Is Ephedrine legal in Chile?

Legal status

Controlled as a chemical, not as a drug. The placement is established: this substance lies outside both listas of Decreto 867 and is a named controlled chemical in the artículo Segundo list of Decreto Supremo 1.358 de 2006, so the drug offences of Ley 20.000 artículos 1, 3 and 4 do not reach it and the chemical control regime of artículo 2 does.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Chile abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes by Ley 19.734 of 2001 [Likely, carried from a secondary source], and the escala general de penas in artículo 21 of the Código Penal, re-derived in this pass from the consolidated text of 20 November 2018, opens at presidio perpetuo calificado and names no death penalty [Certain]. No provision of Ley 20.000 carries a death penalty [Certain]. Ley 20.000 splits substances in two. Artículo 1 inciso primero reaches those capable of grave toxic effects or considerable harm to health, and inciso segundo reaches other drugs of the same kind that do not produce those effects. Decreto 867 puts the first group in its artículo 1 and the second in its artículo 2, so which artículo an entry sits in is what fixes the penalty range [Certain]. Placement: not in artículo 1 or artículo 2 of Decreto 867. Decreto Supremo 1.358 de 2006 del Ministerio del Interior, the precursor reglamento that artículo 3 of Decreto 867 points to, lists "33 Efedrina", with "50 Norefedrina" and "56 Seudoefedrina" listed separately in its artículo Segundo, read in the consolidated text of 14 May 2024 [Certain]. That is a controlled chemical regime and not a drug offence. Artículo 2 of Ley 20.000 punishes producing, distributing, transporting, importing, exporting, possessing or holding a controlled chemical with the object of destining it to preparing drugs for an offence under the law, with presidio menor en su grado máximo a presidio mayor en su grado mínimo, three years and one day to ten years, and a fine of forty to four hundred unidades tributarias mensuales. Where the destination was not known through inexcusable negligence the penalty falls to presidio menor en sus grados mínimo a medio [Certain]. Artículos 55 to 59 add a registration regime for handlers whose breach carries a fine of forty to one thousand unidades tributarias mensuales [Certain]. Ephedrine is in neither lista of Decreto 867. The only match inside artículo 2 was "Catina ((+)-norpseudoefedrina)", which is cathine and a different substance, and reading that entry is what stopped it being scored as a placement [Certain]. This reads Decreto 867 as at 21 September 2026, its listas last amended by Decreto 220 de 2022 published on 13 September 2022, and that does not rule out a later decreto; one is in fact mandated by the artículo transitorio of Ley 21.817 and due by 23 November 2026. The personal use framework does not reach this row. Artículo 50 of Ley 20.000, which turns personal consumption and personal possession into a falta, speaks only of the drugs mentioned in artículo 1 of the law, and this substance is in neither lista, so neither the falta nor the artículo 4 small quantity offence applies to it [Certain]. What applies is the controlled chemical regime set out above, and it turns on the purpose of the handling rather than on the quantity held [Certain]. The artículo transitorio of Ley 21.817 orders the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública to amend Decreto 867 within six months of publication, so by 23 November 2026, to add a new classification for substances harmful even in low quantities. The consolidated Decreto 867 read in this pass carries no list framed on quantity, so that classification is still pending [Certain].

If prescribed or medical

No prescription route arises from the drug law for a substance that is not in either lista [Certain]. Artículo 50 treats use for a medical treatment as justified where the drug law does apply [Certain]. The live cell this replaces carried the instruction to travel with any prescription and to confirm with the embassy [Likely, carried].

Documentation

What follows is Chile's personal use framework for drugs, given as background. It does not govern this row, because this substance is in neither lista of Decreto 867 and artículo 50 reaches only the drugs mentioned in artículo 1 of Ley 20.000 [Certain]. The regime that governs this row is the controlled chemical one described in the street block. Personal use of a small quantity, proximate in time and exclusive, is a falta under artículo 50 and not a crime, punished by a fine, a prevention or treatment programme, or community work [Certain]. That is not the same as saying prison cannot follow. Under artículo 52 the substitute penalties require the convicted person's agreement, and without it the court must convert the unpaid fine into reclusion at one day per third of a unidad tributaria mensual, which on the one to ten unidad range of artículo 50 reaches thirty days [Certain]. A traveller who declines the substitute programme and does not pay is the case this reaches. Decreto 867 states no numerical quantity for any substance and artículo 4 works from the open phrase pequeñas cantidades, so the line between artículo 4 and artículo 3 is judicial and not arithmetic [Certain]. Public consumption and agreed group consumption in private are both caught [Certain]. Medical cannabis has been available on prescription in Chile since 2015 under Decreto Supremo 84 [Likely, carried from the live cell and not re-derived in this pass]. Home cultivation is governed by artículo 8 of Ley 20.000, which sets no plant count; the six plant figure that circulates comes from reform bills and not from the law in force, a correction carried from the live cell and confirmed here in that artículo 8 states no number [Certain]. The live cell also carried a note that a 2025 to 2026 reform tightening penalties was before the Constitutional Court. What I can state is narrower: Ley 21.817 was published on 23 May 2026 and amended artículos 4, 5, 6, 7, 19 and 43 of Ley 20.000, it did not touch artículo 50, and whether it is the instrument that note described is not established. Travel with any controlled medicine in its packaging with the prescription.

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