», nothing read decides whether such a redescription, or a composition of steps, is accepted, so the tier depends on the description and this cell keeps the exposure conditional. Prohibited Imports Regulations: regulation 5(20) makes a drug include «an isomer or a mixture of isomers of a chemical or compound referred to in paragraph (a)», and 4-HO-MET has the same molecular formula, C13H18N2O, as 5-MeO-DMT, which Schedule 4 names («139C 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (otherwise known as 5-MEO-DMT)»). If «isomer» there reaches a structural isomer carrying different groups, and not only a stereoisomer, 4-HO-MET is a drug for regulation 5 and a prohibited import; nothing read settles that, so its prohibited import status is conditional. Poisons Standard: Poisons Standard s7(c) extends a named substance to «every salt, active principle or derivative of the substance, including esters and ethers», and the instrument does not define derivative. This data set reads it with the definition the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 give in regulation 5(20), «any substance chemically derived from the chemical or compound and from which the chemical or compound may be regenerated»: a salt, ester, ether or amide from which the named substance is regenerated is a derivative, and a compound from which it cannot be regenerated is not shown as one. Psilocine cannot be regenerated from 4-HO-MET, whose N-ethyl group does not convert back to N-methyl, so it is not shown as a derivative of psilocine; no class entry covers tryptamines, and its placement is a question for each state and territory applying the Standard. The Poisons Standard read is the Poisons Standard October 2026 (Federal Register of Legislation F2026L01327, made 28 September 2026, registered 30 September 2026, in force from 1 October 2026 under its s2, replacing the June 2026 issue; no later issue was registered when it was read). This cell states Commonwealth law only. The Poisons Standard has effect through adoption by each state and territory: its Reader's guide, which s5(1) of the instrument says is not part of it, states «The scheduling of poisons is implemented through relevant State and Territory legislation.» Most personal possession and use offences are state and territory law, which differs by jurisdiction, and Criminal Code s300.4 keeps those laws running concurrently with Part 9.1. Read as in force on 2 October 2026 against F2026L01327, the Criminal Code Act 1995 at Compilation No. 174 (compilation date 30 June 2026, C2026C00243), the Criminal Code Regulations 2019 at Compilation No. 6 (compilation date 13 December 2025, F2025C01260) and the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 at Compilation No. 147 (compilation date 13 July 2026, F2026C00751). The Criminal Code Regulations schedules are made by the Governor-General and the Poisons Standard by a delegate of the Secretary under Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 s52D, so a later instrument can change any of this, and this reading does not rule out a later amendment.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. The highest penalty anywhere in Part 9.1 of the Criminal Code is imprisonment for life, and Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973 s6 provides «The punishment of death must not be imposed as the penalty for any offence referred to in subsection 3(2) or (3).» The controlled drug offences apply: Trafficking 4-HO-MET (s302.1: selling, preparing for supply, transporting, guarding or possessing with intent to sell) is s302.4, imprisonment for 10 years or 2,000 penalty units, or both. As an analogue of 4-AcO-MET it takes that drug's quantities under s301.10 to s301.12 table item 2. Trafficking a marketable quantity, 250.0 g or more under Schedule 1 item 3 of the Criminal Code Regulations, is s302.3, 25 years or 5,000 penalty units, or both. A commercial quantity, 2.0 kg or more, is s302.2, imprisonment for life or 7,500 penalty units, or both. Under s302.5 a person who prepares, transports, guards or possesses a trafficable quantity, 2.0 g or more, is taken to have intended to sell unless they prove they had neither that intention nor belief, a legal burden (s13.4). Manufacturing 4-HO-MET for a commercial purpose is s305.5, 10 years or 2,000 penalty units, or both (12 years or 2,400 penalty units if a child under 14 is exposed, s310.4); s305.4 for a marketable quantity, 25 years or 5,000 penalty units (28 years or 5,600 aggravated); s305.3 for a commercial