Is DXM legal in Suriname?

Legal status

Named in the act, and named in order to be excluded. Lijst I onderdeel A closes with an isomer clause reading 'De isomeren van vorengenoemde substanties in alle gevallen waarin deze isomeren kunnen bestaan overeenkomstig de specifieke chemische aanduiding, met uitzondering van Dextrometorphan en Dextrorphan', the isomers of the substances named above in every case where such isomers can exist according to the specific chemical designation, with the exception of Dextrometorphan and Dextrorphan. Dextromethorphan is therefore carved out of the one clause that would otherwise have caught it. It is not listed anywhere else in either annex. The text read for this cell is the consolidation that stops at S.B. 2002 no. 68, so it is twenty four years old. Article 3 lid 2 lets further middelen be designated by Staatsbesluit and article 3 lid 3 lets the Minister designate one at short notice with the approval of the Procureur-Generaal, and article 4 lid 2 does the same for lijst II. No register of those designations was located, so anything added since 2002 is outside what was read and this does not rule out a later designation.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. This act carries no death penalty and its heaviest sentence is levenslange gevangenisstraf, life imprisonment, under article 11 lid 1. Searched as 'dextrometorphan', 'dextromethorphan' and 'DXM'. The first returns the exclusion and the other two return nothing. The carve-out is not decorative. 'Levometorphan', 'Racemetorphan', 'Levorphanol' and 'Racemorphan' are all printed as entries of onderdeel A, and dextromethorphan is the dextro isomer of racemethorphan, so without the exception the isomer clause would have made it a lijst I narcotic. The drafter saw that and wrote it out, along with dextrorphan, its active metabolite. This is the only substance in the whole batch whose position rests on an express exclusion rather than on a listing or on silence, and it is a stronger finding than an absence for that reason. What it does not settle is whether some later Staatsbesluit has designated it under article 3 lid 2, which is a separate question from the annex. One structural point governs how far an entry reaches. Only lijst I onderdeel A closes with the isomer, ester, ether and salt clauses; lijst I onderdeel B closes with an isomer and salt clause; and lijst I onderdeel C, lijst I onderdeel D and both parts of lijst II onderdeel A close with a single sentence, 'Preparaten die één of meer van vorengenoemde substanties bevatten', preparations containing one or more of the substances named above, and nothing else. There is no analogue limb and no definition by effect anywhere in the act. No offence in this act reaches it on the text read. Every prohibition in articles 3 and 4 is framed by reference to lijst I, to lijst II or to a designation made under article 3 lid 2, article 3 lid 3 or article 4 lid 2, and the only place this substance appears in either annex is in the sentence that takes it out of the lijst I onderdeel A isomer clause. The bands in article 11, which run from at most seven years up to levenslange gevangenisstraf, therefore have nothing to attach to on this row.

If prescribed or medical

Dextromethorphan is sold as a cough suppressant, often without prescription. This act does not place it on either list, so the article 5 recept machinery and the article 7 exemptions do not reach it. Whether it is regulated as a medicine, as a food or as a consumer product under Suriname's separate law was not established here, because that law was not read.

Documentation

Nothing in this act requires documentation for it, and a cough preparation containing it is not a preparation containing a listed substance. No controlled drug documentation duty arises under this act, because the substance is outside it. Carry any prescribed medicine in its original packaging with the prescription in the ordinary way. No local traveller permit scheme under this act was established here, and the text relied on stops at S.B. 2002 no. 68. Any lijst, onderdeel or numbered part named in this cell are read from the annex to the act itself and are not printed in the quoted dossier extract, whose quotation column for this jurisdiction carries no division marker for any substance.

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