Are Barbiturates legal in Timor-Leste?

Also known as: barbs

Legal status

Barbiturates are a class slug, and Lei 2/2017's Anexo II splits named barbiturates across two different tables with two different penalty bands, so no single citation answers for the class. Table II-C (article 5, paragraph 2(f): "substâncias do tipo barbitúrico de ação curta, de rápida absorção ou assimilação", short acting, fast absorption or assimilation barbiturate-type substances) names five: item 1 "Amobarbital", item 3 "Butalbital", item 4 "Ciclobarbital", item 11 "Pentobarbital", item 12 "Secobarbital". Table IV (article 5, paragraph 4, and article 4, paragraph 4: slow-acting barbiturates with confirmed antipyretic effects) names seven: item 1 "Alobarbital", item 5 "Barbital", item 9 "Butobarbital", item 28 "Fenobarbital" (phenobarbital), item 43 "Metilfenobarbital", item 58 "Secbutabarbital", item 63 "Vinilbital". No generic barbiturate catch-all clause closes either table beyond salts.

Consequences if caught

The range runs from 1 year to 16 years depending which table a given barbiturate sits in. For the five Table II-C members (amobarbital, butalbital, ciclobarbital, pentobarbital, secobarbital), article 7, paragraphs 1 and 2, apply the tabelas I a III band: 5 to 15 years unauthorized, 6 to 16 years where authorized but acting against the authorization. For the seven Table IV members (alobarbital, barbital, butobarbital, phenobarbital, metilfenobarbital, secbutabarbital, vinilbital), article 7, paragraph 3, applies the lower band: 1 to 5 years unauthorized, 2 to 8 years authorized-but-violating. Article 9 aggravates either band by two thirds at the minimum and maximum for the listed factors (distribution to many people, supply to minors, acting within a criminal organization, and others). Article 10's criminal-association band, 10 to 25 years for a founder and 12 to 25 years for a leader, applies to an organized group trafficking any of these twelve substances regardless of which table they sit in. Article 11 reduces a Table II-C barbiturate's band to 1 to 5 years, and a Table IV barbiturate's band to up to 3 years or a fine, where illicitude is considerably diminished; none of the twelve named barbiturates appears in Annex I's 16 item daily reference quantity table, so the reduced-gravity quantity test has no pinned figure for this class. Article 26 punishes personal consumption or possession for personal use of any Table I to IV substance, this class included, with up to 1 year's imprisonment or a fine of up to 120 days, the same ceiling regardless of which table the particular barbiturate falls under. 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. Article 12 gives an intermediate band where the sole purpose of an article 7 act was to obtain the substance for personal use: up to 2 years' imprisonment or a fine for a Table II-C member, up to 1 year's imprisonment or a fine for a Table IV member. 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.

If prescribed or medical

Article 6, paragraph 1, subjects all twelve named barbiturates, as Table I to IV substances, to Ministério da Saúde licensing on terms the article defers to a separate instrument not yet located. Decreto-Lei 2/2025 regulates pharmacy licensing generally without naming 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 any named barbiturate under Lei 2/2017 has 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 beyond the Ministério da Saúde licensing regime in article 6 has been found. A barbiturate not on either of the two lists above, for example a sodium thiopental-type anaesthetic, is a separate question not addressed here.

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.