Legal status in Kiribati

Per-substance legal status for Kiribati, from sourced statutes where available. Legal information, not legal advice; drug laws change, so confirm with the destination’s embassy or drug authority before you travel.

11 confirmed substances77 not individually verifiedLast updated October 7, 2026

Confirmed legal status

Cannabis / THC

Legal status: Controlled. Cannabis is within the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977, in three forms addressed apart. The plant: section 2, printed page 5, defines "Indian hemp" as "either of the plants Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica or any portion thereof", and Part II section 4(1), printed page 6, applies Part II to "Indian hemp and resins obtained from Indian hemp and preparations of which such resins form the base". Extracts and tinctures: Schedule 2, Part I, paragraph 7, printed page 26, prints "Any extract or tincture of cannabis.", and section 13(1) applies Part IV to the substances specified in Part I. Other preparations that are neither resin based nor an extract or tincture are not named, and are not stated here to be controlled. Version read: Revised Edition 1977, as amended by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001, which insert section 8A and add datura metel to Part II and were not read to change the Indian hemp provisions. Model B: section 13(2) lets the Minister by order modify Schedule 2. The Dangerous Drugs Ordinance was read as in force in the 1977 Revised Edition as amended to the Acts of 1995 and 2001, and this text does not rule out a later amendment or a later order under section 13(2).
Consequences if caught: Cultivation: section 7, printed page 6, "No person shall cultivate in the Gilbert Islands the opium poppy or Indian hemp or coca leaf plant", and section 8(a) makes it an offence under the Ordinance to knowingly cultivate Indian hemp "whether for private use or otherwise". Possession and sale: section 8(b) makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance every person "found in possession of or selling, or who shall have given or sold, to any person any substance to which this Part applies", and the text of section 8(b) read states no prescription or authority defence. Import and export: section 4(2) provides that no person shall import or export any of the substances to which Part II applies, and section 5 prohibits import or export of any seed of Indian hemp or any portion of the plant, with forfeiture under section 6. For an extract or tincture, which is a Part IV drug, section 20, printed page 10, applies: the person in whose possession it is found, or the occupier of the place, is guilty of an offence against the Ordinance "unless he can prove that such drug was obtained under the authority of this Ordinance, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent". Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80: "A person shall not be in possession of a drug or preparation unless he is duly so authorised." Penalty, section 39(2), printed page 17: every person guilty of an offence under the Ordinance shall, in respect of each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed, be liable "on conviction by the High Court, to a fine of $2000 and to imprisonment for 10 years", or "on summary conviction by a magistrates' court, to a fine not exceeding $1000 and to imprisonment for 5 years", and in every case forfeit "all articles in respect of which the offence was committed". The word between the fine and the imprisonment is "and", so a fine and imprisonment are both imposed and are not alternatives. Section 39(4): a person who attempts, solicits or incites another to commit an offence is liable to the same punishment and forfeiture. Section 39(3): for breach of rules on keeping books or on issuing or dispensing prescriptions, the court shall not impose imprisonment without the option of a fine or a fine exceeding $100, if the court is satisfied that the offence was committed through inadvertence and was not preparatory to, or committed in the course of, or in connection with, the commission of, or intended commission of, any other offence against this Ordinance. The Ordinance text read has no death penalty provision for a drug offence. Section 39(3), printed page 17, provides that no person shall be proceeded against under subsection (1)(a) 'unless the proceedings are instituted by, or with the consent of, the Attorney-General'. No separate offence called trafficking or use was found in the text read. Manufacture and sale of an extract or tincture, which is a Part IV drug: Regulation 3 reads 'A person shall not manufacture or carry on any process in the manufacture of a drug' unless he is duly authorised, on authorised premises and within the terms of his authority; Regulation 4 limits buying wholesale to registered medical practitioners, registered dentists, approved veterinary surgeons and registered pharmacists; Regulation 5(1) forbids a person to 'supply or procure or offer to supply or procure or prescribe' a drug or preparation, or 'advertise for sale', unless authorised; Regulation 16 reads 'No person shall give, sell, barter or distribute any drug or preparation save as is permitted by these Regulations'; and Regulation 9(1)(a)(i) authorises registered pharmacists actually in business to manufacture at the shop 'any extract or tincture of Indian hemp'. The Regulations are headed as made under section 15(1). Section 39(1)(a), printed page 16, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance any person who 'acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules made under this Ordinance; or'. Whether the Regulations are such rules is not stated. Regulation 17 reads: 'These Regulations shall not apply to the Government Medical Services.' Import and export of an extract or tincture: section 14, printed page 8, provides that no person shall import or export any substance to which Part IV applies except in accordance with sections 21 to 29, and section 3, printed page 6, requires dangerous drugs to go through ports approved by the Minister. For the plant and resin, section 4(2) prohibits import and export outright. Customs route, read from the Ordinance printed pages 13, 14 and 15 as images. Section 35(1), printed pages 14 and 15, deems articles whose importation is prohibited or restricted by the Ordinance to be goods whose importation is prohibited 'under the Customs Ordinance' (margin note 'Cap. 22'). Section 35(2), printed page 15, reads: 'If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Ordinance are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Chief Customs Officer.' The word in section 35(2) is 'or'. It is a forfeiture liability of the exporter at the option of the Chief Customs Officer and is not stated as a term of imprisonment. Pages 13 to 15 print no other penalty band for import or export, and section 39(2) applies to 'each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed', so how section 35(2) and section 39(2) combine for an export is not stated. The Customs Act 2019, read from page images (PDF pages 31, 32, 64, 65 and 69), reads: section 64(2) 'The importation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 3 is absolutely prohibited' (note: 'It is an offence to knowingly import prohibited imports (Schedule 8, item 5)'), Schedule 3 item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', section 66(2) 'The exportation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 5 is absolutely prohibited', Schedule 5 item 1 'Goods of any kind, the exportation of which is prohibited under a law of Kiribati', and Schedule 8 item 5 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods' and item 7 'Knowingly exporting a prohibited export' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $5000, imprisonment for two years and forfeiture of the goods'. The link from the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 to the Customs Act 2019 is not established: section 156(1) of the 2019 Act (PDF page 59, read as an image) repeals 'The Customs Act 2005', and the Customs Ordinance, Cap. 22, is not named in the pages read. Whether a substance controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is a good prohibited 'by any law of Kiribati' for Schedule 3 item 20 and Schedule 5 item 1 is likewise not stated. If it is, the Schedule 8 item 5 and item 7 bands quoted above would follow; the pages read do not settle it.
If prescribed / medical: For an extract or tincture, section 20 makes a doctor's prescription one of the defences to possession, and regulation 6(2)(a) of the Regulations L.N. 19/80 deems a person lawfully supplied on a prescription to be authorised to be in possession. No prescription route was read for the plant or resin under Part II. The Poisons List in the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, prints on page 28 "Cannabis (the dried flowering or fruiting tops of Cannabis sativa Linn.) the resin of cannabis; extracts of cannabis; tinctures of cannabis; cannabin tannate.", but that is a sale law of the 1977 Edition whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42 lists no drug. Regulation 11(2) reads: 'The prescribed form for prescriptions for a drug or preparation shall be in the form set out in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance.' Cap. 70 section 37 (printed pages 13 and 14, read as images) provides that a medical practitioner shall not issue a prescription unless it is 'signed by him with his usual signature' or written on paper printed with his surname and the initials of his Christian names, and 'bears the date on which the prescription was issued'; a veterinary surgeon's prescription must bear the words 'for veterinary purposes only' and a dentist's the words 'for dental purposes only'; and section 37(4) provides that a prescription which does not comply 'shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 38(2) (page 14) requires every prescription containing any of the drugs to which an Ordinance as to the sale of dangerous drugs relates to be 'retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of 2 years and filed in the pharmacy', and section 39(c) (page 14) forbids a pharmacist to 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which section 38 (2) relates'. Those are rules of a 1977 Edition pharmacy law whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42(2), PDF page 14 read as an image, provides that a medical practitioner or dentist who contravenes or does not comply with section 42(1) 'commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $40'. Section 42 is a separate form rule in a later Act.
Documentation: Read: the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance Cap. 23, Revised Edition 1977, a scan read from the page images of printed pages 5, 6, 8, 10, 17 and 25 to 27, with the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001, the Regulations L.N. 19/80 and the Poisons List in Cap. 70. Model B, delegated amendment power: section 13(2) lets the Minister by order modify Schedule 2 on a decision of the Commission or of the Organisation under the Single Convention of 30th March 1961. Not established: whether any order under section 13(2) was made after 1977, whether the 1977 text is the text in force today, and the year of the 2001 Act, because the year digit is cut off in the scan. Whether a cannabidiol or other isolated cannabinoid is an extract of cannabis is not stated by the text. Page images also read: Dangerous Drugs Ordinance printed pages 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26 and 27; Medical Services Act 1996 PDF page 14; Customs Act 2019 PDF pages 31, 32, 59, 64, 65 and 69; Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70 printed pages 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22; Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 page 1. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 were read from the text layer of the PDF, and no page image of them was read. Also not established: whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, headed as made under section 15(1), are 'rules made under this Ordinance' within section 39(1)(a); whether the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 of the Ordinance is the Customs Act 2019, whose section 156(1) repeals the Customs Act 2005 and does not name Cap. 22; and how section 35, Schedule 8 of the Customs Act 2019 and section 39(2) combine for import and export.

Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977, sections 2, 4 to 8, 13, 14, 20 and 39 and Schedule 2 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80, regulation 6 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2001 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, Schedule 3 Poisons List · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Medical Services Act 1996, section 42 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Customs Act 2019, Schedules 3 and 4 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Updated October 7, 2026

Cannabis / THC in Kiribati, full detail →

Cocaine

Legal status: Controlled. Cocaine is named in the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977, Schedule 2, Part I, paragraph 1, printed page 25, which prints the entry "Cocaine." Section 13(1), printed page 8, applies Part IV to "the substances for the time being specified in Part I of Schedule 2". Paragraph 3 on printed page 26 reaches any salt of a listed substance, paragraph 4 reaches "Any derivative of ecgonine which is convertible to ecgonine or to cocaine", and paragraph 8 reaches any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance containing any proportion of a listed substance. The coca leaf plant is separately within Part II, section 4(1), printed page 6, which applies to "raw opium, coca leaf and Indian hemp and resins obtained from Indian hemp". Version read: Revised Edition 1977, as amended by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001, which insert section 8A and add datura metel to Part II and were not read to change the cocaine entry. Model B: section 13(2) lets the Minister by order modify Schedule 2. The Dangerous Drugs Ordinance was read as in force in the 1977 Revised Edition as amended to the Acts of 1995 and 2001, and this text does not rule out a later amendment or a later order under section 13(2).
Consequences if caught: Possession of a Part IV drug, section 20, printed page 10: the person in whose possession it is found, or the occupier of the place, is guilty of an offence against the Ordinance "unless he can prove that such drug was obtained under the authority of this Ordinance, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent". Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80: "A person shall not be in possession of a drug or preparation unless he is duly so authorised." Penalty, section 39(2), printed page 17: every person guilty of an offence under the Ordinance shall, in respect of each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed, be liable "on conviction by the High Court, to a fine of $2000 and to imprisonment for 10 years", or "on summary conviction by a magistrates' court, to a fine not exceeding $1000 and to imprisonment for 5 years", and in every case forfeit "all articles in respect of which the offence was committed". The word between the fine and the imprisonment is "and", so a fine and imprisonment are both imposed and are not alternatives. Section 39(4): a person who attempts, solicits or incites another to commit an offence is liable to the same punishment and forfeiture. Section 39(3): for breach of rules on keeping books or on issuing or dispensing prescriptions, the court shall not impose imprisonment without the option of a fine or a fine exceeding $100, if the court is satisfied that the offence was committed through inadvertence and was not preparatory to, or committed in the course of, or in connection with, the commission of, or intended commission of, any other offence against this Ordinance. The Ordinance text read has no death penalty provision for a drug offence. Section 39(3), printed page 17, provides that no person shall be proceeded against under subsection (1)(a) 'unless the proceedings are instituted by, or with the consent of, the Attorney-General'. Import and export: section 14, printed page 8, provides that no person shall import or export a substance to which Part IV applies except in accordance with sections 21 to 29, and section 3, printed page 6, requires dangerous drugs to pass only through ports approved by the Minister. For the coca leaf plant, Part II section 4(2) prohibits import or export, section 5 prohibits import or export of its seed, section 7 prohibits cultivation, and section 8 makes it an offence knowingly to cultivate coca leaf or to be found in possession of or selling, or to have given or sold, a substance to which Part II applies, each punishable under section 39(2). Manufacture and sale of the Part IV drug: Regulation 3 reads 'A person shall not manufacture or carry on any process in the manufacture of a drug' unless he is duly authorised, on authorised premises and within the terms of his authority; Regulation 4 limits buying wholesale to registered medical practitioners, registered dentists, approved veterinary surgeons and registered pharmacists; Regulation 5(1) forbids a person to 'supply or procure or offer to supply or procure or prescribe' a drug or preparation, or 'advertise for sale', unless authorised; and Regulation 16 reads 'No person shall give, sell, barter or distribute any drug or preparation save as is permitted by these Regulations'. Section 15(1), printed page 8, is the rules power. The Regulations are headed as made under section 15(1). Section 39(1)(a), printed page 16, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance any person who 'acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules made under this Ordinance; or'. Whether the Regulations are such rules is not stated. Regulation 17 reads: 'These Regulations shall not apply to the Government Medical Services.' No separate offence called trafficking and no separate offence of use was found in the text read. Customs route, read from the Ordinance printed pages 13, 14 and 15 as images. Section 35(1), printed pages 14 and 15, deems articles whose importation is prohibited or restricted by the Ordinance to be goods whose importation is prohibited 'under the Customs Ordinance' (margin note 'Cap. 22'). Section 35(2), printed page 15, reads: 'If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Ordinance are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Chief Customs Officer.' The word in section 35(2) is 'or'. It is a forfeiture liability of the exporter at the option of the Chief Customs Officer and is not stated as a term of imprisonment. Pages 13 to 15 print no other penalty band for import or export, and section 39(2) applies to 'each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed', so how section 35(2) and section 39(2) combine for an export is not stated. The Customs Act 2019, read from page images (PDF pages 31, 32, 64, 65 and 69), reads: section 64(2) 'The importation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 3 is absolutely prohibited' (note: 'It is an offence to knowingly import prohibited imports (Schedule 8, item 5)'), Schedule 3 item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', section 66(2) 'The exportation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 5 is absolutely prohibited', Schedule 5 item 1 'Goods of any kind, the exportation of which is prohibited under a law of Kiribati', and Schedule 8 item 5 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods' and item 7 'Knowingly exporting a prohibited export' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $5000, imprisonment for two years and forfeiture of the goods'. The link from the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 to the Customs Act 2019 is not established: section 156(1) of the 2019 Act (PDF page 59, read as an image) repeals 'The Customs Act 2005', and the Customs Ordinance, Cap. 22, is not named in the pages read. Whether a substance controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is a good prohibited 'by any law of Kiribati' for Schedule 3 item 20 and Schedule 5 item 1 is likewise not stated. If it is, the Schedule 8 item 5 and item 7 bands quoted above would follow; the pages read do not settle it. Part II of Schedule 2, paragraph 10, printed page 27 (read as an image), prints 'A preparation of cocaine containing not more than 0.1 per cent of cocaine calculated as cocaine base', compounded so that it 'has no, or a negligible, risk of abuse'. Section 30, printed page 12 (read as an image), reads: 'The provisions of sections 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 shall not apply to any preparation or other substance for the time being falling within Part II of Schedule 2.' Section 30 disapplies section 20 for a preparation within Part II of Schedule 2. Section 30 does not name section 13, section 15 or the Regulations. Whether regulation 6(1) of L.N. 19/80 reaches a Part II preparation is not stated.
If prescribed / medical: Section 20 makes a doctor's prescription one of the defences to possession of a Part IV drug, and regulation 6(2)(a) of the Regulations L.N. 19/80 deems a person to whom a drug is lawfully supplied on a prescription lawfully given by a registered medical practitioner, a registered dentist or an approved veterinary surgeon to be authorised to be in possession of it. Section 19, printed page 10, limits withdrawal from the appointed store to registered medical practitioners, licensed pharmacists, registered dentists, qualified veterinary surgeons and certain approved persons. The Poisons List in the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, prints "Cocaine." and "Coca; alkaloids of." on printed page 27 and "Ecgonine; its esters." on page 28, but that is a sale law of the 1977 Edition whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42 lists no drug. Regulation 11(2) reads: 'The prescribed form for prescriptions for a drug or preparation shall be in the form set out in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance.' Cap. 70 section 37 (printed pages 13 and 14, read as images) provides that a medical practitioner shall not issue a prescription unless it is 'signed by him with his usual signature' or written on paper printed with his surname and the initials of his Christian names, and 'bears the date on which the prescription was issued'; a veterinary surgeon's prescription must bear the words 'for veterinary purposes only' and a dentist's the words 'for dental purposes only'; and section 37(4) provides that a prescription which does not comply 'shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 38(2) (page 14) requires every prescription containing any of the drugs to which an Ordinance as to the sale of dangerous drugs relates to be 'retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of 2 years and filed in the pharmacy', and section 39(c) (page 14) forbids a pharmacist to 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which section 38 (2) relates'. Those are rules of a 1977 Edition pharmacy law whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42(2), PDF page 14 read as an image, provides that a medical practitioner or dentist who contravenes or does not comply with section 42(1) 'commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $40'. Section 42 is a separate form rule in a later Act.
Documentation: Read: the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance Cap. 23, Revised Edition 1977, a scan read from the page images of printed pages 3 to 8, 10, 17 and 25 to 27, with the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001, the Regulations L.N. 19/80, the Poisons List in Cap. 70 and the Medical Services Act 1996. Model B, delegated amendment power: section 13(2) lets the Minister by order add or remove a substance in Schedule 2 where it appears that a decision of the Commission or of the Organisation to alter the Schedules to the Single Convention requires it, and the Single Convention is defined in section 2 as the one signed at New York on 30th March 1961. Not established: whether any order under section 13(2) was made after 1977, whether the 1977 text is the text in force today, and the year of the 2001 Act, because the year digit of its assent is cut off in the scan. No later amendment than 2001 was found, which is not proof there is none. Page images also read: Dangerous Drugs Ordinance printed pages 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26 and 27; Medical Services Act 1996 PDF page 14; Customs Act 2019 PDF pages 31, 32, 59, 64, 65 and 69; Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70 printed pages 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22; Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 page 1. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 were read from the text layer of the PDF, and no page image of them was read. Also not established: whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, headed as made under section 15(1), are 'rules made under this Ordinance' within section 39(1)(a); whether the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 of the Ordinance is the Customs Act 2019, whose section 156(1) repeals the Customs Act 2005 and does not name Cap. 22; and how section 35, Schedule 8 of the Customs Act 2019 and section 39(2) combine for import and export.

