Are Barbiturates legal in Indonesia?

Also known as: barbs

Legal status

Controlled across several golongan of Indonesia's Undang-Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1997 tentang Psikotropika: three different golongan of Psikotropika Golongan II of the Lampiran to Permenkes No. 14 Tahun 2025, Psikotropika Golongan III of the Lampiran to Permenkes No. 14 Tahun 2025 and Psikotropika Golongan IV of the Lampiran to Permenkes No. 14 Tahun 2025. No single sentence about barbiturates is true of all of them in Indonesia, because the class is split across three golongan of the psychotropics list. SEKOBARBITAL is item 3 of Golongan II. AMOBARBITAL is item 1 of Golongan III, with BUTALBITAL, PENTOBARBITAL and SIKLOBARBITAL in the same list. FENOBARBITAL is item 19 of Golongan IV, with BARBITAL and ALLOBARBITAL alongside it. 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

Capital exposure: none. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: this substance is placed in Psikotropika Golongan IV. The entry read is «the class is not a single entry; members are named individually, among them 5. BARBITAL: Asam 5,5-dietilbarbiturat and 19. FENOBARBITAL: Asam 5-etil-5-fenilbarbiturat». The KUHP Pasal 610 ayat (2) huruf a capital limb reaches a Golongan I narcotic only, and this row is not one. The psychotropics offences sit in a different Act with a different shape. Pasal 59(1) of Undang-Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1997 covers using, producing, distributing, importing and unlawfully possessing, storing or carrying a Golongan I psychotropic, at 4 to 15 years. Pasal 60 and the articles after it cover production, distribution and supply of psychotropics generally, in terms of years. There is no quantity ladder anywhere in this Act, so weight does not change the band, and there is no purity rule either. None of the three carries the death penalty, because Pasal 59(2) reaches only Golongan I and no barbiturate is in Golongan I. But the three classes carry different penalties and different handling rules, so the class name is not a useful unit here. A barbiturate that is on none of the three lists is not controlled at all, since there is no barbiturate class clause. The answer differs within this class and cannot be given once for all of its members, which is the point of this cell. Death is available under Pasal 59(2) of the psychotropics Act, and only there, and only for a Golongan I psychotropic where the offence is committed 「secara terorganisasi」, with no quantity threshold. Any member of this class that sits in Golongan I is therefore capital eligible on organised conduct. Any member in Golongan II, III or IV is not: those fall under Pasal 60 and the articles after it, in terms of years, with neither death nor life imprisonment. So the compound decides the answer and the class name does not.

If prescribed or medical

Phenobarbital is registered in Indonesia and is a World Health Organization essential medicine for epilepsy, dispensed on a psychotropics prescription. The Golongan II and III barbiturates have narrow or no current registration.

Documentation

Carry a prescribed barbiturate in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and expect the control level to depend on which barbiturate it is rather than on the class.

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