Is Crack Cocaine legal in Solomon Islands?

Legal status

Controlled. 'Crack' is not a word used in any instrument read, so the answer rests on the compound. Cocaine is a named Part III drug of the Dangerous Drugs Act (Cap. 98), reprint as in force at 1 October 2009. Section 13(1)(d) applies Part III to 'cocaine (including synthetic cocaine) and ecgonine and their respective salts and the esters of ecgonine and their respective salts', so the compound and its salts are listed separately, and section 2 defines cocaine by a chemical name and formula as the compound itself, not as a salt. The identity is taken from a chemical record and not from any law read: the US National Library of Medicine MeSH concept M0025291 (Crack Cocaine) carries the scope note 'The purified, alkaloidal, extra-potent form of cocaine. It is smoked (free-based), injected intravenously, and orally ingested...', so crack is a form of cocaine and falls within section 13(1)(d). For a street product that is an admixture, section 13(1)(e) separately reaches 'any dilution or solution of morphine or cocaine or their salts in an inert substance, whether liquid or solid, containing any proportion of morphine or cocaine', and 'any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance (not being such a dilution or solution as aforesaid) containing not less than... one-tenth per centum of cocaine or of ecgonine', which applies only where the admixture meets that proportion. The proclamation of 21 September 1987 (LN 101 of 1987) also lists 'Cocaine' on printed page 2821 and 'Ecgonine, and any derivative of ecgonine which is convertible to ecgonine or to cocaine' on printed page 2822. The named entries govern and no generic clause is needed. Schedule B Part I of the Pharmacy and Poisons Act lists 'Cocaine', 'Coca, alkaloids of' and 'Ecgonine; its esters' as poisons, which is a sale restriction and separate from drug control. The coca plant is a separate Part I matter and is not what this answer addresses.

Consequences if caught

Crack as cocaine, a Part III drug: Personal possession: section 20 makes it an offence against the Act when a Part III drug is found in a person's possession or kept in any place other than the appointed store, unless he can prove that it was obtained under the authority of the Act, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent. The burden of proof is on the accused and the section sets no quantity threshold. Possession for supply and trafficking: the Act's text states no separate offence of possession for supply or of trafficking for Part III drugs. Sale and distribution: these are left to rules the Minister may make under section 15(1)(b), and the only rules located are the 2025 methylamphetamine rules, so a sale offence for this substance is not verified beyond the general offence in section 39(1)(a) of contravening the Act or a rule under it. Import and export are two separate offences: sections 14, 23, 25, 28 and 30 prohibit them except in accordance with sections 22 to 30, section 3 limits entry and exit to a port approved by notice, and a person exporting in contravention is also liable under section 35(2) to forfeit treble the value of the goods or 2,000 penalty units at the option of the Comptroller of Customs and Excise. Manufacture: section 15(1)(a) lets rules prohibit manufacture except on licensed premises, and the Act's text states no manufacture offence itself. Cultivation: the coca leaf plant is a Part I matter and is not crack; section 7 forbids cultivating it, section 8(a) makes growing it an offence 'whether for private use or otherwise', and those Part I offences state no penalty of their own, so section 39(2) applies to them as well. Use or consumption: the instruments read state no separate offence of use for Part III drugs, so possession under section 20 is the exposure. Administrative offences: section 39(1)(b) and (c) cover breach of licence conditions and false statements to obtain a licence or authority. Penalty: no penalty is otherwise prescribed, so section 39(2) applies to each offence, namely on conviction by the court sitting with assessors a fine of 100,000 penalty units or imprisonment for ten years or both, and on summary conviction a fine of 5,000 penalty units or imprisonment for six months or both, with forfeiture of all articles in respect of which the offence was committed. Fine and imprisonment may be cumulative ('or to both such fine and imprisonment'). Section 39(4) gives attempting, soliciting and inciting the same punishment, and section 39(3) requires the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for proceedings under section 39(1)(a). The Act's drug provisions state no death penalty. The Act does not state the value of a penalty unit and none is converted here. Section 21(1) forbids trade in, or manufacture for trade of, products from the ecgonine alkaloids of the coca leaf that were not in medical or scientific use on 13 July 1931; whether it reaches crack turns on that 1931 fact, which the instruments read do not give. A smokable form for medical use is not described in any instrument read.

If prescribed or medical

The medical route is in the Dangerous Drugs Act itself. Section 15(1)(c) lets the Minister make rules regulating the issue by medical practitioners of prescriptions containing a Part III drug and the dispensing of them, and section 15(2) requires the rules to authorise a pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and druggist to retail, dispense or compound such drugs in the ordinary course of business. Section 19 limits withdrawal from the store to a registered medical practitioner, licensed pharmacist, registered dentist, qualified veterinary surgeon, an approved plantation hospital attendant, or a person approved for recognised Mission medical work. Section 20 treats possession in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner as a matter the accused may prove. Section 39(3) bars imprisonment without the option of a fine, and caps the fine at 100 penalty units, for an inadvertent breach of the rules on keeping books or on prescriptions. Rules under section 15 other than the 2025 methylamphetamine rules were not located, so the detailed prescription rules for crack and the cocaine it consists of are not verified. The Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 105, reprint as in force 5 February 2024) also speaks to prescriptions for these drugs in its own text. Section 36(4) reads 'A prescription which does not comply with the provisions of this section shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 37(2) reads that every prescription 'containing any of the drugs to which any Act as to the sale of dangerous drugs, for the time being in force, relates, shall be retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of two years and filed in the pharmacy'. Section 38(c) provides that a pharmacist shall not 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which subsection (2) of section 37 relates'. The Poisons Rules (1996 Revised Edition) list 'Cocaine' on printed page 3024 and 'Ecgonine' on printed page 3026 in the Fourth Schedule, and rule 11(1) forbids a sale of a Fourth Schedule poison except on a prescription of a registered medical practitioner, registered dentist or qualified veterinary surgeon. Under rule 11(3) a prescription must be in writing, signed with the usual signature and dated, give the prescriber's address, give the name and address of the person treated, and indicate the total amount to be supplied and the dose to be taken; under rule 11(4) it may not be dispensed more than once unless the prescriber states that it may, and the dispenser must note the seller's name, address and date on it and keep it on the premises for two years. The Poisons List in Schedule B Part I of the Pharmacy and Poisons Act also lists 'Cocaine', which restricts retail sale to authorised sellers (section 56(1)(a), (2)); that is a pharmacy sale control and is separate from the drug control above. Current force is the open point for this Fourth Schedule entry. The Rules were read in the 1996 Revised Edition only. The 2024 reprint of the Act has section 61 (rules) and endnotes showing repeals by Act No. 5 of 1997 and amendments in 2009 and 2023, does not print the Rules, and nothing read says they were amended or revoked.

Documentation

Importing crack as a Part III drug requires an import authorisation in Form C granted by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health and Medical Services under section 26, and section 28 provides that no dangerous drug shall be imported unless the person to whom it is consigned holds a valid and subsisting import authorisation. Section 29 requires an export authorisation or diversion certificate from a country party to the Convention to accompany the drug, and section 31 sets the transit conditions. The only quantity exemption from the transit rules is section 31(5), for quantities that bona fide form part of the medical stores of a ship or aircraft. The sections read state no exemption for a traveller's personal supply, so none is established, and the Convention as defined in section 2 names only the 1912, 1925 and 1931 instruments. Coca leaf and coca seed are Part I substances, and sections 4(2) and 5 prohibit their import and export without stating any authorisation route. A reported Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2025 was not read.

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