Cocaine in Kiribati, full detail →

Codeine

Legal status: Controlled. Codeine is named in Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23 (printed page 25), which prints the entry 'Codeine.', so Part IV applies to it under section 13(1). Paragraph 3 (page 26) adds 'Any salt of a substance for the time being specified in paragraph 1 or 2', and paragraph 8 reaches 'Any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance containing any proportion of' a paragraph 1 substance. Related named entries on the same list include Acetyldihydrocodeine, Dihydrocodeine (page 25) and Norcodeine (page 26), which are separate substances. This is the text as in force in the 1977 Revised Edition, as amended by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001. It does not rule out a later amendment or a later order under section 13(2), by which the Minister may modify Schedule 2 (page 8), and no such order was read.
Consequences if caught: Personal possession: section 20 (printed page 10) makes it an offence against the Ordinance to be found in possession of a dangerous drug to which Part IV applies, or to keep it in any place other than the appointed store, 'unless he can prove that such drug was obtained under the authority of this Ordinance, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent'. Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 (commenced 21 February 1980) adds: 'A person shall not be in possession of a drug or preparation unless he is duly so authorised.' Penalty, section 39(2) (page 17), for each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed: on conviction by the High Court, 'a fine of $2000 and to imprisonment for 10 years'; on summary conviction by a magistrates' court, 'a fine not exceeding $1000 and to imprisonment for 5 years'. The text joins the fine and the imprisonment with 'and', so the two are cumulative and not alternative. On conviction every article in respect of which the offence was committed is forfeited ('shall in every case... forfeit to Her Majesty'), and the court may order the forfeited articles destroyed. Attempting, soliciting or inciting carries the same punishment and forfeiture (section 39(4)). Proceedings under section 39(1)(a) need the Attorney-General's institution or consent (section 39(3)). Possession for supply, sale and trafficking: the text read prints no separate offence or penalty band for possession for supply or for trafficking. Regulation 5 forbids supplying, procuring, offering to supply, prescribing or advertising for sale a drug or preparation without authority, and Regulation 16 states 'No person shall give, sell, barter or distribute any drug or preparation save as is permitted by these Regulations'. The Regulations are headed as made under section 15(1). Section 39(1)(a), printed page 16, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance any person who 'acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules made under this Ordinance; or'. Whether the Regulations are such rules is not stated. Regulation 17 reads: 'These Regulations shall not apply to the Government Medical Services.' Import and export: section 14 (page 8) provides 'No person shall import or export any substance to which this Part applies, except in accordance with sections 21 to 29'; section 27 (page 12) forbids importing unless the consignee holds a valid import authorisation, section 29 reaches steps preparatory to importing, section 22 (page 11) forbids exporting without an export authorisation and section 24 reaches steps preparatory to exporting; section 3 (page 6) allows import and export only through ports approved by the Minister. Customs route, read from the Ordinance printed pages 13, 14 and 15 as images. Section 35(1), printed pages 14 and 15, deems articles whose importation is prohibited or restricted by the Ordinance to be goods whose importation is prohibited 'under the Customs Ordinance' (margin note 'Cap. 22'). Section 35(2), printed page 15, reads: 'If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Ordinance are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Chief Customs Officer.' The word in section 35(2) is 'or'. It is a forfeiture liability of the exporter at the option of the Chief Customs Officer and is not stated as a term of imprisonment. Pages 13 to 15 print no other penalty band for import or export, and section 39(2) applies to 'each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed', so how section 35(2) and section 39(2) combine for an export is not stated. The Customs Act 2019, read from page images (PDF pages 31, 32, 64, 65 and 69), reads: section 64(2) 'The importation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 3 is absolutely prohibited' (note: 'It is an offence to knowingly import prohibited imports (Schedule 8, item 5)'), Schedule 3 item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', section 66(2) 'The exportation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 5 is absolutely prohibited', Schedule 5 item 1 'Goods of any kind, the exportation of which is prohibited under a law of Kiribati', and Schedule 8 item 5 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods' and item 7 'Knowingly exporting a prohibited export' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $5000, imprisonment for two years and forfeiture of the goods'. The link from the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 to the Customs Act 2019 is not established: section 156(1) of the 2019 Act (PDF page 59, read as an image) repeals 'The Customs Act 2005', and the Customs Ordinance, Cap. 22, is not named in the pages read. Whether a substance controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is a good prohibited 'by any law of Kiribati' for Schedule 3 item 20 and Schedule 5 item 1 is likewise not stated. If it is, the Schedule 8 item 5 and item 7 bands quoted above would follow; the pages read do not settle it. Manufacture: Regulation 3 forbids manufacturing or carrying on any process in the manufacture of a drug unless duly authorised, on authorised premises and within the terms of the authority. Whether Regulation 3 is a rule within section 39(1)(a) is the question stated above. Cultivation: the Ordinance's cultivation provisions concern the opium poppy, Indian hemp and coca leaf plant and, since 2001, datura metel, not this compound, and the text read states no cultivation offence for it. Use: the text read states no separate offence of use or consumption as such. Administrative offences: Regulations 12 to 15 govern prescriptions, labelling, the register of drugs supplied and the preservation of records; under section 39(3) (page 17) a person convicted of contravening rules on keeping books or issuing or dispensing prescriptions through inadvertence, not connected with another offence, is not to be sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine or to a fine exceeding $100. Separately, section 8A (inserted by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995, Act No. 8 of 1995) makes it an offence to have in possession property reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of an offence under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance without giving the court a satisfactory account, punishable by imprisonment for 2 years. Death penalty: the drug provisions read provide none. Part II preparations: the low strength compounded preparations of codeine described in Schedule 2 Part II paragraph 9 (pages 26 and 27) are excepted as regards importation and exportation, and section 30 (page 12) disapplies sections 14, 16 to 29, including section 20, to preparations falling within Part II. Section 30 disapplies section 20 for a preparation within Part II of Schedule 2. Section 30 does not name section 13, section 15 or the Regulations. Whether regulation 6(1) of L.N. 19/80 reaches a Part II preparation is not stated.
If prescribed / medical: Section 20 (page 10) lists a registered medical practitioner's prescription as one of the matters a possessor may prove to answer the possession offence. Under the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80, a person to whom a drug or preparation is lawfully supplied on a prescription lawfully given by a registered medical practitioner, a registered dentist or an approved veterinary surgeon is deemed authorised to be in possession of it (Regulation 6(2)(a)), subject to a proviso that a second prescriber's supply does not count where the patient did not disclose treatment already being received from another practitioner; Regulation 8(1) authorises registered medical practitioners, dentists, approved veterinary surgeons, medical officers and owners and commanders of aircraft to possess and supply drugs so far as necessary for their professions; Regulation 11 defines a prescription as one in the prescribed form given for medical, dental or animal treatment, and Regulation 12 sets the duties of a person supplying on a prescription. The Medical Services Act 1996 (No. 14 of 1996) section 42(1) requires each written prescription to be dated and to bear the address and usual signature of the practitioner; that Act lists no drug and no schedule. The Poisons List (Cap. 70 Schedule 3 Part I, printed page 27) prints 'Codeine.' among the alkaloids, and page 28 prints 'Ethylmorphine.', a separate entry. The Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, is the 1977 Edition and is a sale law (section 53(2): 'No person shall sell or deal in any of the several articles included in Schedule 3, hereinafter referred to as the Poisons List, except in the manner prescribed in this Ordinance'); its force today is not established, and the Secretary may add to the Poisons List by order under section 53(3). A low strength Part II preparation of codeine is the subject of section 30; see the note on Part II in the documentation field. Regulation 11(2) reads: 'The prescribed form for prescriptions for a drug or preparation shall be in the form set out in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance.' Cap. 70 section 37 (printed pages 13 and 14, read as images) provides that a medical practitioner shall not issue a prescription unless it is 'signed by him with his usual signature' or written on paper printed with his surname and the initials of his Christian names, and 'bears the date on which the prescription was issued'; a veterinary surgeon's prescription must bear the words 'for veterinary purposes only' and a dentist's the words 'for dental purposes only'; and section 37(4) provides that a prescription which does not comply 'shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 38(2) (page 14) requires every prescription containing any of the drugs to which an Ordinance as to the sale of dangerous drugs relates to be 'retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of 2 years and filed in the pharmacy', and section 39(c) (page 14) forbids a pharmacist to 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which section 38 (2) relates'. Those are rules of a 1977 Edition pharmacy law whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42(2), PDF page 14 read as an image, provides that a medical practitioner or dentist who contravenes or does not comply with section 42(1) 'commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $40'. Section 42 is a separate form rule in a later Act.
Documentation: Read: the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977 (running head '1977 Ed.'), a scan with no text layer, from the page images for printed pages 3 to 6, 8, 10 to 12, 16, 17 and 25 to 27; the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80; the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 (No. 8 of 1995); the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2001 (No. 14 of 2001); the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, Schedule 3 Poisons List (printed pages 27 to 30) and sections 53 to 57, from page images; and the Medical Services Act 1996. Entry relied on: Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1, page 25, 'Codeine.', read from the page image; the Part II exception for low strength compounded preparations is on pages 26 and 27, also read from the page images. Model: delegated amendment power, exercise unknown. Section 13(1) (page 8) applies Part IV 'to the substances for the time being specified in Part I of Schedule 2', and section 13(2) lets the Minister, where a decision of the Commission or the Organisation to alter the Schedules to the Single Convention 'requires the addition of a substance to, or the removal of a substance from, Part I or Part II of Schedule 2', 'by order make the requisite modifications in the said Schedule'. Nothing adopts the United Nations schedules automatically, and whether any order under section 13(2) was made after 1977 is in nothing read. The Ordinance prints no closing line stating that no subsidiary legislation exists. Not established: any order under section 13(2) after 1977; any amendment after 2001 (none was found, which is not proof there is none); the year of assent and commencement of the 2001 Act, which are handwritten on the scan with the final year digit cut off (the day and month, 14 January and 1 January, are legible); and the force today of the 1977 Edition of Cap. 70. Part II exception, and a drafting point left open by the text: the heading of Part II (page 26) describes preparations 'whose importation and exportation is excepted from control', and paragraph 9 (pages 26 and 27) names codeine and its salts among the substances to which it applies, for a preparation of not more than one such substance, compounded with other ingredients so that it has no or a negligible risk of abuse and the substance cannot be recovered by readily applicable means, containing not more than 100 milligrammes per dosage unit and a concentration of not more than 2.5 per cent in undivided preparations. By its heading and by the Part I heading ('except, in the case of any specified in Part II below, as regards importation and exportation') the exception concerns importation and exportation. Section 30 (page 12), however, separately provides that sections 14, 16 to 29 'shall not apply to any preparation or other substance for the time being falling within Part II of Schedule 2', and section 20 is within that range. Section 30 disapplies section 20 for a preparation within Part II of Schedule 2. Section 30 does not name section 13, section 15 or the Regulations. Whether regulation 6(1) of L.N. 19/80 reaches a Part II preparation is not stated. Page images also read: Dangerous Drugs Ordinance printed pages 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26 and 27; Medical Services Act 1996 PDF page 14; Customs Act 2019 PDF pages 31, 32, 59, 64, 65 and 69; Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70 printed pages 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22; Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 page 1. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 were read from the text layer of the PDF, and no page image of them was read. Also not established: whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, headed as made under section 15(1), are 'rules made under this Ordinance' within section 39(1)(a); whether the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 of the Ordinance is the Customs Act 2019, whose section 156(1) repeals the Customs Act 2005 and does not name Cap. 22; and how section 35, Schedule 8 of the Customs Act 2019 and section 39(2) combine for import and export.

Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Revised Edition 1977, Schedule 2 Part I and sections 13, 14, 20, 22, 24, 27, 29 and 39 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80, regulations 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 16 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995, section 8A · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2001 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, Schedule 3 Poisons List and sections 53 to 57 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Medical Services Act 1996, section 42 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Customs Act 2019, Schedules 3 and 4 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Updated October 7, 2026

Codeine in Kiribati, full detail →

Crack Cocaine

Legal status: Controlled. Crack cocaine is not named in the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, but it is cocaine, which Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1 names ('Cocaine.', printed page 25), so Part IV applies under section 13(1). The identity rests on a chemical source and not on the Ordinance: the US National Library of Medicine MeSH concept record M0025291 (https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/M0025291), which belongs to the descriptor heading D016578 (Crack Cocaine), carries the scope note 'The purified, alkaloidal, extra-potent form of cocaine. It is smoked (free-based)'. Section 2 (page 3) defines 'cocaine' by chemical description and formula, methyl-benzoyl laevo-ecgonine (the printed word laevo is spelled with an ae ligature) of formula 'C17H21O4N', and the definition makes no mention of salts or bases; paragraph 3 (page 26) separately reaches 'Any salt of a substance' in paragraph 1, and paragraph 8 reaches any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance containing any proportion of it. This is the text as in force in the 1977 Revised Edition, as amended by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001. It does not rule out a later amendment or a later order under section 13(2), by which the Minister may modify Schedule 2 (page 8), and no such order was read.
Consequences if caught: Personal possession: section 20 (printed page 10) makes it an offence against the Ordinance to be found in possession of a dangerous drug to which Part IV applies, or to keep it in any place other than the appointed store, 'unless he can prove that such drug was obtained under the authority of this Ordinance, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent'. Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 (commenced 21 February 1980) adds: 'A person shall not be in possession of a drug or preparation unless he is duly so authorised.' Penalty, section 39(2) (page 17), for each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed: on conviction by the High Court, 'a fine of $2000 and to imprisonment for 10 years'; on summary conviction by a magistrates' court, 'a fine not exceeding $1000 and to imprisonment for 5 years'. The text joins the fine and the imprisonment with 'and', so the two are cumulative and not alternative. On conviction every article in respect of which the offence was committed is forfeited ('shall in every case... forfeit to Her Majesty'), and the court may order the forfeited articles destroyed. Attempting, soliciting or inciting carries the same punishment and forfeiture (section 39(4)). Proceedings under section 39(1)(a) need the Attorney-General's institution or consent (section 39(3)). Possession for supply, sale and trafficking: the text read prints no separate offence or penalty band for possession for supply or for trafficking. Regulation 5 forbids supplying, procuring, offering to supply, prescribing or advertising for sale a drug or preparation without authority, and Regulation 16 states 'No person shall give, sell, barter or distribute any drug or preparation save as is permitted by these Regulations'. The Regulations are headed as made under section 15(1). Section 39(1)(a), printed page 16, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance any person who 'acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules made under this Ordinance; or'. Whether the Regulations are such rules is not stated. Regulation 17 reads: 'These Regulations shall not apply to the Government Medical Services.' Import and export: section 14 (page 8) provides 'No person shall import or export any substance to which this Part applies, except in accordance with sections 21 to 29'; section 27 (page 12) forbids importing unless the consignee holds a valid import authorisation, section 29 reaches steps preparatory to importing, section 22 (page 11) forbids exporting without an export authorisation and section 24 reaches steps preparatory to exporting; section 3 (page 6) allows import and export only through ports approved by the Minister. Customs route, read from the Ordinance printed pages 13, 14 and 15 as images. Section 35(1), printed pages 14 and 15, deems articles whose importation is prohibited or restricted by the Ordinance to be goods whose importation is prohibited 'under the Customs Ordinance' (margin note 'Cap. 22'). Section 35(2), printed page 15, reads: 'If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Ordinance are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Chief Customs Officer.' The word in section 35(2) is 'or'. It is a forfeiture liability of the exporter at the option of the Chief Customs Officer and is not stated as a term of imprisonment. Pages 13 to 15 print no other penalty band for import or export, and section 39(2) applies to 'each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed', so how section 35(2) and section 39(2) combine for an export is not stated. The Customs Act 2019, read from page images (PDF pages 31, 32, 64, 65 and 69), reads: section 64(2) 'The importation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 3 is absolutely prohibited' (note: 'It is an offence to knowingly import prohibited imports (Schedule 8, item 5)'), Schedule 3 item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', section 66(2) 'The exportation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 5 is absolutely prohibited', Schedule 5 item 1 'Goods of any kind, the exportation of which is prohibited under a law of Kiribati', and Schedule 8 item 5 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods' and item 7 'Knowingly exporting a prohibited export' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $5000, imprisonment for two years and forfeiture of the goods'. The link from the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 to the Customs Act 2019 is not established: section 156(1) of the 2019 Act (PDF page 59, read as an image) repeals 'The Customs Act 2005', and the Customs Ordinance, Cap. 22, is not named in the pages read. Whether a substance controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is a good prohibited 'by any law of Kiribati' for Schedule 3 item 20 and Schedule 5 item 1 is likewise not stated. If it is, the Schedule 8 item 5 and item 7 bands quoted above would follow; the pages read do not settle it. Manufacture: Regulation 3 forbids manufacturing or carrying on any process in the manufacture of a drug unless duly authorised, on authorised premises and within the terms of the authority. Whether Regulation 3 is a rule within section 39(1)(a) is the question stated above. Cultivation: the Ordinance's cultivation provisions concern the opium poppy, Indian hemp and coca leaf plant and, since 2001, datura metel, not this compound, and the text read states no cultivation offence for it. Use: the text read states no separate offence of use or consumption as such. Administrative offences: Regulations 12 to 15 govern prescriptions, labelling, the register of drugs supplied and the preservation of records; under section 39(3) (page 17) a person convicted of contravening rules on keeping books or issuing or dispensing prescriptions through inadvertence, not connected with another offence, is not to be sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine or to a fine exceeding $100. Separately, section 8A (inserted by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995, Act No. 8 of 1995) makes it an offence to have in possession property reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of an offence under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance without giving the court a satisfactory account, punishable by imprisonment for 2 years. Death penalty: the drug provisions read provide none.
If prescribed / medical: Section 20 (page 10) lists a registered medical practitioner's prescription as one of the matters a possessor may prove to answer the possession offence. Under the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80, a person to whom a drug or preparation is lawfully supplied on a prescription lawfully given by a registered medical practitioner, a registered dentist or an approved veterinary surgeon is deemed authorised to be in possession of it (Regulation 6(2)(a)), subject to a proviso that a second prescriber's supply does not count where the patient did not disclose treatment already being received from another practitioner; Regulation 8(1) authorises registered medical practitioners, dentists, approved veterinary surgeons, medical officers and owners and commanders of aircraft to possess and supply drugs so far as necessary for their professions; Regulation 11 defines a prescription as one in the prescribed form given for medical, dental or animal treatment, and Regulation 12 sets the duties of a person supplying on a prescription. The Medical Services Act 1996 (No. 14 of 1996) section 42(1) requires each written prescription to be dated and to bear the address and usual signature of the practitioner; that Act lists no drug and no schedule. The Poisons List (Cap. 70 Schedule 3 Part I, printed page 27) prints 'Cocaine.' and 'Coca; alkaloids of.', and page 28 prints 'Ecgonine; its esters.'; the list does not name crack. The Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, is the 1977 Edition and is a sale law (section 53(2): 'No person shall sell or deal in any of the several articles included in Schedule 3, hereinafter referred to as the Poisons List, except in the manner prescribed in this Ordinance'); its force today is not established, and the Secretary may add to the Poisons List by order under section 53(3). Regulation 11(2) reads: 'The prescribed form for prescriptions for a drug or preparation shall be in the form set out in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance.' Cap. 70 section 37 (printed pages 13 and 14, read as images) provides that a medical practitioner shall not issue a prescription unless it is 'signed by him with his usual signature' or written on paper printed with his surname and the initials of his Christian names, and 'bears the date on which the prescription was issued'; a veterinary surgeon's prescription must bear the words 'for veterinary purposes only' and a dentist's the words 'for dental purposes only'; and section 37(4) provides that a prescription which does not comply 'shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 38(2) (page 14) requires every prescription containing any of the drugs to which an Ordinance as to the sale of dangerous drugs relates to be 'retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of 2 years and filed in the pharmacy', and section 39(c) (page 14) forbids a pharmacist to 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which section 38 (2) relates'. Those are rules of a 1977 Edition pharmacy law whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42(2), PDF page 14 read as an image, provides that a medical practitioner or dentist who contravenes or does not comply with section 42(1) 'commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $40'. Section 42 is a separate form rule in a later Act.
Documentation: Read: the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977 (running head '1977 Ed.'), a scan with no text layer, from the page images for printed pages 3 to 6, 8, 10 to 12, 16, 17 and 25 to 27; the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80; the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 (No. 8 of 1995); the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2001 (No. 14 of 2001); the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, Schedule 3 Poisons List (printed pages 27 to 30) and sections 53 to 57, from page images; and the Medical Services Act 1996. Entry relied on: Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1, page 25, 'Cocaine.', and section 2 definition on page 3, read from the page images; the crack identity is from the NLM MeSH concept record M0025291 (scope note), under the descriptor heading D016578, a chemical identity source and not law. Model: delegated amendment power, exercise unknown. Section 13(1) (page 8) applies Part IV 'to the substances for the time being specified in Part I of Schedule 2', and section 13(2) lets the Minister, where a decision of the Commission or the Organisation to alter the Schedules to the Single Convention 'requires the addition of a substance to, or the removal of a substance from, Part I or Part II of Schedule 2', 'by order make the requisite modifications in the said Schedule'. Nothing adopts the United Nations schedules automatically, and whether any order under section 13(2) was made after 1977 is in nothing read. The Ordinance prints no closing line stating that no subsidiary legislation exists. Not established: any order under section 13(2) after 1977; any amendment after 2001 (none was found, which is not proof there is none); the year of assent and commencement of the 2001 Act, which are handwritten on the scan with the final year digit cut off (the day and month, 14 January and 1 January, are legible); and the force today of the 1977 Edition of Cap. 70. The Part II exception for a cocaine preparation (paragraph 10, page 27) is limited to a preparation containing not more than 0.1 per cent of cocaine calculated as cocaine base, compounded so that it has no or a negligible risk of abuse and the cocaine cannot be recovered by readily applicable means; smokable crack is not described by those words, and no claim is made that it falls inside the exception. The Ordinance does not use the word crack (searched: crack, freebase, free base, base), and the only hit for 'base' in the Customs Act 2019 OCR is 'Base or counterfeit coin', not cocaine. Page images also read: Dangerous Drugs Ordinance printed pages 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26 and 27; Medical Services Act 1996 PDF page 14; Customs Act 2019 PDF pages 31, 32, 59, 64, 65 and 69; Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70 printed pages 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22; Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 page 1. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 were read from the text layer of the PDF, and no page image of them was read. Also not established: whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, headed as made under section 15(1), are 'rules made under this Ordinance' within section 39(1)(a); whether the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 of the Ordinance is the Customs Act 2019, whose section 156(1) repeals the Customs Act 2005 and does not name Cap. 22; and how section 35, Schedule 8 of the Customs Act 2019 and section 39(2) combine for import and export.

Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Revised Edition 1977, Schedule 2 Part I and sections 13, 14, 20, 22, 24, 27, 29 and 39 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80, regulations 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 16 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995, section 8A · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2001 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, Schedule 3 Poisons List and sections 53 to 57 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Medical Services Act 1996, section 42 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · NLM MeSH concept M0025291 (scope note), under descriptor D016578 (a chemical identity source, not law) · id.nlm.nih.gov · id.nlm.nih.gov · Customs Act 2019, Schedules 3 and 4 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Updated October 7, 2026

