Is DXM legal in Argentina?

Legal status

Not controlled as an estupefaciente. It is named in terms in the closing clause of Anexo I and expressly excepted from the list.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the consolidated text of Ley 23.737 published by InfoLEG: the words muerte and perpetua each return zero hits across the whole Act, so it carries neither a capital route nor a life route, and the heaviest term anywhere in it is the eight to twenty years of article 7. The scope of that measurement is this Act. It is not a statement about any other body of Argentine law. [Certain] Argentina places substances by delegated executive list. Article 40 of Ley 23.737 rewrote the last paragraph of article 77 of the Penal Code to read that el término estupefacientes comprende los estupefacientes, psicotrópicos y demás sustancias susceptibles de producir dependencia física o psíquica que se incluyan en las listas que se elaboren y actualicen periódicamente por decreto del Poder Ejecutivo nacional. Article 2 of Decreto 560/2019 then makes that a dual list: it considers estupefacientes las sustancias incluidas en la lista del Anexo I y las sustancias que queden incluidas en los grupos químicos de la lista del Anexo II. Anexo I was substituted by Decreto 122/2026, published 02/03/2026, and now runs to 886 numbered rows. Anexo II carries seventeen chemical groups and has not been substituted. A search of Ley 23.737 for a substance name is therefore not a scheduling result. [Certain] Read in this pass at Anexo I, closing clause. The clause reads: "Conjuntamente con dichas sustancias deben contemplarse sus isómeros ópticos, sales y sales de sus isómeros ópticos, a excepción del dextrometorfano [(+)-3-metoxi-N-metilmorfinano] y el dextrorfano [(+)-3-hidroxi-N-metilmorfinano]". [Certain] There is also no row for it in the alphabetical sequence: Fila 393 is Despropionilo orto-metilfentanilo and Fila 394 is Dextropropoxifeno, with no row between them. The exception matters because the levo isomer is listed, so without it this substance would have been swept in as the optical isomer of a listed substance. It is named in terms and taken out. The exception is written for one isomer and not for the molecule, and the row that shows this is Fila 633, whose Sustancia reads Metorfán (Levometorfano, Racemetorfano), whose Denominación Química reads 3-metoxi-N-metilmorfinano and whose Nombre IUPAC reads 3-metoxi-17-metilmorfinano. That is the same chemical name the closing clause gives this substance, qualified there by the (+) prefix. So the racemate is a listed estupefaciente in its own right at Fila 633, and only the (+) isomer, dextromethorphan, is excepted. A preparation sold or carried as racemetorfano or as levometorfano is on the list. A preparation that is dextromethorphan is not. That distinction is the whole of this row, and it is why the cell does not simply say the substance is uncontrolled. [Certain] The list read for this row is the complete Anexo I, all 886 numbered rows, taken from the text-layer PDF that the Boletín Oficial publishes and that the decree's own NOTA names as the place its annexes appear. Its sha256 is 197fce006cd7388d4eb06adae573487d2fe820976f55f242d0623e3215deca62 and a copy is kept at research/instruments/argentina/. The low resolution image served on the two normativa pages omits one page of that annex, Fila 614 to 651; the Boletín Oficial PDF does not, and every figure here was read from the PDF. [Certain] Every statement above about what the list does and does not contain was read as at the Anexo I substituted by Decreto 122/2026, published 02/03/2026, read together with Anexo II of Decreto 560/2019, which was the current text when this cell was written. This does not rule out a later decree substituting or amending either annex, and it does not rule out a placement under some instrument other than these two. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the articles themselves. Article 14 first paragraph sets prisión de uno a seis años, one to six years, and a fine for anyone who holds estupefacientes. Article 14 second paragraph reduces that to un mes a dos años, one month to two years, when, por su escasa cantidad y demás circunstancias, surgiere inequívocamente que la tenencia es para uso personal. Article 5 sets prisión de cuatro (4) a quince (15) años, four to fifteen years, y multa de cuarenta y cinco (45) a novecientas (900) unidades fijas, for anyone acting sin autorización o con destino ilegítimo who sows or cultivates, produces, manufactures, extracts or prepares, trades or holds for the purposes of trade, distributes, gives in payment, stores or transports, or delivers, supplies, applies or facilitates to others for payment. A delivery free of charge is tres (3) a doce (12) años, three to twelve years. Article 5 drops to un mes a dos años, one month to two years, where the escasa cantidad sown or cultivated shows unequivocally it was to obtain estupefacientes for the person's own consumption, and to seis (6) meses a tres (3) años, six months to three years, where a free and occasional supply was plainly for the recipient's own use. Article 6 sets the same four to fifteen years for importing and then illegitimately altering the declared destination, dropping to three to twelve years where the quantity shows unequivocally the goods were not for trade. Article 7 sets prisión de ocho (8) a veinte (20) años, eight to twenty years, y multa de noventa (90) a mil ochocientas (1.800) unidades fijas for organising or financing any of the article 5 or article 6 activities. Article 11 raises the penalties in the preceding articles en un tercio del máximo a la mitad del mínimo for its six listed aggravations, among them use of a person under eighteen, violence or deceit, three or more organised participants, and commission near a school, a health centre, a place of detention or a sporting or cultural institution, and the same sentence caps the increase in its own words, sin que las mismas puedan exceder el máximo legal de la especie de pena de que se trate. Arithmetic on article 7 plus article 11 gives twenty six years and eight months, which is a derivation and not a figure the Act states, and the species cap governs it. Article 17 lets the court suspend the sentence in an article 14 second paragraph case where personal use and dependence are proved and order a curative measure instead, and a satisfactory result exempts the person from the penalty. Article 16 adds a curative measure to the sentence of any dependent person convicted of any offence. The figures in the preceding sentences are the penalties Argentina publishes for offences involving estupefacientes. They are stated here so that nothing is dropped, and they are not this row's exposure, because this substance is named in the closing clause of Anexo I and expressly taken out of it, so it is not an estupefaciente and none of those offences reaches it under that name. The racemate is a different matter and is dealt with above. [Likely] Carried from the live cell rather than re-derived here, because the ruling is not on the instrument pages read in this pass: the 2009 Corte Suprema decision in Arriola held the article 14 second paragraph penalty unconstitutional for consumption in private that harms nobody else, under article 19 of the Constitution. That ruling binds its own case. Lower courts vary, police still arrest, and the statute fixes no gram threshold, so decriminalised is not legalised and sale and purchase remain criminal.

