Are Barbiturates legal in Ghana?

Legal status

Barbiturates in medical use are controlled substances for medical supply in Ghana, and no barbiturate is named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), list «PENTOBARBITAL» under «Substances in Schedule III (1971 Convention)» and «BARBITAL» and «PHENOBARBITAL» under «Substances in Schedule IV (1971 Convention)», and define a psychotropic substance as one «listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention»; the Green List 2024 carries secobarbital in Schedule II, amobarbital, butalbital, cyclobarbital and pentobarbital in Schedule III, and barbital, phenobarbital and others in Schedule IV. Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». In Act 1019 the search for barbital, barbituric and each of those names returned no entry. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating any barbiturate as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. No barbiturate is named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.

If prescribed or medical

The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read.

Documentation

Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

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