Is Khat legal in Suriname?

Legal status

Controlled through its constituents, and the two constituents are on different lists. The leaf is not named: neither 'khat' nor 'qat' nor 'Catha edulis' appears anywhere, and article 2, the only provision that names plants, is closed to the poppy, the cannabis plant and the Erythroxylaceën. What catches it is 'Cathinon' at lijst I onderdeel C and 'Cathine' at lijst II onderdeel A part 1, the part carrying the schedule III psychotropics. 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 'khat', 'qat', 'catha', 'cathinon' and 'cathine'. The first three return nothing and the last two return two entries in two different lists, which is what makes this row unusual. Fresh leaf, in which cathinone predominates, is a preparation containing a lijst I substance under the closing clause of onderdeel C, so possession is article 3 lid 1 under C and at most thirteen years, while supply and import are article 11 lid 1 and life exposed. Dried leaf, in which the cathinone has largely converted to cathine, is a preparation containing a lijst II substance, so supply and possession are both article 11 lid 3 and at most thirteen years, and only the import limb is life exposed. The act gives no guidance on which state the leaf is in and sets no threshold, so the distinction is left to analysis. Growing the shrub is not an article 2 offence, because article 2 names three plant groups and this is not one of them. 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. Article 3 lid 1 forbids four things in relation to a middel on the annexed lijst I: under A in, uit of door te voeren, importing, exporting or moving in transit; under B te bereiden, te bewerken, te verwerken, te verkopen, af te leveren, te verstrekken of te vervoeren, preparing, processing, working, selling, delivering, supplying or transporting; under C te bezitten, aanwezig te hebben of aan te wenden, possessing, having present or using; and under D te vervaardigen, manufacturing, which article 1 lid 3 extends to refining and conversion. Article 4 lid 1 forbids the same four things in relation to a middel on the annexed lijst II: under A in, uit of door te voeren, importing, exporting or moving in transit; under B te bereiden, te bewerken, te verwerken, te verkopen, af te leveren, te verstrekken of te vervoeren, preparing, processing, working, selling, delivering, supplying or transporting; under C te bezitten, aanwezig te hebben of aan te wenden, possessing, having present or using; and under D te vervaardigen, manufacturing. Article 11 lid 1 punishes an intentional breach of article 3 lid 1 under A, B or D with levenslange gevangenisstraf, or a fixed term of at most twenty years, and a fine of at most five hundred million gulden. Article 11 lid 3 punishes an intentional breach of article 3 lid 1 under C with at most thirteen years and a fine of at most two hundred million gulden. So possession and use sit in the lower band and every supply, manufacture and cross border limb sits in the higher one. The split for lijst II runs the other way from what a reader expects. Article 11 lid 1 reaches only limb A of article 4 lid 1, so importing, exporting or moving a lijst II middel in transit carries levenslange gevangenisstraf, or at most twenty years, and a fine of at most five hundred million gulden. Article 11 lid 3 reaches article 4 lid 1 under B, C and D, so preparing, selling, supplying, transporting, possessing, using and manufacturing all carry at most thirteen years and a fine of at most two hundred million gulden. Carrying it across the border is therefore the one limb that is punished as heavily as a lijst I offence. Article 11 lid 2 gives at most nine years where a limb in the higher band is broken otherwise than intentionally and article 11 lid 4 at most seven years for the lower band, and article 14 lid 1 makes the article 11 lid 4 cases overtredingen while everything else in article 11 and in article 12 is a misdrijf. Article 12 punishes preparatory acts and samenspanning, conspiracy, aimed at an article 11 lid 1 offence with at most eleven years. Article 13 lid 1 lets the fine rise to four times the value of the goods where that value is more than a quarter of the stated maximum, and article 13 lid 2 requires forfeiture. Article 1 lid 2 equates the zouten, the salts, of a substance with the substance throughout the act. The act sets no personal use tier, no quantity threshold and no tolerance rule anywhere in its fourteen articles, and nothing in it corresponds to the Dutch practice of tolerated small quantities.

If prescribed or medical

No medicinal form of khat exists and the act provides no cultural or dietary exemption. There is a lawful prescription route and it is narrow. Article 5 lid 1 allows a middel covered by article 3 or article 4 to be prescribed op recept only where the recept meets requirements laid down by or under Staatsbesluit, and article 5 lid 3 makes it a separate offence to present a vals of vervalst recept, a false or forged prescription, which article 11 lid 3 punishes with at most thirteen years. Article 7 lid 2 disapplies limbs B and C for gevestigde apothekers en apotheekhoudende geneeskundigen, established pharmacists and dispensing physicians, and for gevestigde dierenartsen, established veterinarians, where they hold the substance only for a medical purpose. Article 7 lid 3 disapplies the transport part of limb B and the whole of limb C for a person who shows that they need the substance, in de bevonden hoeveelheid, in the quantity found, for the practice of geneeskunst, tandheelkunst or diergeneeskunst, or voor eigen geneeskundig gebruik, for their own medical use, and that they obtained it langs wettige weg, by lawful means. Article 7 lid 4 gives the same relief to a carrier acting on the order of an authorised person, except as regards aanwenden, using the substance. Whether the Staatsbesluiten that article 5 lid 1 and article 7 contemplate have been made was not established here.

Documentation

The list a bundle of leaf falls on may depend on how long ago it was cut. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription that authorised it, and note the limit that article 7 sets. Neither article 7 lid 1 nor article 7 lid 3 touches limb A of article 3 lid 1 or of article 4 lid 1, the import, export and transit limb. The eigen geneeskundig gebruik exemption therefore covers possession and carriage inside Suriname and does not cover bringing the substance into the country or taking it out. Article 6 lid 1 is the only route for that: it disapplies limb A where the movement is made met toestemming van de Minister, with the permission of the Minister, na goedkeuring door de Procureur-Generaal bij het Hof van Justitie, after approval by the Procurator General at the Court of Justice, and article 6 lid 2 allows a fee to be charged for it. Article 10 gives opsporingsambtenaren, investigating officers, a power under lid 5 to search the body and clothing of a suspect and under lid 6 to seize. 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.