If prescribed or medical

[Certain] Re-derived in this pass. Article 5 of Ley 23.737 opens with the words sin autorización o con destino ilegítimo, so an authorised medical channel sits outside it. Article 8 sets reclusión o prisión de tres a quince años, three to fifteen years, a fine and special disqualification for five to twelve years for a person authorised to produce, manufacture, extract, prepare, import, export, distribute or sell estupefacientes who holds them in quantities other than those authorised, or who applies, delivers or sells them sin receta médica o en cantidades mayores a las recetadas. Article 9 sets prisión de dos a seis años, two to six years, a fine and disqualification for one to five years for a doctor or other authorised prescriber who prescribes, supplies or delivers estupefacientes fuera de los casos que indica la terapéutica o en dosis mayores de las necesarias, rising to reclusión o prisión de cuatro a quince años, four to fifteen years, where the destination is illegitimate. Article 1 of the same Act replaced article 204 of the Penal Code, which sets prisión de seis meses a tres años, six months to three years, for a person authorised to sell medicinal substances who supplies them otherwise than in accordance with the prescription, or without presenting and filing it where the regulations require one. [Certain] Those articles do not reach this row. The closing clause of Anexo I names this substance and takes it out, so it is not an estupefaciente and the prescription offences in articles 8 and 9, which are drawn around estupefacientes, have nothing to attach to. A product containing it may still be a prescription medicine under the ANMAT medicines regime, which is a separate instrument that was not read in this pass. [Likely] Carried from the published dossier prepared for this country, not re-derived here: for an authorised medicine a traveller should hold the original labelled package, the prescription that medicine requires, and a medical certificate in Spanish naming the patient, the active ingredient, the dose, the quantity and the treatment period. Import rules and ANMAT authorisation remain product specific, and none of those documents creates a personal use quantity or authorises an illicit preparation.

Documentation

[Likely] Carried from the live cell: medical cannabis is lawful for registered patients only, and recreational sale and purchase remain criminal offences. The instrument named for that regime, Ley 27.350, was not read in this pass. [Likely] Carried from the published dossier: carry any controlled medicine in its original labelled package with the prescription it requires and a medical certificate in Spanish naming the patient, the active ingredient, the dose, the quantity and the treatment period, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel. Import rules and ANMAT authorisation are product specific. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass for this row: this substance is named in the closing clause of the list and expressly excepted, so it is not an estupefaciente and the cannabis and estupefaciente documentation above is context rather than a requirement for it.

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