quantity, imprisonment for life or 7,500 penalty units, or both. Under s305.6 manufacturing a trafficable quantity presumes the commercial purpose, rebuttably. Possessing 4-HO-MET as a controlled drug is s308.1, imprisonment for 2 years or 400 penalty units, or both, and s308.1(3) lets the court deal with the offender as if the offence were the state or territory possession offence, so diversion available there is available here. Supplying any quantity to a child is s309.2, 15 years or 3,000 penalty units, or both. The border offences turn on the conditional border reading. If it holds: Import and export are offences of their own in Division 307 against the border controlled drug listing (Schedule 2 item 195), by s301.4(1)(b) as an analogue of psilocine, if that reading holds: s307.3, imprisonment for 10 years or 2,000 penalty units, or both, with a defence if the person proves no intention or belief that any would be sold; s307.4, which needs no commercial intent, 2 years or 400 penalty units, or both; s307.2 for a marketable quantity (0.1 g or more), 25 years or 5,000 penalty units, or both; s307.1 for a commercial quantity (0.1 kg or more), imprisonment for life or 7,500 penalty units, or both. Possessing an unlawfully imported quantity is s307.5 to s307.7 on the same thresholds, and possessing one reasonably suspected of unlawful import is s307.8 to s307.10. The Customs Act s233(5) leaves border controlled drugs to these offences rather than to the Customs Act smuggling offence. If it does not, Division 307 does not apply, Part 9.2 is excluded because 4-HO-MET is a controlled drug (s320.2(2)(j)), and the import is reached only if regulation 5(20) makes it a drug as an isomer of 5-MeO-DMT, in which case importing it without a licence and permission contravenes Customs Act s233(1)(b), punishable under s233AB(2) by a fine only, the greater of 3 times the value of the goods or 1,000 penalty units. Part 9.1, other than the import and export offences in Division 307, does not apply to conduct justified or excused by or under a state or territory law (s313.1), which is how lawful prescribing and dispensing sit outside it. There is no Commonwealth offence of using or consuming a drug; use is left to state and territory law. A penalty unit is $364 for an offence committed on or after 1 July 2026 under the Crimes (Amount of a Penalty Unit) Instrument 2026 (F2026N00424), made under Crimes Act 1914 s4AA, so 400 penalty units is $145,600, 2,000 is $728,000 and 7,500 is $2,730,000; «or both» in each penalty means the prison term and the fine are available alternatively or together. Quantities are proved under s312.1 as in force on 2 October 2026, by the pure drug in a mixture. A substituted s312.1, enacted by the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Act 2026 (assented to 26 August 2026), Schedule 2 Part 2, will «treat the mixture as consisting wholly of the prohibited substance»; it commences on a day fixed by Proclamation or at the latest on 26 August 2027, and no Proclamation was found when this was read.

If prescribed or medical

No prescription route: 4-HO-MET is not a medicine in any instrument read, and its analogue status makes possession a Part 9.1 matter without any medical exception.

Documentation

No traveller exemption is shown for 4-HO-MET. The Australian Border Force traveller guidance (abf.gov.au, read 2 October 2026) covers «Prescription medicines such as morphine, oxycodone, methadone, methylphenidate, Adderall®, and benzodiazepines» and nothing read for this cell treats a foreign prescription for 4-HO-MET as lawful authority for an import that Division 307 otherwise punishes. An import needs an Office of Drug Control licence and permission under regulation 5(1) of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956, and regulation 5(10) lets permission be granted only where, in the cases that apply to a private person, the drug «is required by the applicant for medical or scientific purposes». The personal importation rule in Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990 Schedule 5 item 1, which covers «therapeutic goods that are imported for therapeutic use in the treatment of the importer or the importer’s immediate family», does not help where the substance is a prohibited import, because it applies only where «the goods do not contain a substance the importation of which is prohibited under the Customs Act 1901».

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Australia’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.