Crack Cocaine in Kiribati, full detail →

Fentanyl

Legal status: Controlled. Fentanyl is named in Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23 (printed page 25), which prints the entry 'Fentanyl.', so Part IV applies to it under section 13(1). Paragraph 3 (page 26) adds 'Any salt of a substance for the time being specified in paragraph 1 or 2', and paragraph 8 reaches any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance containing any proportion of a paragraph 1 substance. No fentanyl analogue is named in the list, so this entry speaks only to fentanyl and its salts and preparations, not to analogues. This is the text as in force in the 1977 Revised Edition, as amended by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001. It does not rule out a later amendment or a later order under section 13(2), by which the Minister may modify Schedule 2 (page 8), and no such order was read.
Consequences if caught: Personal possession: section 20 (printed page 10) makes it an offence against the Ordinance to be found in possession of a dangerous drug to which Part IV applies, or to keep it in any place other than the appointed store, 'unless he can prove that such drug was obtained under the authority of this Ordinance, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent'. Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 (commenced 21 February 1980) adds: 'A person shall not be in possession of a drug or preparation unless he is duly so authorised.' Penalty, section 39(2) (page 17), for each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed: on conviction by the High Court, 'a fine of $2000 and to imprisonment for 10 years'; on summary conviction by a magistrates' court, 'a fine not exceeding $1000 and to imprisonment for 5 years'. The text joins the fine and the imprisonment with 'and', so the two are cumulative and not alternative. On conviction every article in respect of which the offence was committed is forfeited ('shall in every case... forfeit to Her Majesty'), and the court may order the forfeited articles destroyed. Attempting, soliciting or inciting carries the same punishment and forfeiture (section 39(4)). Proceedings under section 39(1)(a) need the Attorney-General's institution or consent (section 39(3)). Possession for supply, sale and trafficking: the text read prints no separate offence or penalty band for possession for supply or for trafficking. Regulation 5 forbids supplying, procuring, offering to supply, prescribing or advertising for sale a drug or preparation without authority, and Regulation 16 states 'No person shall give, sell, barter or distribute any drug or preparation save as is permitted by these Regulations'. The Regulations are headed as made under section 15(1). Section 39(1)(a), printed page 16, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance any person who 'acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules made under this Ordinance; or'. Whether the Regulations are such rules is not stated. Regulation 17 reads: 'These Regulations shall not apply to the Government Medical Services.' Import and export: section 14 (page 8) provides 'No person shall import or export any substance to which this Part applies, except in accordance with sections 21 to 29'; section 27 (page 12) forbids importing unless the consignee holds a valid import authorisation, section 29 reaches steps preparatory to importing, section 22 (page 11) forbids exporting without an export authorisation and section 24 reaches steps preparatory to exporting; section 3 (page 6) allows import and export only through ports approved by the Minister. Customs route, read from the Ordinance printed pages 13, 14 and 15 as images. Section 35(1), printed pages 14 and 15, deems articles whose importation is prohibited or restricted by the Ordinance to be goods whose importation is prohibited 'under the Customs Ordinance' (margin note 'Cap. 22'). Section 35(2), printed page 15, reads: 'If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Ordinance are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Chief Customs Officer.' The word in section 35(2) is 'or'. It is a forfeiture liability of the exporter at the option of the Chief Customs Officer and is not stated as a term of imprisonment. Pages 13 to 15 print no other penalty band for import or export, and section 39(2) applies to 'each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed', so how section 35(2) and section 39(2) combine for an export is not stated. The Customs Act 2019, read from page images (PDF pages 31, 32, 64, 65 and 69), reads: section 64(2) 'The importation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 3 is absolutely prohibited' (note: 'It is an offence to knowingly import prohibited imports (Schedule 8, item 5)'), Schedule 3 item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', section 66(2) 'The exportation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 5 is absolutely prohibited', Schedule 5 item 1 'Goods of any kind, the exportation of which is prohibited under a law of Kiribati', and Schedule 8 item 5 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods' and item 7 'Knowingly exporting a prohibited export' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $5000, imprisonment for two years and forfeiture of the goods'. The link from the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 to the Customs Act 2019 is not established: section 156(1) of the 2019 Act (PDF page 59, read as an image) repeals 'The Customs Act 2005', and the Customs Ordinance, Cap. 22, is not named in the pages read. Whether a substance controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is a good prohibited 'by any law of Kiribati' for Schedule 3 item 20 and Schedule 5 item 1 is likewise not stated. If it is, the Schedule 8 item 5 and item 7 bands quoted above would follow; the pages read do not settle it. Manufacture: Regulation 3 forbids manufacturing or carrying on any process in the manufacture of a drug unless duly authorised, on authorised premises and within the terms of the authority. Whether Regulation 3 is a rule within section 39(1)(a) is the question stated above. Cultivation: the Ordinance's cultivation provisions concern the opium poppy, Indian hemp and coca leaf plant and, since 2001, datura metel, not this compound, and the text read states no cultivation offence for it. Use: the text read states no separate offence of use or consumption as such. Administrative offences: Regulations 12 to 15 govern prescriptions, labelling, the register of drugs supplied and the preservation of records; under section 39(3) (page 17) a person convicted of contravening rules on keeping books or issuing or dispensing prescriptions through inadvertence, not connected with another offence, is not to be sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine or to a fine exceeding $100. Separately, section 8A (inserted by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995, Act No. 8 of 1995) makes it an offence to have in possession property reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of an offence under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance without giving the court a satisfactory account, punishable by imprisonment for 2 years. Death penalty: the drug provisions read provide none.
If prescribed / medical: Section 20 (page 10) lists a registered medical practitioner's prescription as one of the matters a possessor may prove to answer the possession offence. Under the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80, a person to whom a drug or preparation is lawfully supplied on a prescription lawfully given by a registered medical practitioner, a registered dentist or an approved veterinary surgeon is deemed authorised to be in possession of it (Regulation 6(2)(a)), subject to a proviso that a second prescriber's supply does not count where the patient did not disclose treatment already being received from another practitioner; Regulation 8(1) authorises registered medical practitioners, dentists, approved veterinary surgeons, medical officers and owners and commanders of aircraft to possess and supply drugs so far as necessary for their professions; Regulation 11 defines a prescription as one in the prescribed form given for medical, dental or animal treatment, and Regulation 12 sets the duties of a person supplying on a prescription. The Medical Services Act 1996 (No. 14 of 1996) section 42(1) requires each written prescription to be dated and to bear the address and usual signature of the practitioner; that Act lists no drug and no schedule. The Poisons List (Cap. 70 Schedule 3, printed pages 27 to 30) was searched for fentanyl, fentanil, anilidopiperidine, piperidine and propionanilide and carries no fentanyl entry. The Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, is the 1977 Edition and is a sale law (section 53(2): 'No person shall sell or deal in any of the several articles included in Schedule 3, hereinafter referred to as the Poisons List, except in the manner prescribed in this Ordinance'); its force today is not established, and the Secretary may add to the Poisons List by order under section 53(3). Regulation 11(2) reads: 'The prescribed form for prescriptions for a drug or preparation shall be in the form set out in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance.' Cap. 70 section 37 (printed pages 13 and 14, read as images) provides that a medical practitioner shall not issue a prescription unless it is 'signed by him with his usual signature' or written on paper printed with his surname and the initials of his Christian names, and 'bears the date on which the prescription was issued'; a veterinary surgeon's prescription must bear the words 'for veterinary purposes only' and a dentist's the words 'for dental purposes only'; and section 37(4) provides that a prescription which does not comply 'shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 38(2) (page 14) requires every prescription containing any of the drugs to which an Ordinance as to the sale of dangerous drugs relates to be 'retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of 2 years and filed in the pharmacy', and section 39(c) (page 14) forbids a pharmacist to 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which section 38 (2) relates'. Those are rules of a 1977 Edition pharmacy law whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42(2), PDF page 14 read as an image, provides that a medical practitioner or dentist who contravenes or does not comply with section 42(1) 'commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $40'. Section 42 is a separate form rule in a later Act.
Documentation: Read: the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977 (running head '1977 Ed.'), a scan with no text layer, from the page images for printed pages 3 to 6, 8, 10 to 12, 16, 17 and 25 to 27; the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80; the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 (No. 8 of 1995); the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2001 (No. 14 of 2001); the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, Schedule 3 Poisons List (printed pages 27 to 30) and sections 53 to 57, from page images; and the Medical Services Act 1996. Entry relied on: Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1, page 25, 'Fentanyl.', read from the page image. The Poisons List search for fentanyl returned no entry on pages 27 to 30, read from the page images. Model: delegated amendment power, exercise unknown. Section 13(1) (page 8) applies Part IV 'to the substances for the time being specified in Part I of Schedule 2', and section 13(2) lets the Minister, where a decision of the Commission or the Organisation to alter the Schedules to the Single Convention 'requires the addition of a substance to, or the removal of a substance from, Part I or Part II of Schedule 2', 'by order make the requisite modifications in the said Schedule'. Nothing adopts the United Nations schedules automatically, and whether any order under section 13(2) was made after 1977 is in nothing read. The Ordinance prints no closing line stating that no subsidiary legislation exists. Not established: any order under section 13(2) after 1977; any amendment after 2001 (none was found, which is not proof there is none); the year of assent and commencement of the 2001 Act, which are handwritten on the scan with the final year digit cut off (the day and month, 14 January and 1 January, are legible); and the force today of the 1977 Edition of Cap. 70. Page images also read: Dangerous Drugs Ordinance printed pages 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26 and 27; Medical Services Act 1996 PDF page 14; Customs Act 2019 PDF pages 31, 32, 59, 64, 65 and 69; Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70 printed pages 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22; Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 page 1. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 were read from the text layer of the PDF, and no page image of them was read. Also not established: whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, headed as made under section 15(1), are 'rules made under this Ordinance' within section 39(1)(a); whether the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 of the Ordinance is the Customs Act 2019, whose section 156(1) repeals the Customs Act 2005 and does not name Cap. 22; and how section 35, Schedule 8 of the Customs Act 2019 and section 39(2) combine for import and export.

Fentanyl in Kiribati, full detail →

Heroin

Legal status: Controlled. Heroin is controlled under its chemical name diamorphine: Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23 (printed page 25) prints the entry 'Diamorphine.', and section 2 (page 4) defines 'diacetylmorphine' as 'diacetylmorphine (diamorphine, heroin)' with the formula C21H23O5N, so the Ordinance itself equates the two names. Part IV therefore applies to heroin under section 13(1). Paragraph 3 (page 26) adds 'Any salt of a substance for the time being specified in paragraph 1 or 2', and paragraph 8 reaches any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance containing any proportion of a paragraph 1 substance. This is the text as in force in the 1977 Revised Edition, as amended by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001. It does not rule out a later amendment or a later order under section 13(2), by which the Minister may modify Schedule 2 (page 8), and no such order was read.
Consequences if caught: Personal possession: section 20 (printed page 10) makes it an offence against the Ordinance to be found in possession of a dangerous drug to which Part IV applies, or to keep it in any place other than the appointed store, 'unless he can prove that such drug was obtained under the authority of this Ordinance, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent'. Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 (commenced 21 February 1980) adds: 'A person shall not be in possession of a drug or preparation unless he is duly so authorised.' Penalty, section 39(2) (page 17), for each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed: on conviction by the High Court, 'a fine of $2000 and to imprisonment for 10 years'; on summary conviction by a magistrates' court, 'a fine not exceeding $1000 and to imprisonment for 5 years'. The text joins the fine and the imprisonment with 'and', so the two are cumulative and not alternative. On conviction every article in respect of which the offence was committed is forfeited ('shall in every case... forfeit to Her Majesty'), and the court may order the forfeited articles destroyed. Attempting, soliciting or inciting carries the same punishment and forfeiture (section 39(4)). Proceedings under section 39(1)(a) need the Attorney-General's institution or consent (section 39(3)). Possession for supply, sale and trafficking: the text read prints no separate offence or penalty band for possession for supply or for trafficking. Regulation 5 forbids supplying, procuring, offering to supply, prescribing or advertising for sale a drug or preparation without authority, and Regulation 16 states 'No person shall give, sell, barter or distribute any drug or preparation save as is permitted by these Regulations'. The Regulations are headed as made under section 15(1). Section 39(1)(a), printed page 16, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance any person who 'acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules made under this Ordinance; or'. Whether the Regulations are such rules is not stated. Regulation 17 reads: 'These Regulations shall not apply to the Government Medical Services.' Import and export: section 14 (page 8) provides 'No person shall import or export any substance to which this Part applies, except in accordance with sections 21 to 29'; section 27 (page 12) forbids importing unless the consignee holds a valid import authorisation, section 29 reaches steps preparatory to importing, section 22 (page 11) forbids exporting without an export authorisation and section 24 reaches steps preparatory to exporting; section 3 (page 6) allows import and export only through ports approved by the Minister. Customs route, read from the Ordinance printed pages 13, 14 and 15 as images. Section 35(1), printed pages 14 and 15, deems articles whose importation is prohibited or restricted by the Ordinance to be goods whose importation is prohibited 'under the Customs Ordinance' (margin note 'Cap. 22'). Section 35(2), printed page 15, reads: 'If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Ordinance are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Chief Customs Officer.' The word in section 35(2) is 'or'. It is a forfeiture liability of the exporter at the option of the Chief Customs Officer and is not stated as a term of imprisonment. Pages 13 to 15 print no other penalty band for import or export, and section 39(2) applies to 'each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed', so how section 35(2) and section 39(2) combine for an export is not stated. The Customs Act 2019, read from page images (PDF pages 31, 32, 64, 65 and 69), reads: section 64(2) 'The importation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 3 is absolutely prohibited' (note: 'It is an offence to knowingly import prohibited imports (Schedule 8, item 5)'), Schedule 3 item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', section 66(2) 'The exportation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 5 is absolutely prohibited', Schedule 5 item 1 'Goods of any kind, the exportation of which is prohibited under a law of Kiribati', and Schedule 8 item 5 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods' and item 7 'Knowingly exporting a prohibited export' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $5000, imprisonment for two years and forfeiture of the goods'. The link from the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 to the Customs Act 2019 is not established: section 156(1) of the 2019 Act (PDF page 59, read as an image) repeals 'The Customs Act 2005', and the Customs Ordinance, Cap. 22, is not named in the pages read. Whether a substance controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is a good prohibited 'by any law of Kiribati' for Schedule 3 item 20 and Schedule 5 item 1 is likewise not stated. If it is, the Schedule 8 item 5 and item 7 bands quoted above would follow; the pages read do not settle it. Manufacture: Regulation 3 forbids manufacturing or carrying on any process in the manufacture of a drug unless duly authorised, on authorised premises and within the terms of the authority. Whether Regulation 3 is a rule within section 39(1)(a) is the question stated above. Cultivation: the Ordinance's cultivation provisions concern the opium poppy, Indian hemp and coca leaf plant and, since 2001, datura metel, not this compound, and the text read states no cultivation offence for it. Use: the text read states no separate offence of use or consumption as such. Administrative offences: Regulations 12 to 15 govern prescriptions, labelling, the register of drugs supplied and the preservation of records; under section 39(3) (page 17) a person convicted of contravening rules on keeping books or issuing or dispensing prescriptions through inadvertence, not connected with another offence, is not to be sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine or to a fine exceeding $100. Separately, section 8A (inserted by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995, Act No. 8 of 1995) makes it an offence to have in possession property reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of an offence under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance without giving the court a satisfactory account, punishable by imprisonment for 2 years. Death penalty: the drug provisions read provide none.
If prescribed / medical: Section 20 (page 10) lists a registered medical practitioner's prescription as one of the matters a possessor may prove to answer the possession offence. Under the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80, a person to whom a drug or preparation is lawfully supplied on a prescription lawfully given by a registered medical practitioner, a registered dentist or an approved veterinary surgeon is deemed authorised to be in possession of it (Regulation 6(2)(a)), subject to a proviso that a second prescriber's supply does not count where the patient did not disclose treatment already being received from another practitioner; Regulation 8(1) authorises registered medical practitioners, dentists, approved veterinary surgeons, medical officers and owners and commanders of aircraft to possess and supply drugs so far as necessary for their professions; Regulation 11 defines a prescription as one in the prescribed form given for medical, dental or animal treatment, and Regulation 12 sets the duties of a person supplying on a prescription. The Medical Services Act 1996 (No. 14 of 1996) section 42(1) requires each written prescription to be dated and to bear the address and usual signature of the practitioner; that Act lists no drug and no schedule. The Poisons List (Cap. 70 Schedule 3 Part I, printed page 27) prints 'Diacetylmorphine.'. The Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, is the 1977 Edition and is a sale law (section 53(2): 'No person shall sell or deal in any of the several articles included in Schedule 3, hereinafter referred to as the Poisons List, except in the manner prescribed in this Ordinance'); its force today is not established, and the Secretary may add to the Poisons List by order under section 53(3). Regulation 11(2) reads: 'The prescribed form for prescriptions for a drug or preparation shall be in the form set out in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance.' Cap. 70 section 37 (printed pages 13 and 14, read as images) provides that a medical practitioner shall not issue a prescription unless it is 'signed by him with his usual signature' or written on paper printed with his surname and the initials of his Christian names, and 'bears the date on which the prescription was issued'; a veterinary surgeon's prescription must bear the words 'for veterinary purposes only' and a dentist's the words 'for dental purposes only'; and section 37(4) provides that a prescription which does not comply 'shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 38(2) (page 14) requires every prescription containing any of the drugs to which an Ordinance as to the sale of dangerous drugs relates to be 'retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of 2 years and filed in the pharmacy', and section 39(c) (page 14) forbids a pharmacist to 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which section 38 (2) relates'. Those are rules of a 1977 Edition pharmacy law whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42(2), PDF page 14 read as an image, provides that a medical practitioner or dentist who contravenes or does not comply with section 42(1) 'commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $40'. Section 42 is a separate form rule in a later Act.
Documentation: Read: the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977 (running head '1977 Ed.'), a scan with no text layer, from the page images for printed pages 3 to 6, 8, 10 to 12, 16, 17 and 25 to 27; the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80; the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 (No. 8 of 1995); the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2001 (No. 14 of 2001); the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, Schedule 3 Poisons List (printed pages 27 to 30) and sections 53 to 57, from page images; and the Medical Services Act 1996. Entry relied on: Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1, page 25, 'Diamorphine.', and the section 2 definition on page 4, both read from the page images. Model: delegated amendment power, exercise unknown. Section 13(1) (page 8) applies Part IV 'to the substances for the time being specified in Part I of Schedule 2', and section 13(2) lets the Minister, where a decision of the Commission or the Organisation to alter the Schedules to the Single Convention 'requires the addition of a substance to, or the removal of a substance from, Part I or Part II of Schedule 2', 'by order make the requisite modifications in the said Schedule'. Nothing adopts the United Nations schedules automatically, and whether any order under section 13(2) was made after 1977 is in nothing read. The Ordinance prints no closing line stating that no subsidiary legislation exists. Not established: any order under section 13(2) after 1977; any amendment after 2001 (none was found, which is not proof there is none); the year of assent and commencement of the 2001 Act, which are handwritten on the scan with the final year digit cut off (the day and month, 14 January and 1 January, are legible); and the force today of the 1977 Edition of Cap. 70. Page images also read: Dangerous Drugs Ordinance printed pages 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26 and 27; Medical Services Act 1996 PDF page 14; Customs Act 2019 PDF pages 31, 32, 59, 64, 65 and 69; Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70 printed pages 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22; Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 page 1. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 were read from the text layer of the PDF, and no page image of them was read. Also not established: whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, headed as made under section 15(1), are 'rules made under this Ordinance' within section 39(1)(a); whether the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 of the Ordinance is the Customs Act 2019, whose section 156(1) repeals the Customs Act 2005 and does not name Cap. 22; and how section 35, Schedule 8 of the Customs Act 2019 and section 39(2) combine for import and export.

