Is Ephedrine legal in Honduras?

Legal status

Controlled as a precursor. Ephedrine is named in Cuadro I de la Convención de 1988, which the last paragraph of Article 321 of the Código Penal adopts: «Por precursores se entienden las sustancias recogidas en los Cuadros I y II de la Convención de Naciones Unidas contra el Tráfico Ilícito de Estupefacientes y Sustancias Psicotrópicas, hecha en Viena el 20 de diciembre de 1988.» The entry read was Ephedrine, Efedrina, CAS 299-42-3, HS code 2939.41, in the Table I section of the Red List. It is not named in Listas I, II or IV of the 1961 Convention or in Listas I to IV of the 1971 Convention, so Articles 311 and 312 are not the articles that reach it and Article 314 is.

Consequences if caught

Ephedrine is inside the drug trafficking chapter of the Código Penal as a precursor, under an article of its own and not under Art. 311. What distinguishes this row is that it is a precursor and not a drug, so the article that reaches it is a different one with a different penalty band. Art. 314 gives precursors an offence of their own at 4 to 6 years with a fine of 100 to 300 days, Art. 315 raises it to 6 to 10 years on the Art. 312 aggravators or on diversion by an authorised holder, and Art. 316 lowers it to 1 to 3 years on the Art. 313 circumstances. The Art. 311 bands of 4 to 7 years and 7 to 10 years and the Art. 312 band of 10 to 15 years are the drug offence figures and are not this row's. Art. 321 sets the special quantity in five categories, of marihuana, hashish, cocaine, opium and synthetic drug, none of which is engaged by this row. Art. 26 of Decreto 126/89, which set a first offence internment of up to 30 days in a rehabilitation centre with a fine, was repealed by Art. 632 of the Código Penal, which repeals Arts 16 to 30 and 41 of that law by name, so the 30 day figure is corrected here rather than restated. Nothing replaced it inside the Code's drug chapter, and Art. 311 reaches possession only where the substance is held for the purposes that article lists, so neither the Código Penal nor Decreto 126/89 as it now stands fixes a personal use quantity or a personal use measure. Those are the two instruments read for this cell, and other Honduran law was not searched for one. The Art. 311 bands of 4 to 7 and 7 to 10 years, the Art. 312 band of 10 to 15 years and the 30 day figure from Art. 26 are carried forward from the live cell and not re-derived here, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Honduras's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure. The Art. 311 fine, the lesser gravity terms, Art. 313 and the Art. 321 quantities are read from the Gaceta text and are new to this cell.

If prescribed or medical

Pharmacy ephedrine products are medicines, and the precursor control on the substance is aimed at bulk consignments rather than at a traveller's pack. Article 12 of Decreto 126/89 still puts medicines that contain a controlled substance behind a prescription in an authorised pharmacy. Carry the prescription and the original packaging and declare the quantity if you are asked.

Documentation

The instrument read for this cell is the consolidated text of the Ley sobre el Uso Indebido y Tráfico Ilícito de Drogas y Sustancias Psicotrópicas, Decreto 126/89, published by the Tribunal Superior de Cuentas, which carries its own footnote to La Gaceta 25992 of 23 November 1989 and to the Decreto 86-93 reform in La Gaceta 27162 of 1 October 1993, together with the Código Penal, Decreto 130-2017, as printed in La Gaceta 34,940 of 10 May 2019. Articles 16 to 30 and 41 of Decreto 126/89 were repealed by Article 632 of that Code, so the 1989 law now supplies definitions and administrative prohibitions and the Code supplies every offence. The live cell dated the Code to 10 November 2019, which is the date Article 635 as enacted would have produced from a publication of 10 May 2019; commencement was postponed twice and the Code took effect on 25 June 2020. That last date is carried from the reported amendment of Article 635 published in La Gaceta 35,247 of 9 May 2020, which was not read at the gazette for this cell. The schedules Article 321 adopts were read in the International Narcotics Control Board Yellow List, 65th edition of July 2026, the Green List, 36th edition of 2025, and the Red List, 23rd edition of July 2025, on 21 September 2026. Ephedrine was placed through the entries it is reached by and not under its own name. The entries read were Ephedrine, Efedrina, CAS 299-42-3, HS code 2939.41, in the Table I section of the Red List. Article 11 of Decreto 126/89 survives and still reads «Se prohíbe a toda persona mantener en su poder ya sea en sus ropas o valijas, en su domicilio, lugar de trabajo, automóvil o cualquier otro lugar bajo su orden y responsabilidad, sin autorización legal, cantidad alguna de estupefacientes y sustancias controladas», and Article 6 still routes the definitions through the conventions and the Reglamento de Control de Estupefacientes y otras Drogas Peligrosas, but the article that carried the penalty for breaching them is repealed, so that prohibition now stands without a sanction of its own. Carry any controlled medicine in its dispensing packaging with the prescription, and confirm the position with the Honduran consulate before you travel.

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