Is Heroin legal in Timor-Leste?

Also known as: diacetylmorphine, smack

Legal status

Heroin is named at Table I-A, item 58, of Lei 2/2017's Anexo II: "Heroína - 3,6-diacetoxi-4,5-epoxi-17-metil-7-morfineno; diacetilmorfina" (English: heroin, 3,6-diacetoxy-4,5-epoxy-17-methyl-7-morphinene, also described as diacetylmorphine). Article 4, paragraph 1, states Table I corresponds to Schedules I, II and IV of the 1961 Single Convention.

Consequences if caught

Article 7, paragraphs 1 and 2, apply the tabelas I a III band to a Table I-A substance: 5 to 15 years' imprisonment for unauthorized cultivation, production, manufacture, extraction, preparation, offering, sale, distribution, purchase, transport, import, export or possession, and 6 to 16 years where the person holds an authorization but acts against it. Article 9 aggravates both figures by two thirds at the minimum and maximum for listed factors (distribution to many people, supply to minors or the mentally ill, acting within a criminal organization, among others). Article 10's criminal-association band runs 10 to 25 years for a founder and 12 to 25 years for a leader. Annex I sets a daily reference quantity of 0.25g for heroin at Table I-A, drawn from International Narcotics Control Board data and from epidemiological data on habitual use (notas 1 e 2); article 11, paragraph 2, directs that special weight be given to whether the quantity does not exceed five times that figure, i.e. 1.25g, in applying the reduced-gravity band of 1 to 5 years under paragraph 1(a). Article 12 gives an intermediate band where the sole purpose of the article 7 act was to obtain the substance for personal use: up to 2 years' imprisonment or a fine. Article 26 punishes illicit personal consumption or possession for exclusive personal use with up to 1 year's imprisonment or a fine of up to 120 days. Article 26, paragraph 2, raises this where the quantity found under paragraph 1 exceeds five times the Annex I reference figure, i.e. 1.25g: up to 2 years' imprisonment or a fine of up to 240 days. Article 26, paragraph 3, allows an occasional user to be excused penalty entirely in the paragraph 1 case. No death penalty is provided anywhere in Lei 2/2017. The Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, quoted in Lei 2/2017's own preamble, states that the State "proíbe, em absoluto, a existência da pena de morte" (English: absolutely prohibits the existence of the death penalty); the preamble cites this as part of why Lei 2/2017 replaced Indonesia's Law 5/1997, whose own penalty scheme for drug trafficking included the death penalty.

If prescribed or medical

Article 6, paragraph 1, subjects heroin, as a Table I to IV substance, to Ministério da Saúde licensing on terms the article defers to a separate instrument not yet located. Decreto-Lei 2/2025 regulates pharmacy licensing generally without naming which Table I to IV substances a doctor may prescribe, so it is not cited here as a prescription route. No prescription or medical-supply pathway for heroin under Lei 2/2017 has been established by this reading.

Documentation

Decreto-Lei 19/2009, de 8 de Abril, is Timor-Leste's Penal Code. Lei 2/2017's own preamble states that the Penal Code's third amendment, Lei 5/2013, de 14 de Agosto, "não se traduziu na criminalização do tráfico ilícito e o consumo de estupefacientes e substâncias psicotrópicas" (English: did not result in the criminalization of illicit trafficking and consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances), and that before Lei 2/2017 the operative drug law was Indonesia's Law 5/1997, carried over under article 165 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. Lei 3/2017's own preamble, a separate instrument in the same gazette issue, independently describes Decreto-Lei 19/2009 as reserving its Chapter III for crimes against personal liberty, not drug offences. Lei 2/2017 is accordingly Timor-Leste's first domestic drug-trafficking law; no later one has been found, and no drug-trafficking chapter of the Penal Code has been located; the full text of Decreto-Lei 19/2009 itself has not been read here, so this finding rests on what both 2017 laws' preambles say about it, not on a direct read of that Code. No traveller or import-permit rule for heroin beyond the Ministério da Saúde licensing regime in article 6, itself deferred to an instrument not yet located, has been found.

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