Heroin in Kiribati, full detail →

Hydrocodone

Legal status: Controlled. Hydrocodone is named in Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23 (printed page 25), which prints the entry 'Hydrocodone (dihydrocodeinone).', so Part IV applies to it under section 13(1). Paragraph 3 (page 26) adds 'Any salt of a substance for the time being specified in paragraph 1 or 2', and paragraph 8 reaches any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance containing any proportion of a paragraph 1 substance. This is the text as in force in the 1977 Revised Edition, as amended by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001. It does not rule out a later amendment or a later order under section 13(2), by which the Minister may modify Schedule 2 (page 8), and no such order was read.
Consequences if caught: Personal possession: section 20 (printed page 10) makes it an offence against the Ordinance to be found in possession of a dangerous drug to which Part IV applies, or to keep it in any place other than the appointed store, 'unless he can prove that such drug was obtained under the authority of this Ordinance, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent'. Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 (commenced 21 February 1980) adds: 'A person shall not be in possession of a drug or preparation unless he is duly so authorised.' Penalty, section 39(2) (page 17), for each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed: on conviction by the High Court, 'a fine of $2000 and to imprisonment for 10 years'; on summary conviction by a magistrates' court, 'a fine not exceeding $1000 and to imprisonment for 5 years'. The text joins the fine and the imprisonment with 'and', so the two are cumulative and not alternative. On conviction every article in respect of which the offence was committed is forfeited ('shall in every case... forfeit to Her Majesty'), and the court may order the forfeited articles destroyed. Attempting, soliciting or inciting carries the same punishment and forfeiture (section 39(4)). Proceedings under section 39(1)(a) need the Attorney-General's institution or consent (section 39(3)). Possession for supply, sale and trafficking: the text read prints no separate offence or penalty band for possession for supply or for trafficking. Regulation 5 forbids supplying, procuring, offering to supply, prescribing or advertising for sale a drug or preparation without authority, and Regulation 16 states 'No person shall give, sell, barter or distribute any drug or preparation save as is permitted by these Regulations'. The Regulations are headed as made under section 15(1). Section 39(1)(a), printed page 16, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance any person who 'acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules made under this Ordinance; or'. Whether the Regulations are such rules is not stated. Regulation 17 reads: 'These Regulations shall not apply to the Government Medical Services.' Import and export: section 14 (page 8) provides 'No person shall import or export any substance to which this Part applies, except in accordance with sections 21 to 29'; section 27 (page 12) forbids importing unless the consignee holds a valid import authorisation, section 29 reaches steps preparatory to importing, section 22 (page 11) forbids exporting without an export authorisation and section 24 reaches steps preparatory to exporting; section 3 (page 6) allows import and export only through ports approved by the Minister. Customs route, read from the Ordinance printed pages 13, 14 and 15 as images. Section 35(1), printed pages 14 and 15, deems articles whose importation is prohibited or restricted by the Ordinance to be goods whose importation is prohibited 'under the Customs Ordinance' (margin note 'Cap. 22'). Section 35(2), printed page 15, reads: 'If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Ordinance are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Chief Customs Officer.' The word in section 35(2) is 'or'. It is a forfeiture liability of the exporter at the option of the Chief Customs Officer and is not stated as a term of imprisonment. Pages 13 to 15 print no other penalty band for import or export, and section 39(2) applies to 'each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed', so how section 35(2) and section 39(2) combine for an export is not stated. The Customs Act 2019, read from page images (PDF pages 31, 32, 64, 65 and 69), reads: section 64(2) 'The importation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 3 is absolutely prohibited' (note: 'It is an offence to knowingly import prohibited imports (Schedule 8, item 5)'), Schedule 3 item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', section 66(2) 'The exportation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 5 is absolutely prohibited', Schedule 5 item 1 'Goods of any kind, the exportation of which is prohibited under a law of Kiribati', and Schedule 8 item 5 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods' and item 7 'Knowingly exporting a prohibited export' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $5000, imprisonment for two years and forfeiture of the goods'. The link from the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 to the Customs Act 2019 is not established: section 156(1) of the 2019 Act (PDF page 59, read as an image) repeals 'The Customs Act 2005', and the Customs Ordinance, Cap. 22, is not named in the pages read. Whether a substance controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is a good prohibited 'by any law of Kiribati' for Schedule 3 item 20 and Schedule 5 item 1 is likewise not stated. If it is, the Schedule 8 item 5 and item 7 bands quoted above would follow; the pages read do not settle it. Manufacture: Regulation 3 forbids manufacturing or carrying on any process in the manufacture of a drug unless duly authorised, on authorised premises and within the terms of the authority. Whether Regulation 3 is a rule within section 39(1)(a) is the question stated above. Cultivation: the Ordinance's cultivation provisions concern the opium poppy, Indian hemp and coca leaf plant and, since 2001, datura metel, not this compound, and the text read states no cultivation offence for it. Use: the text read states no separate offence of use or consumption as such. Administrative offences: Regulations 12 to 15 govern prescriptions, labelling, the register of drugs supplied and the preservation of records; under section 39(3) (page 17) a person convicted of contravening rules on keeping books or issuing or dispensing prescriptions through inadvertence, not connected with another offence, is not to be sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine or to a fine exceeding $100. Separately, section 8A (inserted by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995, Act No. 8 of 1995) makes it an offence to have in possession property reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of an offence under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance without giving the court a satisfactory account, punishable by imprisonment for 2 years. Death penalty: the drug provisions read provide none.
If prescribed / medical: Section 20 (page 10) lists a registered medical practitioner's prescription as one of the matters a possessor may prove to answer the possession offence. Under the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80, a person to whom a drug or preparation is lawfully supplied on a prescription lawfully given by a registered medical practitioner, a registered dentist or an approved veterinary surgeon is deemed authorised to be in possession of it (Regulation 6(2)(a)), subject to a proviso that a second prescriber's supply does not count where the patient did not disclose treatment already being received from another practitioner; Regulation 8(1) authorises registered medical practitioners, dentists, approved veterinary surgeons, medical officers and owners and commanders of aircraft to possess and supply drugs so far as necessary for their professions; Regulation 11 defines a prescription as one in the prescribed form given for medical, dental or animal treatment, and Regulation 12 sets the duties of a person supplying on a prescription. The Medical Services Act 1996 (No. 14 of 1996) section 42(1) requires each written prescription to be dated and to bear the address and usual signature of the practitioner; that Act lists no drug and no schedule. The Poisons List (Cap. 70 Schedule 3 Part I, printed page 27) prints 'Dihydrocodeinone; its esters.', which is the chemical name the Ordinance itself gives in brackets for hydrocodone. The Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, is the 1977 Edition and is a sale law (section 53(2): 'No person shall sell or deal in any of the several articles included in Schedule 3, hereinafter referred to as the Poisons List, except in the manner prescribed in this Ordinance'); its force today is not established, and the Secretary may add to the Poisons List by order under section 53(3). Regulation 11(2) reads: 'The prescribed form for prescriptions for a drug or preparation shall be in the form set out in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance.' Cap. 70 section 37 (printed pages 13 and 14, read as images) provides that a medical practitioner shall not issue a prescription unless it is 'signed by him with his usual signature' or written on paper printed with his surname and the initials of his Christian names, and 'bears the date on which the prescription was issued'; a veterinary surgeon's prescription must bear the words 'for veterinary purposes only' and a dentist's the words 'for dental purposes only'; and section 37(4) provides that a prescription which does not comply 'shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 38(2) (page 14) requires every prescription containing any of the drugs to which an Ordinance as to the sale of dangerous drugs relates to be 'retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of 2 years and filed in the pharmacy', and section 39(c) (page 14) forbids a pharmacist to 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which section 38 (2) relates'. Those are rules of a 1977 Edition pharmacy law whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42(2), PDF page 14 read as an image, provides that a medical practitioner or dentist who contravenes or does not comply with section 42(1) 'commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $40'. Section 42 is a separate form rule in a later Act.
Documentation: Read: the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977 (running head '1977 Ed.'), a scan with no text layer, from the page images for printed pages 3 to 6, 8, 10 to 12, 16, 17 and 25 to 27; the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80; the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 (No. 8 of 1995); the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2001 (No. 14 of 2001); the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, Schedule 3 Poisons List (printed pages 27 to 30) and sections 53 to 57, from page images; and the Medical Services Act 1996. Entry relied on: Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1, page 25, 'Hydrocodone (dihydrocodeinone).', read from the page image. Model: delegated amendment power, exercise unknown. Section 13(1) (page 8) applies Part IV 'to the substances for the time being specified in Part I of Schedule 2', and section 13(2) lets the Minister, where a decision of the Commission or the Organisation to alter the Schedules to the Single Convention 'requires the addition of a substance to, or the removal of a substance from, Part I or Part II of Schedule 2', 'by order make the requisite modifications in the said Schedule'. Nothing adopts the United Nations schedules automatically, and whether any order under section 13(2) was made after 1977 is in nothing read. The Ordinance prints no closing line stating that no subsidiary legislation exists. Not established: any order under section 13(2) after 1977; any amendment after 2001 (none was found, which is not proof there is none); the year of assent and commencement of the 2001 Act, which are handwritten on the scan with the final year digit cut off (the day and month, 14 January and 1 January, are legible); and the force today of the 1977 Edition of Cap. 70. Page images also read: Dangerous Drugs Ordinance printed pages 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26 and 27; Medical Services Act 1996 PDF page 14; Customs Act 2019 PDF pages 31, 32, 59, 64, 65 and 69; Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70 printed pages 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22; Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 page 1. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 were read from the text layer of the PDF, and no page image of them was read. Also not established: whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, headed as made under section 15(1), are 'rules made under this Ordinance' within section 39(1)(a); whether the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 of the Ordinance is the Customs Act 2019, whose section 156(1) repeals the Customs Act 2005 and does not name Cap. 22; and how section 35, Schedule 8 of the Customs Act 2019 and section 39(2) combine for import and export.

