Is Hydrocodone legal in Chile?

Legal status

Controlled. Decreto 867 artículo 2, the lista of substances that do not produce those grave effects.

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: Decreto 867 artículo 2. The entry read in full is "Hidrocodona". It sits between "Hidrato de Cloral" and "Hidromorfinol" in the alphabetical run [Certain]. The fact that decides this row is the opposite of the one that decides buprenorphine: hydrocodone's family is not split, it is entirely in the lighter lista. Artículo 2 carries the whole cluster of morphine and codeine derivatives around it, among them "Hidromorfinol", "Hidromorfona", "Codeína", "Dihidrocodeína", "Oxicodona", "Oximorfona" and "Morfina" [Certain]. Only the two crude opiates are treated as grave harm: "Opio" and "Heroína" are in artículo 1 [Certain]. So a semi synthetic opioid analgesic in Chile attracts the reducible band and not the trafficking band that heroin attracts, which is the practical difference this row turns on. Artículo 1 inciso primero of Ley 20.000 sets presidio mayor en sus grados mínimo a medio, five years and one day to fifteen years, with a fine of forty to four hundred unidades tributarias mensuales, for unauthorised elaboration, manufacture, transformation, preparation or extraction. Artículo 3 applies the same penalties to trafficking, and its second inciso treats importing, exporting, transporting, acquiring, transferring, abstracting, possessing, supplying, keeping or carrying as trafficking [Certain]. Artículo 1 inciso segundo allows the penalty to be reduced by up to one degree for substances in this group, which takes the floor to presidio menor en su grado máximo, three years and one day to five years. The reduction is discretionary on the wording podrá rebajarse, so the inciso primero band stays available to the court [Certain]. Artículo 4 punishes possessing, transporting, keeping or carrying small quantities with presidio menor en sus grados medio a máximo, five hundred and forty one days to five years, and a fine of ten to forty unidades tributarias mensuales, unless the holder justifies a medical treatment or exclusive personal use proximate in time [Certain]. Artículo 19 raises the penalty by one degree where any of its twelve listed aggravations applies, and permits two degrees where two or more concur. One degree above the artículo 1 band is presidio mayor en sus grados medio a máximo, ten years and one day to twenty years [Certain]. The two degree ceiling turns on Código Penal degree arithmetic that I did not settle in this pass, so it is not established here. Artículo 50 makes consuming in a public place, and holding or carrying in such a place for exclusive personal use proximate in time, a falta punished by a fine of one to ten unidades tributarias mensuales, attendance at a prevention programme for up to sixty days or treatment for up to one hundred and eighty days, or community work of up to thirty hours, with an accessory driving licence suspension of up to six months. The same penalties reach consumption in a private place where those present agreed beforehand to consume [Certain]. Artículo 50 refers to the drugs mentioned in artículo 1 of the law, which covers both incisos and so both listas [Certain]. A falta is not a prison sentence, but it can become one and this cell previously said it could not. Artículo 52 provides that where the fine under artículo 50 letter a) is not paid, the court may substitute the prevention, treatment or community service penalty, that any such substitution requires the agreement of the convicted person, and that in the absence of that agreement the court shall impose reclusion by way of substitution and enforcement of the fine, at one day for each third of a unidad tributaria mensual, never exceeding six months [Certain]. The same reclusion follows revocation where an imposed treatment or prevention penalty is not complied with [Certain]. Because the artículo 50 fine runs from one to ten unidades tributarias mensuales, one day per third of a unidad puts the ceiling reachable from that fine at thirty days, and the six month figure is the statutory cap rather than an outcome this route can reach [Certain]. Artículo 52 also lets the court waive the fine or set it below the legal minimum in duly qualified cases [Certain]. Artículo 51 requires the pecuniary sanction to be applied at its maximum where the falta is committed in a place of detention, a military or police precinct by an outsider, or in an educational or health establishment by someone who works there [Certain]. 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]. 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

Chile controls medicines carrying these substances through the pharmacy rules as well as the drug law, and the live cell this replaces carried the instruction to travel with the prescription and to confirm with the embassy [Likely, carried]. Artículo 6 of Ley 20.000 punishes a doctor, dentist or vet who prescribes without medical or therapeutic need with presidio mayor en sus grados mínimo a medio and a fine of forty to four hundred unidades tributarias mensuales, and artículo 7 punishes an authorised supplier who supplies against the rules with the same band [Certain]. Artículo 50 treats use for a medical treatment as justified [Certain].

Documentation

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.