Is Xanax (Alprazolam) legal in Timor-Leste?

Legal status

Alprazolam is named at Table IV, item 2, of Lei 2/2017's Anexo II: "Alprazolam - 8-cloro-1-metil-6-fenil-4 H-s-triazol [4,3-(alfa)] [1,4] benzodiazepina" (English: alprazolam, 8-chloro-1-methyl-6-phenyl-4H-s-triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepine). Article 4, paragraph 4, states that Table IV corresponds to Schedule IV of the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and article 3 subjects plants, substances and preparations in Tables I to IV to this law's regime.

Consequences if caught

Article 7, paragraph 3, sets the band for Table IV substances: 1 to 5 years' imprisonment for unauthorized cultivation, production, manufacture, extraction, preparation, offering, sale, distribution, purchase, transport, import, export or possession (paragraph 3(a), applying paragraph 1's list of acts), and 2 to 8 years where the person holds an authorization but acts against it (paragraph 3(b), applying paragraph 2). Article 9 aggravates both figures by two thirds at the minimum and maximum where a listed factor applies, among them distribution to a large number of people, supply to minors or the mentally ill, and acting within a criminal organization. Article 10 separately punishes founding, financing or joining a criminal association formed to commit article 7 or 8 crimes: 10 to 25 years for a promoter or founder, 5 to 15 years for a member, 12 to 25 years for a leader or director, regardless of which table the association's substances fall under. Article 11, paragraph 1(b), reduces the band to up to 3 years' imprisonment or a fine where illicitude is considerably diminished for a Table IV substance; alprazolam does not appear in Annex I's 16 item daily reference quantity table, so the quantity limb of that reduced band is not pinned by a figure for this particular substance. Article 12 gives an intermediate band where the sole purpose of the article 7 act was to obtain the substance for personal use: up to 1 year's imprisonment or a fine. Article 26 punishes illicit personal consumption, or cultivation, production, manufacture, extraction, preparation, acquisition or possession for one's own exclusive use, of a Table I to IV substance with up to 1 year's imprisonment or a fine of up to 120 days. Article 26, paragraph 2, raises this to up to 2 years' imprisonment or a fine of up to 240 days where the quantity found exceeds five times the Annex I reference figure; none of the 16 substances in Annex I's table include this one, so no figure is pinned here specifically. Article 26, paragraph 3, allows an occasional user to be excused penalty entirely in the paragraph 1 case. No death penalty is provided anywhere in Lei 2/2017. The Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, quoted in Lei 2/2017's own preamble, states that the State "proíbe, em absoluto, a existência da pena de morte" (English: absolutely prohibits the existence of the death penalty); the preamble cites this as part of why Lei 2/2017 replaced Indonesia's Law 5/1997, whose own penalty scheme for drug trafficking included the death penalty. The highest figure reachable under Lei 2/2017 itself is not article 10's 25 years for an association leader: article 9's two-thirds aggravation applies to the penalties in articles 7 and 8 generally, so a Table I to III offence under article 7, paragraph 2 (6 to 16 years, authorized but acting against the authorization), aggravated under article 9, runs to roughly 10 to 26 years and 8 months, above article 10's 25 year ceiling for a leader; this combination does not arise for alprazolam itself, a Table IV substance, where the equivalent aggravated figure is roughly 3 years 4 months to 13 years 4 months.

If prescribed or medical

Article 6, paragraph 1, subjects the cultivation, production, manufacture, use, trade, distribution, import, export, transit, transport, advertising, use or possession of a Table I to IV substance, alprazolam included, to licensing, conditions and authorizations issued by the Ministério da Saúde, on terms the article itself defers to a separate instrument ("nos termos a definir em diploma próprio"). That separate instrument, which would create an actual prescribing or pharmacy-supply route, has not been located. Decreto-Lei 2/2025 regulates pharmacy licensing generally and cross-refers to Lei 2/2017's own tables for its definition of a controlled substance; it does not itself name which Table I to IV substances a doctor may prescribe, so it is not cited here as a prescription route. No prescription or medical-supply pathway for alprazolam under Lei 2/2017 has therefore been established by this reading.

Documentation

Decreto-Lei 19/2009, de 8 de Abril, is Timor-Leste's Penal Code, and Lei 2/2017's own preamble states that the Penal Code's third amendment, Lei 5/2013, de 14 de Agosto, "não se traduziu na criminalização do tráfico ilícito e o consumo de estupefacientes e substâncias psicotrópicas" (English: did not result in the criminalization of illicit trafficking and consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances), and that before Lei 2/2017 the operative drug law was Indonesia's Law 5/1997, carried over under article 165 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. Lei 2/2017 is accordingly Timor-Leste's first domestic drug-trafficking law; no later one has been found, and no drug-trafficking chapter of the Penal Code has been located. No separate traveller or import-permit rule for alprazolam, beyond the Ministério da Saúde licensing regime in article 6, which is itself deferred to an instrument not yet located, has been found.

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