Hydrocodone in Kiribati, full detail →

Methadone

Legal status: Controlled. Methadone is named in Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23 (printed page 26), which prints the entry 'Methadone.', so Part IV applies to it under section 13(1). Related entries named separately on the list include Isomethadone (page 25), Methadyl acetate, Normethadone and Noracymethadol (page 26). Paragraph 3 (page 26) adds 'Any salt of a substance for the time being specified in paragraph 1 or 2', and paragraph 8 reaches any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance containing any proportion of a paragraph 1 substance. This is the text as in force in the 1977 Revised Edition, as amended by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001. It does not rule out a later amendment or a later order under section 13(2), by which the Minister may modify Schedule 2 (page 8), and no such order was read.
Consequences if caught: Personal possession: section 20 (printed page 10) makes it an offence against the Ordinance to be found in possession of a dangerous drug to which Part IV applies, or to keep it in any place other than the appointed store, 'unless he can prove that such drug was obtained under the authority of this Ordinance, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent'. Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 (commenced 21 February 1980) adds: 'A person shall not be in possession of a drug or preparation unless he is duly so authorised.' Penalty, section 39(2) (page 17), for each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed: on conviction by the High Court, 'a fine of $2000 and to imprisonment for 10 years'; on summary conviction by a magistrates' court, 'a fine not exceeding $1000 and to imprisonment for 5 years'. The text joins the fine and the imprisonment with 'and', so the two are cumulative and not alternative. On conviction every article in respect of which the offence was committed is forfeited ('shall in every case... forfeit to Her Majesty'), and the court may order the forfeited articles destroyed. Attempting, soliciting or inciting carries the same punishment and forfeiture (section 39(4)). Proceedings under section 39(1)(a) need the Attorney-General's institution or consent (section 39(3)). Possession for supply, sale and trafficking: the text read prints no separate offence or penalty band for possession for supply or for trafficking. Regulation 5 forbids supplying, procuring, offering to supply, prescribing or advertising for sale a drug or preparation without authority, and Regulation 16 states 'No person shall give, sell, barter or distribute any drug or preparation save as is permitted by these Regulations'. The Regulations are headed as made under section 15(1). Section 39(1)(a), printed page 16, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance any person who 'acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules made under this Ordinance; or'. Whether the Regulations are such rules is not stated. Regulation 17 reads: 'These Regulations shall not apply to the Government Medical Services.' Import and export: section 14 (page 8) provides 'No person shall import or export any substance to which this Part applies, except in accordance with sections 21 to 29'; section 27 (page 12) forbids importing unless the consignee holds a valid import authorisation, section 29 reaches steps preparatory to importing, section 22 (page 11) forbids exporting without an export authorisation and section 24 reaches steps preparatory to exporting; section 3 (page 6) allows import and export only through ports approved by the Minister. Customs route, read from the Ordinance printed pages 13, 14 and 15 as images. Section 35(1), printed pages 14 and 15, deems articles whose importation is prohibited or restricted by the Ordinance to be goods whose importation is prohibited 'under the Customs Ordinance' (margin note 'Cap. 22'). Section 35(2), printed page 15, reads: 'If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Ordinance are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Chief Customs Officer.' The word in section 35(2) is 'or'. It is a forfeiture liability of the exporter at the option of the Chief Customs Officer and is not stated as a term of imprisonment. Pages 13 to 15 print no other penalty band for import or export, and section 39(2) applies to 'each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed', so how section 35(2) and section 39(2) combine for an export is not stated. The Customs Act 2019, read from page images (PDF pages 31, 32, 64, 65 and 69), reads: section 64(2) 'The importation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 3 is absolutely prohibited' (note: 'It is an offence to knowingly import prohibited imports (Schedule 8, item 5)'), Schedule 3 item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', section 66(2) 'The exportation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 5 is absolutely prohibited', Schedule 5 item 1 'Goods of any kind, the exportation of which is prohibited under a law of Kiribati', and Schedule 8 item 5 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods' and item 7 'Knowingly exporting a prohibited export' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $5000, imprisonment for two years and forfeiture of the goods'. The link from the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 to the Customs Act 2019 is not established: section 156(1) of the 2019 Act (PDF page 59, read as an image) repeals 'The Customs Act 2005', and the Customs Ordinance, Cap. 22, is not named in the pages read. Whether a substance controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is a good prohibited 'by any law of Kiribati' for Schedule 3 item 20 and Schedule 5 item 1 is likewise not stated. If it is, the Schedule 8 item 5 and item 7 bands quoted above would follow; the pages read do not settle it. Manufacture: Regulation 3 forbids manufacturing or carrying on any process in the manufacture of a drug unless duly authorised, on authorised premises and within the terms of the authority. Whether Regulation 3 is a rule within section 39(1)(a) is the question stated above. Cultivation: the Ordinance's cultivation provisions concern the opium poppy, Indian hemp and coca leaf plant and, since 2001, datura metel, not this compound, and the text read states no cultivation offence for it. Use: the text read states no separate offence of use or consumption as such. Administrative offences: Regulations 12 to 15 govern prescriptions, labelling, the register of drugs supplied and the preservation of records; under section 39(3) (page 17) a person convicted of contravening rules on keeping books or issuing or dispensing prescriptions through inadvertence, not connected with another offence, is not to be sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine or to a fine exceeding $100. Separately, section 8A (inserted by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995, Act No. 8 of 1995) makes it an offence to have in possession property reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of an offence under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance without giving the court a satisfactory account, punishable by imprisonment for 2 years. Death penalty: the drug provisions read provide none.
If prescribed / medical: Section 20 (page 10) lists a registered medical practitioner's prescription as one of the matters a possessor may prove to answer the possession offence. Under the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80, a person to whom a drug or preparation is lawfully supplied on a prescription lawfully given by a registered medical practitioner, a registered dentist or an approved veterinary surgeon is deemed authorised to be in possession of it (Regulation 6(2)(a)), subject to a proviso that a second prescriber's supply does not count where the patient did not disclose treatment already being received from another practitioner; Regulation 8(1) authorises registered medical practitioners, dentists, approved veterinary surgeons, medical officers and owners and commanders of aircraft to possess and supply drugs so far as necessary for their professions; Regulation 11 defines a prescription as one in the prescribed form given for medical, dental or animal treatment, and Regulation 12 sets the duties of a person supplying on a prescription. The Medical Services Act 1996 (No. 14 of 1996) section 42(1) requires each written prescription to be dated and to bear the address and usual signature of the practitioner; that Act lists no drug and no schedule. The Poisons List (Cap. 70 Schedule 3, printed pages 27 to 30) was searched for methadone, methadyl, isomethadone, normethadone and dolophine and carries no methadone entry. The Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, is the 1977 Edition and is a sale law (section 53(2): 'No person shall sell or deal in any of the several articles included in Schedule 3, hereinafter referred to as the Poisons List, except in the manner prescribed in this Ordinance'); its force today is not established, and the Secretary may add to the Poisons List by order under section 53(3). Regulation 11(2) reads: 'The prescribed form for prescriptions for a drug or preparation shall be in the form set out in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance.' Cap. 70 section 37 (printed pages 13 and 14, read as images) provides that a medical practitioner shall not issue a prescription unless it is 'signed by him with his usual signature' or written on paper printed with his surname and the initials of his Christian names, and 'bears the date on which the prescription was issued'; a veterinary surgeon's prescription must bear the words 'for veterinary purposes only' and a dentist's the words 'for dental purposes only'; and section 37(4) provides that a prescription which does not comply 'shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 38(2) (page 14) requires every prescription containing any of the drugs to which an Ordinance as to the sale of dangerous drugs relates to be 'retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of 2 years and filed in the pharmacy', and section 39(c) (page 14) forbids a pharmacist to 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which section 38 (2) relates'. Those are rules of a 1977 Edition pharmacy law whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42(2), PDF page 14 read as an image, provides that a medical practitioner or dentist who contravenes or does not comply with section 42(1) 'commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $40'. Section 42 is a separate form rule in a later Act.
Documentation: Read: the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977 (running head '1977 Ed.'), a scan with no text layer, from the page images for printed pages 3 to 6, 8, 10 to 12, 16, 17 and 25 to 27; the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80; the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 (No. 8 of 1995); the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2001 (No. 14 of 2001); the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, Schedule 3 Poisons List (printed pages 27 to 30) and sections 53 to 57, from page images; and the Medical Services Act 1996. Entry relied on: Schedule 2 Part I paragraph 1, page 26, 'Methadone.', read from the page image. The Poisons List search for methadone returned no entry on pages 27 to 30, read from the page images. Model: delegated amendment power, exercise unknown. Section 13(1) (page 8) applies Part IV 'to the substances for the time being specified in Part I of Schedule 2', and section 13(2) lets the Minister, where a decision of the Commission or the Organisation to alter the Schedules to the Single Convention 'requires the addition of a substance to, or the removal of a substance from, Part I or Part II of Schedule 2', 'by order make the requisite modifications in the said Schedule'. Nothing adopts the United Nations schedules automatically, and whether any order under section 13(2) was made after 1977 is in nothing read. The Ordinance prints no closing line stating that no subsidiary legislation exists. Not established: any order under section 13(2) after 1977; any amendment after 2001 (none was found, which is not proof there is none); the year of assent and commencement of the 2001 Act, which are handwritten on the scan with the final year digit cut off (the day and month, 14 January and 1 January, are legible); and the force today of the 1977 Edition of Cap. 70. Page images also read: Dangerous Drugs Ordinance printed pages 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26 and 27; Medical Services Act 1996 PDF page 14; Customs Act 2019 PDF pages 31, 32, 59, 64, 65 and 69; Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70 printed pages 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22; Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 page 1. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 were read from the text layer of the PDF, and no page image of them was read. Also not established: whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, headed as made under section 15(1), are 'rules made under this Ordinance' within section 39(1)(a); whether the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 of the Ordinance is the Customs Act 2019, whose section 156(1) repeals the Customs Act 2005 and does not name Cap. 22; and how section 35, Schedule 8 of the Customs Act 2019 and section 39(2) combine for import and export.

Methadone in Kiribati, full detail →

Morphine

Legal status: Controlled. Morphine is named in the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977, as amended by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001. Schedule 2, Part I, paragraph 1, printed page 26, prints the entry "Morphine." and, beside it, "Morphine methobromide, morphine-N-oxide and other pentavalent nitrogen morphine derivatives." Section 13(1), printed page 8, applies Part IV, headed Medicinal Opium, Morphine, Cocaine and Certain Other Drugs, to "the substances for the time being specified in Part I of Schedule 2". Paragraph 8, page 26, reaches "Any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance containing any proportion of a substance" specified in paragraph 1 or in paragraphs 2 to 7. Part II of the Schedule, printed page 27, paragraph 11, prints: "A preparation of medicinal opium or of morphine containing (in either case) not more than 0.2 per cent of morphine calculated as anhydrous morphine base, being a preparation compounded with 1 or more other ingredients in such a way that the preparation has no, or a negligible, risk of abuse and that the opium or, as the case may be, the morphine, cannot be recovered by readily applicable means or in a yield which would constitute a risk to health." Section 30, printed page 12, reads: "The provisions of sections 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 shall not apply to any preparation or other substance for the time being falling within Part II of Schedule 2." Section 20 (possession) and the import sections 27 to 29 are in that range, although the heading of Part II of the Schedule speaks only of importation and exportation being excepted from control. Section 30 disapplies section 20 for a preparation within Part II of Schedule 2. Section 30 does not name section 13, section 15 or the Regulations. Whether regulation 6(1) of L.N. 19/80 reaches a Part II preparation is not stated. The Schedule can be altered by ministerial order under section 13(2), printed page 8, so the entry is the 1977 list and not a current one. The Dangerous Drugs Ordinance was read as in force in the 1977 Revised Edition as amended to the Acts of 1995 and 2001, and this text does not rule out a later amendment or a later order under section 13(2).
Consequences if caught: Possession is an offence under section 20, printed page 10, except as to a Part II preparation noted below: a Part IV drug found in the possession of any person or kept in any place other than the appointed store makes that person guilty of an offence against the Ordinance "unless he can prove that such drug was obtained under the authority of this Ordinance, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent". Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 adds: "A person shall not be in possession of a drug or preparation unless he is duly so authorised." Section 30 disapplies section 20 for a preparation within Part II of Schedule 2. Section 30 does not name section 13, section 15 or the Regulations. Whether regulation 6(1) of L.N. 19/80 reaches a Part II preparation is not stated. Section 39(2), printed page 17, reads: "Every person guilty of an offence under this Ordinance shall, in respect of each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed, be liable (a) on conviction by the High Court, to a fine of $2000 and to imprisonment for 10 years; or (b) on summary conviction by a magistrates' court, to a fine not exceeding $1000 and to imprisonment for 5 years; and shall in every case, on conviction for the offence, forfeit to Her Majesty all articles in respect of which the offence was committed." The fine and the imprisonment are joined by "and", so they are cumulative, and the articles are forfeited on conviction. Section 39(3) requires the Attorney-General's institution or consent for proceedings under section 39(1)(a), and section 39(4) gives the same punishment and forfeiture for an attempt, or for soliciting or inciting another person to commit an offence. Section 39(3) provides that no person convicted of failing to comply with rules on the keeping of books or the issuing or dispensing of prescriptions shall be sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine, or to pay a fine exceeding $100, if the court is satisfied that the offence was committed through inadvertence and was not preparatory to or connected with another offence against the Ordinance. The drug legislation read provides no death penalty: none appears in the text read. Supply and sale: regulation 5(1) forbids a person to "supply or procure or offer to supply or procure or prescribe" a drug or preparation, or advertise it for sale, unless authorised, and regulation 4 limits wholesale buying to registered medical practitioners, registered dentists, approved veterinary surgeons and registered pharmacists. Manufacture: regulation 3 forbids manufacture unless duly authorised, on authorised premises and within the terms of the authority, and section 15(1)(a), printed page 8, empowers rules prohibiting manufacture except on licensed premises. Import and export: section 14, printed page 8, forbids import or export of a Part IV substance except in accordance with sections 21 to 29, section 27, printed page 12, forbids import unless the consignee holds a valid import authorisation, section 29 forbids importing, causing to be imported or taking steps preparatory to importing except in accordance with the Ordinance, and section 3, printed page 6, requires dangerous drugs to go through ports approved by the Minister. The text read states no separate offence called trafficking. Regulation 16 reads 'No person shall give, sell, barter or distribute any drug or preparation save as is permitted by these Regulations'. The Regulations are headed as made under section 15(1). Section 39(1)(a), printed page 16, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance any person who 'acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules made under this Ordinance; or'. Whether the Regulations are such rules is not stated. Regulation 17 reads: 'These Regulations shall not apply to the Government Medical Services.' Customs route, read from the Ordinance printed pages 13, 14 and 15 as images. Section 35(1), printed pages 14 and 15, deems articles whose importation is prohibited or restricted by the Ordinance to be goods whose importation is prohibited 'under the Customs Ordinance' (margin note 'Cap. 22'). Section 35(2), printed page 15, reads: 'If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Ordinance are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Chief Customs Officer.' The word in section 35(2) is 'or'. It is a forfeiture liability of the exporter at the option of the Chief Customs Officer and is not stated as a term of imprisonment. Pages 13 to 15 print no other penalty band for import or export, and section 39(2) applies to 'each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed', so how section 35(2) and section 39(2) combine for an export is not stated. The Customs Act 2019, read from page images (PDF pages 31, 32, 64, 65 and 69), reads: section 64(2) 'The importation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 3 is absolutely prohibited' (note: 'It is an offence to knowingly import prohibited imports (Schedule 8, item 5)'), Schedule 3 item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', section 66(2) 'The exportation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 5 is absolutely prohibited', Schedule 5 item 1 'Goods of any kind, the exportation of which is prohibited under a law of Kiribati', and Schedule 8 item 5 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods' and item 7 'Knowingly exporting a prohibited export' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $5000, imprisonment for two years and forfeiture of the goods'. The link from the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 to the Customs Act 2019 is not established: section 156(1) of the 2019 Act (PDF page 59, read as an image) repeals 'The Customs Act 2005', and the Customs Ordinance, Cap. 22, is not named in the pages read. Whether a substance controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is a good prohibited 'by any law of Kiribati' for Schedule 3 item 20 and Schedule 5 item 1 is likewise not stated. If it is, the Schedule 8 item 5 and item 7 bands quoted above would follow; the pages read do not settle it. Cultivation and use: the text read states no separate offence of cultivation or of use for a Part IV drug.
If prescribed / medical: A doctor's prescription is one of the defences to possession in section 20, and regulation 6(2)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 deems a person to whom a drug is lawfully supplied on a prescription lawfully given by a registered medical practitioner, a registered dentist or an approved veterinary surgeon to be authorised to be in possession of it, with a proviso that this does not protect a patient who did not disclose treatment and supply from another practitioner. Section 19, printed page 10, limits withdrawal of drugs from the appointed store to a registered medical practitioner, licensed pharmacist, registered dentist, qualified veterinary surgeon and certain approved hospital or mission persons. The Medical Services Act 1996, section 42, governs only the form of a written prescription and lists no drug. The Poisons List in the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, Schedule 3 Part I, printed page 28, prints "Morphine." Under section 53(2) no person may sell or deal in a listed article except as that Ordinance prescribes, and under section 57(1)(a) a Part I poison may be sold only by an authorised seller on registered premises by or under the supervision of a registered pharmacist. That is a 1977 Edition sale law, its force today is not established, and the Secretary may add to the list by order. For a low strength Part II preparation: s30 disapplies s20 for a preparation within Part II of Schedule 2. s30 does not name s13, s15 or the Regulations. Whether reg 6(1) of L.N. 19/80 reaches a Part II preparation is not stated. Regulation 11(2) reads: 'The prescribed form for prescriptions for a drug or preparation shall be in the form set out in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance.' Cap. 70 section 37 (printed pages 13 and 14, read as images) provides that a medical practitioner shall not issue a prescription unless it is 'signed by him with his usual signature' or written on paper printed with his surname and the initials of his Christian names, and 'bears the date on which the prescription was issued'; a veterinary surgeon's prescription must bear the words 'for veterinary purposes only' and a dentist's the words 'for dental purposes only'; and section 37(4) provides that a prescription which does not comply 'shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 38(2) (page 14) requires every prescription containing any of the drugs to which an Ordinance as to the sale of dangerous drugs relates to be 'retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of 2 years and filed in the pharmacy', and section 39(c) (page 14) forbids a pharmacist to 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which section 38 (2) relates'. Those are rules of a 1977 Edition pharmacy law whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42(2), PDF page 14 read as an image, provides that a medical practitioner or dentist who contravenes or does not comply with section 42(1) 'commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $40'. Section 42 is a separate form rule in a later Act.
Documentation: Read: the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance Cap. 23, Revised Edition 1977 (a scan with no text layer, 27 pages), with printed pages 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 17, 26 and 27 opened and read as page images and the other pages read from OCR text, which is a finding aid only; the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80; the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001; the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70, Poisons List printed pages 27 to 30, read as images; and the Medical Services Act 1996. Model: delegated amendment power, exercise unknown. Section 13(2) lets the Minister modify Schedule 2 by order to follow decisions under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs signed at New York on 30th March 1961. There is no automatic adoption of the United Nations schedules, and the 1971 Convention is not in the Ordinance. Morphine is named, so this entry does not depend on the open question for absent substances. Not established: whether any order under section 13(2) was made after 1977; whether the 1977 Revised Edition text is still in force apart from the 1995 and 2001 Acts; the assent and commencement year of the 2001 Act, because the year digit is cut off in the scan and only a day and month are legible in handwriting; whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations are rules made under the Ordinance for the purposes of section 39(1)(a); and the force today of Cap. 70. Page images also read: Dangerous Drugs Ordinance printed pages 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26 and 27; Medical Services Act 1996 PDF page 14; Customs Act 2019 PDF pages 31, 32, 59, 64, 65 and 69; Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70 printed pages 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22; Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 page 1. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 were read from the text layer of the PDF, and no page image of them was read. Also not established: whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, headed as made under section 15(1), are 'rules made under this Ordinance' within section 39(1)(a); whether the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 of the Ordinance is the Customs Act 2019, whose section 156(1) repeals the Customs Act 2005 and does not name Cap. 22; and how section 35, Schedule 8 of the Customs Act 2019 and section 39(2) combine for import and export.

Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977, sections 13 and 39 and Schedule 2 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 (Act No. 8 of 1995) · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2001 (Act No. 14 of 2001) · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs Regulations, L.N. 19/80, regulations 2 to 6 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, Revised Edition 1977, section 53 and Schedule 3 Poisons List · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Medical Services Act 1996 (Act No. 14 of 1996), section 42 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Customs Act 2019, Schedules 3 and 4 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Updated October 7, 2026

Morphine in Kiribati, full detail →

Opium

Legal status: Controlled. Opium is controlled in the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977, as amended by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001, in three separate forms. Medicinal opium: Schedule 2, Part I, paragraph 6, printed page 26, reads "Medicinal opium.", and paragraph 5 reads "Concentrate of poppy-straw (that is to say, the material arising when poppy-straw has entered into a process for the concentration of its alkaloids)." Part IV applies to these through section 13(1), printed page 8. Raw opium: section 4(1), printed page 6, reads "The provisions of this Part of this Ordinance shall apply to raw opium, coca leaf and Indian hemp" and, since 2001, datura metel, and section 4(2) reads "No person shall import or export any of the substances to which this Part applies." Prepared opium: Part III, printed page 7, section 11 reads "No person shall import or export any prepared opium, or any pipes or other utensils for use in connection with the smoking of opium, or any utensil for use in connection with the preparation of opium for consumption." The opium poppy plant is reached by section 7 (cultivation) and the seed of the opium poppy by section 5. Part II of Schedule 2, printed page 27, paragraph 11, prints "A preparation of medicinal opium or of morphine containing (in either case) not more than 0.2 per cent of morphine calculated as anhydrous morphine base, being a preparation compounded with 1 or more other ingredients in such a way that the preparation has no, or a negligible, risk of abuse" with a recoverability condition, and paragraph 13 prints Pulvis Ipecacuanhae et Opii Compositus. Section 30, printed page 12, reads: "The provisions of sections 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 shall not apply to any preparation or other substance for the time being falling within Part II of Schedule 2." Section 20 (possession) and the import sections 27 to 29 are in that range, although the heading of Part II of the Schedule speaks only of importation and exportation being excepted from control. Section 30 disapplies section 20 for a preparation within Part II of Schedule 2. Section 30 does not name section 13, section 15 or the Regulations. Whether regulation 6(1) of L.N. 19/80 reaches a Part II preparation is not stated. Section 30 names only sections of Part IV, so it does not reach raw opium under Part II of the Ordinance or prepared opium under Part III. The Schedule can be altered by ministerial order under section 13(2), so the Schedule entries are the 1977 list and not a current one. The Dangerous Drugs Ordinance was read as in force in the 1977 Revised Edition as amended to the Acts of 1995 and 2001, and this text does not rule out a later amendment or a later order under section 13(2).
Consequences if caught: Medicinal opium and poppy straw concentrate (Part IV): possession is an offence under section 20, printed page 10, except as to a Part II preparation noted below: a Part IV drug found in the possession of any person or kept in any place other than the appointed store makes that person guilty of an offence against the Ordinance "unless he can prove that such drug was obtained under the authority of this Ordinance, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent". Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 adds: "A person shall not be in possession of a drug or preparation unless he is duly so authorised." Section 30 disapplies section 20 for a preparation within Part II of Schedule 2. Section 30 does not name section 13, section 15 or the Regulations. Whether regulation 6(1) of L.N. 19/80 reaches a Part II preparation is not stated. Raw opium and the opium poppy (Part II): section 8, printed page 6, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance every person "who knowingly cultivates opium poppy, Indian hemp or coca leaf whether for private use or otherwise" and every person "found in possession of or selling, or who shall have given or sold, to any person any substance to which this Part applies". Section 7 forbids cultivating the opium poppy in the Gilbert Islands, section 4(2) forbids import or export of raw opium, section 5 forbids import or export of any seed of the opium poppy or any portion of the plant, section 6 seizes and forfeits unlawfully imported or exported substances without further proceedings, and sections 9 and 10 give police powers of entry, arrest, seizure and destruction. Prepared opium (Part III): section 11 forbids import or export of prepared opium and smoking utensils, and section 12(1), printed page 7, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance a person who manufactures, sells or otherwise deals in prepared opium, has it in possession, permits premises to be used for preparing opium for consumption or selling it, is concerned in managing such premises, has in possession pipes or utensils for smoking or preparing opium, or "smokes or otherwise uses prepared opium, or frequents any place used for the purpose of opium smoking". Use of prepared opium is therefore itself an offence. The Customs Act 2019, Schedule 3 Prohibited Imports, PDF page 64, lists at item 7 "Prepared opium." and at item 8 "Pipes and other utensils used in smoking opium or preparing opium for smoking." Section 39(2), printed page 17, reads: "Every person guilty of an offence under this Ordinance shall, in respect of each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed, be liable (a) on conviction by the High Court, to a fine of $2000 and to imprisonment for 10 years; or (b) on summary conviction by a magistrates' court, to a fine not exceeding $1000 and to imprisonment for 5 years; and shall in every case, on conviction for the offence, forfeit to Her Majesty all articles in respect of which the offence was committed." The fine and the imprisonment are joined by "and", so they are cumulative, and the articles are forfeited on conviction. Section 39(3) requires the Attorney-General's institution or consent for proceedings under section 39(1)(a), and section 39(4) gives the same punishment and forfeiture for an attempt, or for soliciting or inciting another person to commit an offence. Section 39(3) provides that no person convicted of failing to comply with rules on the keeping of books or the issuing or dispensing of prescriptions shall be sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine, or to pay a fine exceeding $100, if the court is satisfied that the offence was committed through inadvertence and was not preparatory to or connected with another offence against the Ordinance. The drug legislation read provides no death penalty: none appears in the text read. For medicinal opium, supply, sale and manufacture are governed by regulations 3 to 5 and 16 and import and export by sections 14 to 29, as for other Part IV drugs, and the text read states no separate offence called trafficking. The Regulations are headed as made under section 15(1). Section 39(1)(a), printed page 16, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance any person who 'acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules made under this Ordinance; or'. Whether the Regulations are such rules is not stated. Regulation 17 reads: 'These Regulations shall not apply to the Government Medical Services.' Customs route, read from the Ordinance printed pages 13, 14 and 15 as images. Section 35(1), printed pages 14 and 15, deems articles whose importation is prohibited or restricted by the Ordinance to be goods whose importation is prohibited 'under the Customs Ordinance' (margin note 'Cap. 22'). Section 35(2), printed page 15, reads: 'If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Ordinance are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Chief Customs Officer.' The word in section 35(2) is 'or'. It is a forfeiture liability of the exporter at the option of the Chief Customs Officer and is not stated as a term of imprisonment. Pages 13 to 15 print no other penalty band for import or export, and section 39(2) applies to 'each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed', so how section 35(2) and section 39(2) combine for an export is not stated. The Customs Act 2019, read from page images (PDF pages 31, 32, 64, 65 and 69), reads: section 64(2) 'The importation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 3 is absolutely prohibited' (note: 'It is an offence to knowingly import prohibited imports (Schedule 8, item 5)'), Schedule 3 item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', section 66(2) 'The exportation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 5 is absolutely prohibited', Schedule 5 item 1 'Goods of any kind, the exportation of which is prohibited under a law of Kiribati', and Schedule 8 item 5 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods' and item 7 'Knowingly exporting a prohibited export' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $5000, imprisonment for two years and forfeiture of the goods'. The link from the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 to the Customs Act 2019 is not established: section 156(1) of the 2019 Act (PDF page 59, read as an image) repeals 'The Customs Act 2005', and the Customs Ordinance, Cap. 22, is not named in the pages read. For prepared opium and its smoking utensils the Customs Act 2019 applies on its own words, without depending on the link to section 35 of the Ordinance, which stays not established as stated above: section 64(2) makes importation of the goods listed in Schedule 3 absolutely prohibited, items 7 and 8 list 'Prepared opium.' and the pipes and utensils, and Schedule 8 item 5 gives for 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' the maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods'. For medicinal opium, raw opium and the opium poppy, whether a substance controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is a good prohibited 'by any law of Kiribati' for Schedule 3 item 20 and Schedule 5 item 1 is not stated, and the pages read do not settle whether the Schedule 8 bands follow. Customs Act 2019 Schedule 3 (PDF page 65) also lists at item 19 'Goods the possession of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati' and at item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', which are general catch all items, and items 7 and 8 above name prepared opium and its utensils; whether the Ordinance's own prohibitions are within those general items is not stated.
If prescribed / medical: A doctor's prescription is one of the defences to possession in section 20, and regulation 6(2)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 deems a person to whom a drug is lawfully supplied on a prescription lawfully given by a registered medical practitioner, a registered dentist or an approved veterinary surgeon to be authorised to be in possession of it, with a proviso that this does not protect a patient who did not disclose treatment and supply from another practitioner. Section 19, printed page 10, limits withdrawal of drugs from the appointed store to a registered medical practitioner, licensed pharmacist, registered dentist, qualified veterinary surgeon and certain approved hospital or mission persons. The Medical Services Act 1996, section 42, governs only the form of a written prescription and lists no drug. The Poisons List in the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, Schedule 3 Part I, printed page 29, prints "Opium." Under section 53(2) no person may sell or deal in a listed article except as that Ordinance prescribes, and under section 57(1)(a) a Part I poison may be sold only by an authorised seller on registered premises by or under the supervision of a registered pharmacist. That is a 1977 Edition sale law, its force today is not established, and the Secretary may add to the list by order. For a low strength Part II preparation of medicinal opium: s30 disapplies s20 for a preparation within Part II of Schedule 2. s30 does not name s13, s15 or the Regulations. Whether reg 6(1) of L.N. 19/80 reaches a Part II preparation is not stated. Regulation 11(2) reads: 'The prescribed form for prescriptions for a drug or preparation shall be in the form set out in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance.' Cap. 70 section 37 (printed pages 13 and 14, read as images) provides that a medical practitioner shall not issue a prescription unless it is 'signed by him with his usual signature' or written on paper printed with his surname and the initials of his Christian names, and 'bears the date on which the prescription was issued'; a veterinary surgeon's prescription must bear the words 'for veterinary purposes only' and a dentist's the words 'for dental purposes only'; and section 37(4) provides that a prescription which does not comply 'shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 38(2) (page 14) requires every prescription containing any of the drugs to which an Ordinance as to the sale of dangerous drugs relates to be 'retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of 2 years and filed in the pharmacy', and section 39(c) (page 14) forbids a pharmacist to 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which section 38 (2) relates'. Those are rules of a 1977 Edition pharmacy law whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42(2), PDF page 14 read as an image, provides that a medical practitioner or dentist who contravenes or does not comply with section 42(1) 'commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $40'. Section 42 is a separate form rule in a later Act.
Documentation: Read: the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance Cap. 23, Revised Edition 1977 (a scan, 27 pages), with printed pages 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 17, 26 and 27 opened and read as page images and the other pages from OCR text as a finding aid only; the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80; the Amendment Acts of 1995 and 2001; the Poisons List of Cap. 70 on printed page 29 as an image; the Customs Act 2019 Schedule 3 on PDF page 64 as an image; and the Medical Services Act 1996. Model: delegated amendment power, exercise unknown, under section 13(2) following the 1961 Single Convention. Terms searched for this substance in the Ordinance: opium, poppy, papaver, somniferum, poppy-straw, poppy straw. The form of opium decides the Part: medicinal opium and concentrate of poppy straw are Part IV drugs, raw opium and the opium poppy are Part II, and prepared opium is Part III. Not established: any order under section 13(2) after 1977; whether the 1977 text is still the text in force apart from the 1995 and 2001 Acts; the assent and commencement year of the 2001 Act, whose year digit is cut off in the scan; whether the Regulations are rules for section 39(1)(a); and the force today of Cap. 70. Page images also read: Dangerous Drugs Ordinance printed pages 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26 and 27; Medical Services Act 1996 PDF page 14; Customs Act 2019 PDF pages 31, 32, 59, 64, 65 and 69; Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70 printed pages 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22; Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 page 1. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 were read from the text layer of the PDF, and no page image of them was read. Also not established: whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, headed as made under section 15(1), are 'rules made under this Ordinance' within section 39(1)(a); whether the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 of the Ordinance is the Customs Act 2019, whose section 156(1) repeals the Customs Act 2005 and does not name Cap. 22; and how section 35, Schedule 8 of the Customs Act 2019 and section 39(2) combine for import and export.

Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977, sections 13 and 39 and Schedule 2 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 (Act No. 8 of 1995) · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2001 (Act No. 14 of 2001) · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Dangerous Drugs Regulations, L.N. 19/80, regulations 2 to 6 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, Cap. 70, Revised Edition 1977, section 53 and Schedule 3 Poisons List · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Customs Act 2019, Schedules 3 and 4 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Medical Services Act 1996 (Act No. 14 of 1996), section 42 · kiribati.tradeportal.org · Updated October 7, 2026

