Is 4-HO-MET legal in Indonesia?
- Legal status
- Not a narkotika and not a psikotropika under Indonesia's Undang-Undang Nomor 35 Tahun 2009 tentang Narkotika or Undang-Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1997 tentang Psikotropika: named in none of the seven current golongan: Narkotika Golongan I, II and III of Permenkes No. 15 Tahun 2025, and Psikotropika Golongan I, II, III and IV of Permenkes No. 14 Tahun 2025. 4-HO-MET, metocin, is in none of the seven current golongan. Searches for 4-HO, metosin and the hydroxytryptamine fragment return nothing. The model: each Act carries its own list for the first time only, and every change since is a Ministerial regulation. Pasal 6(1) of Undang-Undang Nomor 35 Tahun 2009 tentang Narkotika divides narcotics into Golongan I, II and III. Pasal 6(2) then provides that 「Penggolongan Narkotika sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (1) untuk pertama kali ditetapkan sebagaimana tercantum dalam Lampiran I dan merupakan bagian yang tak terpisahkan dari Undang-Undang ini」, so the Act's own annex governs only the first classification. The empowering article is Pasal 6(3): 「Ketentuan mengenai perubahan penggolongan Narkotika sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (2) diatur dengan Peraturan Menteri」. The psychotropics Act is built the same way: Pasal 2(3) of Undang-Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1997 tentang Psikotropika sets the four golongan 「untuk pertamakali」 in its annex and Pasal 2(4) provides that 「Ketentuan lebih lanjut untuk penetapan dan perubahan jenis-jenis psikotropika sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (3) diatur oleh Menteri」. So neither Act's annex is the operative list today. The narcotics list in force is the Lampiran to Peraturan Menteri Kesehatan Nomor 15 Tahun 2025 tentang Perubahan Penggolongan Narkotika, ditetapkan 21 November 2025, diundangkan 28 November 2025, Berita Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 2025 Nomor 989, which revoked Permenkes Nomor 7 Tahun 2025. The psychotropics list in force is the Lampiran to Peraturan Menteri Kesehatan Nomor 14 Tahun 2025 tentang Penetapan dan Perubahan Penggolongan Psikotropika, Berita Negara Tahun 2025 Nomor 988, which revoked Permenkes Nomor 6 Tahun 2025. The Act itself was last amended by Undang-Undang Nomor 6 Tahun 2023. One part of the scheme is still in the Act and not in any regulation: the Prekursor Narkotika in Lampiran II, Tabel I and Tabel II, which neither Permenkes restates.
- Consequences if caught
- Neither Act creates an offence for this substance, so neither the narcotics ladder in Pasal 111 to 127 nor the psychotropics offences in Pasal 59 and following can engage on any facts. What governs it instead is named in the status above. The tryptamines here are individually enumerated: DMT, alfa-metiltriptamina at item 100, 5-MeO-MiPT at item 101, psilocin at item 46 and psilocybin at item 47. 4-HO-MET is a close relative of psilocin, differing by one N-alkyl substitution, and there is no tryptamine class clause to reach it. So it is not controlled by either Act. Capital and life exposure. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no offence under either Act engages at all. The capital provisions are Pasal 113(2), 114(2) and 116(2) for Golongan I narcotics, Pasal 118(2), 119(2) and 121(2) for Golongan II, and Pasal 59(2) of the psychotropics Act for Golongan I psychotropics. Every one of them operates on a substance in a named Golongan, and this substance is in none of the seven lists: Narkotika Golongan I, II and III, and Psikotropika Golongan I, II, III and IV. Golongan III narcotics carry no death penalty in any event. The precursor tables in Lampiran II of the Act were also read and this substance is in neither of them, so Pasal 129 does not apply either. No quantity and no conduct reaches a capital or life sentence for it under these two Acts.
- If prescribed or medical
- 4-HO-MET holds no Indonesian medicine registration and no tryptamine of this family is prescribed here.
- Documentation
- No narcotics or psychotropics document applies.
- Undang-Undang Nomor 35 Tahun 2009 tentang Narkotika, LN 2009/143, TLN 5062, as amended by Undang-Undang Nomor 6 Tahun 2023, and Undang-Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1997 tentang Psikotropika, LN 1997/10, TLN 3671
- empowering articles Pasal 6(3) and Pasal 2(4) respectively, both of which were checked because a finding of absence has to hold against both regimes
- absence was established by reading all seven current lists in full, Narkotika Golongan I, II and III from Permenkes Nomor 15 Tahun 2025 and Psikotropika Golongan I, II, III and IV from Permenkes Nomor 14 Tahun 2025, and both precursor tables from Lampiran II of the Act, and by reading every apparent text match in its surrounding region rather than counting it as an entry
- the finding is named in none of the seven current golongan: Narkotika Golongan I, II and III of Permenkes No. 15 Tahun 2025, and Psikotropika Golongan I, II, III and IV of Permenkes No. 14 Tahun 2025
- All seven current golongan read in full and the tryptamine entries enumerated, with the regions searched for the compound under three names. Aceh runs a separate criminal code for some conduct and is a separate jurisdiction in this dataset
- the Qanun Aceh Nomor 6 Tahun 2014 tentang Hukum Jinayat was read for this batch and mentions narkotika and psikotropika zero times, so narcotics law in Aceh is the national Act unchanged. Read 2026-09-17
- e-pharm.kemkes.go.id
- jdih.kemkes.go.id
- jdih.kemkes.go.id
- e-pharm.kemkes.go.id
Court records
The Supreme Court database can be searched only by case number or party name, so drug cases cannot be located by substance.
Source checked Mahkamah Agung decision database · 2026-08-27
Other substances confirmed in Indonesia
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