Opium in Kiribati, full detail →

Oxycodone

Legal status: Controlled. Oxycodone is named in the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977, as amended by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Acts 1995 and 2001. Schedule 2, Part I, paragraph 1, printed page 26, prints the entry "Oxycodone." next to "Oxymorphone." Section 13(1), printed page 8, applies Part IV to "the substances for the time being specified in Part I of Schedule 2", and paragraph 8, page 26, reaches "Any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance containing any proportion of a substance" specified in paragraph 1. Paragraph 2, page 26, adds any ester or ether of a paragraph 1 substance other than one expressly mentioned, and paragraph 3 adds any salt. Section 30, printed page 12, reads: "The provisions of sections 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 shall not apply to any preparation or other substance for the time being falling within Part II of Schedule 2." The low strength preparations printed in Part II, paragraphs 9 to 14, pages 26 and 27, name acetyldihydrocodeine, codeine, dextropropoxyphene, dihydrocodeine, ethylmorphine, norcodeine and pholcodine, cocaine, medicinal opium and morphine, diphenoxylate and a compound ipecacuanha and opium powder. Oxycodone is not among them, so section 30 does not on its face carve out an oxycodone preparation. The Schedule can be altered by ministerial order under section 13(2), printed page 8, so the entry is the 1977 list and not a current one. The Dangerous Drugs Ordinance was read as in force in the 1977 Revised Edition as amended to the Acts of 1995 and 2001, and this text does not rule out a later amendment or a later order under section 13(2).
Consequences if caught: Possession is an offence under section 20, printed page 10: a Part IV drug found in the possession of any person or kept in any place other than the appointed store makes that person guilty of an offence against the Ordinance "unless he can prove that such drug was obtained under the authority of this Ordinance, or in accordance with the prescription of a registered medical practitioner, or from a person having authority to sell it, or was deposited there without his knowledge or consent". Regulation 6(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 adds: "A person shall not be in possession of a drug or preparation unless he is duly so authorised." Section 39(2), printed page 17, reads: "Every person guilty of an offence under this Ordinance shall, in respect of each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed, be liable (a) on conviction by the High Court, to a fine of $2000 and to imprisonment for 10 years; or (b) on summary conviction by a magistrates' court, to a fine not exceeding $1000 and to imprisonment for 5 years; and shall in every case, on conviction for the offence, forfeit to Her Majesty all articles in respect of which the offence was committed." The fine and the imprisonment are joined by "and", so they are cumulative, and the articles are forfeited on conviction. Section 39(3) requires the Attorney-General's institution or consent for proceedings under section 39(1)(a), and section 39(4) gives the same punishment and forfeiture for an attempt, or for soliciting or inciting another person to commit an offence. Section 39(3) provides that no person convicted of failing to comply with rules on the keeping of books or the issuing or dispensing of prescriptions shall be sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine, or to pay a fine exceeding $100, if the court is satisfied that the offence was committed through inadvertence and was not preparatory to or connected with another offence against the Ordinance. The drug legislation read provides no death penalty: none appears in the text read. Supply and sale: regulation 5(1) forbids a person to "supply or procure or offer to supply or procure or prescribe" a drug or preparation, or advertise it for sale, unless authorised, and regulation 4 limits wholesale buying to registered medical practitioners, registered dentists, approved veterinary surgeons and registered pharmacists. Manufacture: regulation 3 forbids manufacture unless duly authorised, on authorised premises and within the terms of the authority, and section 15(1)(a), printed page 8, empowers rules prohibiting manufacture except on licensed premises. Import and export: section 14, printed page 8, forbids import or export of a Part IV substance except in accordance with sections 21 to 29, section 27, printed page 12, forbids import unless the consignee holds a valid import authorisation, section 29 forbids importing, causing to be imported or taking steps preparatory to importing except in accordance with the Ordinance, and section 3, printed page 6, requires dangerous drugs to go through ports approved by the Minister. The text read states no separate offence called trafficking. Supply, sale and manufacture are governed by regulations 3, 4, 5 and 16 as stated above. The Regulations are headed as made under section 15(1). Section 39(1)(a), printed page 16, makes guilty of an offence under the Ordinance any person who 'acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules made under this Ordinance; or'. Whether the Regulations are such rules is not stated. Regulation 17 reads: 'These Regulations shall not apply to the Government Medical Services.' Customs route, read from the Ordinance printed pages 13, 14 and 15 as images. Section 35(1), printed pages 14 and 15, deems articles whose importation is prohibited or restricted by the Ordinance to be goods whose importation is prohibited 'under the Customs Ordinance' (margin note 'Cap. 22'). Section 35(2), printed page 15, reads: 'If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Ordinance are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Chief Customs Officer.' The word in section 35(2) is 'or'. It is a forfeiture liability of the exporter at the option of the Chief Customs Officer and is not stated as a term of imprisonment. Pages 13 to 15 print no other penalty band for import or export, and section 39(2) applies to 'each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed', so how section 35(2) and section 39(2) combine for an export is not stated. The Customs Act 2019, read from page images (PDF pages 31, 32, 64, 65 and 69), reads: section 64(2) 'The importation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 3 is absolutely prohibited' (note: 'It is an offence to knowingly import prohibited imports (Schedule 8, item 5)'), Schedule 3 item 20 'Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any law of Kiribati', section 66(2) 'The exportation of goods listed in the table in Schedule 5 is absolutely prohibited', Schedule 5 item 1 'Goods of any kind, the exportation of which is prohibited under a law of Kiribati', and Schedule 8 item 5 'Knowingly importing a prohibited import' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $10,000, imprisonment for three years and forfeiture of the goods' and item 7 'Knowingly exporting a prohibited export' with maximum penalty 'A fine of $5000, imprisonment for two years and forfeiture of the goods'. The link from the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 to the Customs Act 2019 is not established: section 156(1) of the 2019 Act (PDF page 59, read as an image) repeals 'The Customs Act 2005', and the Customs Ordinance, Cap. 22, is not named in the pages read. Whether a substance controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is a good prohibited 'by any law of Kiribati' for Schedule 3 item 20 and Schedule 5 item 1 is likewise not stated. If it is, the Schedule 8 item 5 and item 7 bands quoted above would follow; the pages read do not settle it. Cultivation and use: the text read states no separate offence of cultivation or of use for a Part IV drug.
If prescribed / medical: A doctor's prescription is one of the defences to possession in section 20, and regulation 6(2)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 deems a person to whom a drug is lawfully supplied on a prescription lawfully given by a registered medical practitioner, a registered dentist or an approved veterinary surgeon to be authorised to be in possession of it, with a proviso that this does not protect a patient who did not disclose treatment and supply from another practitioner. Section 19, printed page 10, limits withdrawal of drugs from the appointed store to a registered medical practitioner, licensed pharmacist, registered dentist, qualified veterinary surgeon and certain approved hospital or mission persons. The Medical Services Act 1996, section 42, governs only the form of a written prescription and lists no drug. The Poisons List in the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70, 1977 Edition, prints on Schedule 3 Part I, printed page 27, the chemical name "Dihydrohydroxycodeinone; its esters." Whether that name is oxycodone is not stated by the instrument and that name is not relied on. Under section 53(2) no person may sell or deal in a listed article except as that Ordinance prescribes. That is a 1977 Edition sale law, its force today is not established, and the Secretary may add to the list by order. Regulation 11(2) reads: 'The prescribed form for prescriptions for a drug or preparation shall be in the form set out in section 37 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance.' Cap. 70 section 37 (printed pages 13 and 14, read as images) provides that a medical practitioner shall not issue a prescription unless it is 'signed by him with his usual signature' or written on paper printed with his surname and the initials of his Christian names, and 'bears the date on which the prescription was issued'; a veterinary surgeon's prescription must bear the words 'for veterinary purposes only' and a dentist's the words 'for dental purposes only'; and section 37(4) provides that a prescription which does not comply 'shall not be accepted by any pharmacist as authority for the sale or supply of any medicine or drug'. Section 38(2) (page 14) requires every prescription containing any of the drugs to which an Ordinance as to the sale of dangerous drugs relates to be 'retained in the custody of the pharmacist dispensing the same for a period of 2 years and filed in the pharmacy', and section 39(c) (page 14) forbids a pharmacist to 'permit any person, other than a registered pharmacist, to dispense or compound any prescription or supply any medicine or drugs containing any of the dangerous drugs to which section 38 (2) relates'. Those are rules of a 1977 Edition pharmacy law whose force today is not established. The Medical Services Act 1996 section 42(2), PDF page 14 read as an image, provides that a medical practitioner or dentist who contravenes or does not comply with section 42(1) 'commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $40'. Section 42 is a separate form rule in a later Act.
Documentation: Read: the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance Cap. 23, Revised Edition 1977 (a scan, 27 pages), with printed pages 8, 10, 12, 16, 17, 26 and 27 opened and read as page images and the other pages from OCR text as a finding aid only; the Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80; the Amendment Acts of 1995 and 2001; the Poisons List of Cap. 70 on printed page 27 as an image; and the Medical Services Act 1996. Model: delegated amendment power, exercise unknown, under section 13(2) following the 1961 Single Convention. Oxycodone is named in the printed list, so the entry is quoted. Terms searched for this substance in the Ordinance: oxycodone, oxycontin, hydroxydihydrocodeinone, codone, dihydrohydroxycodeinone. Only the entry Oxycodone was found, and the fragment codone is inside the entry Hydrocodone in Schedule 2, which is a different named entry. Not established: any order under section 13(2) after 1977; whether the 1977 text is still the text in force apart from the 1995 and 2001 Acts; the assent and commencement year of the 2001 Act, whose year digit is cut off in the scan; whether the Regulations are rules for section 39(1)(a); the force today of Cap. 70; and whether Kiribati has a medicines law classifying prescription medicines, none being found in what was read. Page images also read: Dangerous Drugs Ordinance printed pages 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26 and 27; Medical Services Act 1996 PDF page 14; Customs Act 2019 PDF pages 31, 32, 59, 64, 65 and 69; Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap. 70 printed pages 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22; Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1995 page 1. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations L.N. 19/80 were read from the text layer of the PDF, and no page image of them was read. Also not established: whether the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, headed as made under section 15(1), are 'rules made under this Ordinance' within section 39(1)(a); whether the Customs Ordinance named in section 35 of the Ordinance is the Customs Act 2019, whose section 156(1) repeals the Customs Act 2005 and does not name Cap. 22; and how section 35, Schedule 8 of the Customs Act 2019 and section 39(2) combine for import and export.

Oxycodone in Kiribati, full detail →

Not individually verified

77 substances are not individually verified for Kiribati

For these the governing national drug law is cited, but we have not verified that the substance specifically is scheduled under it. Treat them as unanswered, not as legal. Confirm with Kiribati’s drug authority or your embassy.

Substance	What we found
1P-LSD	Not confirmed. 1p-lsd is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
2-FDCK	Not confirmed. 2-fdck is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
25I-NBOMe	Not confirmed. 25i-nbome is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
2C-B	Not confirmed. 2c-b is not listed in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition, as...
2C-E	Not confirmed. 2c-e is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
2C-I	Not confirmed. 2c-i is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
2C-T-7	Not confirmed. 2c-t-7 is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
3-MMC	Not confirmed. 3-mmc is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
4-AcO-DMT	Not confirmed. 4-aco-dmt is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
4-HO-MET	Not confirmed. 4-ho-met is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
5-MeO-DMT (Bufo / Toad)	Not confirmed. 5-meo-dmt is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
6-APB	Not confirmed. 6-apb is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH)	Not confirmed. 7-hydroxymitragynine is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of...
Adderall	Not confirmed. Adderall is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
Alcohol	Not confirmed. Alcohol is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
Amanita muscaria	Not confirmed. Amanita-muscaria is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the...
Amphetamine	Not confirmed. Amphetamine is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
Amyl Nitrite	Not confirmed. Amyl-nitrite is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the...
Ayahuasca	Not confirmed. Ayahuasca is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
Barbiturates	Not confirmed. Barbiturates is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the...
Benzodiazepines	Not confirmed. Benzodiazepines is not listed in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Buprenorphine	Not confirmed. Buprenorphine is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the...
Caffeine	Not confirmed. Caffeine is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
Cannabinol	Not confirmed. Cannabinol is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
Cathinone	Not confirmed. Cathinone is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
CBD	Not confirmed. CBD is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
Clonazepam	Not confirmed. Clonazepam is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
Delta-8-THC	Not confirmed. No schedule read names delta-8-THC, so the Ordinance could reach it only through the paragraph 7...
Diazepam	Not confirmed. Diazepam is one member of the benzodiazepine group and the Ordinance prints no benzodiazepine at all...
DMT	Not confirmed. No entry named dimethyltryptamine, dmt or tryptamine is printed in Schedule 2 or the Poisons List, so...
DOM	Not confirmed. DOM is named nowhere; the only nearby text is the Poisons List 'Amphetamines' entry, a sale law entry...
DXM	Not confirmed. Dextromethorphan is not named, and the Levomethorphan and Racemethorphan entries are other substances...
Ephedrine	Not confirmed. Ephedrine is not named in the Ordinance, and the only nearby text is the Poisons List entry for the...
Etizolam	Not confirmed. Etizolam is named in neither list, and the terms thienotriazolo, thieno, zolam and benzodiazep...
Gabapentin	Not confirmed. Neither schedule names gabapentin, so the text read gives it no controlled status and does not say...
GBL	Not confirmed. GBL is not named in any list read, and the instruments contain no analogue or precursor clause that...
GHB	Not confirmed. GHB has no entry in Schedule 2, and the 'butyrate' in Dioxaphetyl butyrate is a different named entry...
HHC	Not confirmed. No schedule read names HHC, and the text does not say that HHC is an extract or tincture of cannabis...
Ketamine	Not confirmed. Ketamine is not named in either list, and the 'methylamino' fragment sits inside the longer word...
Khat	Not confirmed. Neither khat nor the names cathinone and cathine are printed in any list read, so no entry exists to...
Kratom	Not confirmed. The names kratom, mitragyna and mitragynine are printed in neither Schedule 2 nor the Poisons List...
Lorazepam	Not confirmed. Lorazepam is one benzodiazepine among many and no benzodiazepine is printed in either list, so there...
LSA (Morning Glory)	Not confirmed. LSA is named nowhere, the plant names searched (ipomoea, rivea, argyreia) returned nothing, and the...
LSD	Not confirmed. LSD is absent from Schedule 2 and from the Poisons List by name, and the Poisons List ergot alkaloids...
MDA	Not confirmed. MDA appears under no name in either list, and the only nearby text is the Poisons List Amphetamines...
MDMA	Not confirmed. MDMA has no entry in Schedule 2, and the only nearby text is the Poisons List Amphetamines entry, an...
MDPV	Not confirmed. MDPV is named in no list, and the Poisons List Amphetamines entry is the only nearby text, with no...
Memantine	Not confirmed. Neither schedule names memantine or any adamantane compound, so the text read neither classes nor...
Mephedrone (4-MMC)	Not confirmed. The names mephedrone, 4-mmc, methcathinone and cathinone are printed in no list read, so it has no...
Mescaline	Not confirmed. Mescaline is named in neither list, and neither is the peyote cactus that contains it, so the...
Methamphetamine	Not confirmed. Methamphetamine is not listed in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Methaqualone (Quaaludes)	Not confirmed. Methaqualone is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Methylone	Not confirmed. Methylone is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition...
Methylphenidate	Not confirmed. Methylphenidate is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Mitragynine	Not confirmed. Mitragynine is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Modafinil	Not confirmed. Modafinil is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition...
MXE	Not confirmed. Methoxetamine is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Nicotine	Not confirmed. Nicotine is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition...
Nimetazepam	Not confirmed. Nimetazepam is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Nitrous Oxide	Not confirmed. Nitrous oxide is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
PCP	Not confirmed. Phencyclidine is not listed in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Peyote	Not confirmed. Peyote is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition, as...
Phenibut	Not confirmed. Phenibut is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition...
Pink Cocaine / Tusi	Not confirmed. Pink cocaine is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Poppers	Not confirmed. Poppers are not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition...
Pregabalin	Not confirmed. Pregabalin is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Psilocybin	Not confirmed. Psilocybin is not listed in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Quetiapine	Not confirmed. Quetiapine is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Salvia divinorum	Not confirmed. Salvia divinorum is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Scopolamine (Devil's Breath)	Not confirmed. Scopolamine is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised...
Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice)	Not confirmed. Synthetic cannabinoids are not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977...
THC-P	Not confirmed. THC-P is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition, as...
Tobacco	Not confirmed. Tobacco is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition...
Tramadol	Not confirmed. Tramadol is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition...
Xanax (Alprazolam)	Not confirmed. Alprazolam is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, Laws of the Gilbert...
Xylazine	Not confirmed. Xylazine is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition...
Zolpidem	Not confirmed. Zolpidem is not named in Schedule 2 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Cap. 23, 1977 Revised Edition...

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

Before you travel

Verify current rules with the destination country’s official drug authority and your own country’s embassy before traveling. Find the destination’s U.S. embassy & official country guidance →
Non-U.S. travelers: check your own government’s travel advisory and embassy.

If you’re detained or arrested abroad

Contact your own country’s embassy or consulate in the destination immediately, not the destination’s authorities. U.S. citizens: contact the nearest U.S. embassy/consulate and the U.S. State Department at +1-202-501-4444 (from abroad). If a U.S. citizen is arrested or detained abroad →

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