Is MDA legal in Belize?

Legal status

MDA is a Class A controlled drug in Belize. Schedule II Part I paragraph 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, Chapter 103, prints it by its international name with the chemical name in brackets, «Tenamphetamine(methlenedioxyomphetamine).», the misspelling as printed, in the right column directly under «Sufentanil.» PubChem names 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine 1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)propan-2-amine. Schedule II of the Act is headed «Controlled Drugs» and cites section 4, and section 4(1) provides that the expression controlled drugs means any substance or product for the time being specified in Part I, II or III of Schedule II, and that Class A, Class B and Class C drugs are those specified respectively in Parts I, II and III. The Misuse of Drugs Regulations print Tenamphetamine in their Schedule II paragraph 1, on page 64 of the subsidiary volume directly above Thebacon; paragraph 6 of that Schedule, which begins at Acetyldihydrocodeine on page 65, does not carry it. This row is the demethylated relative of MDMA, and the MDMA row is a separate question: Tenamphetamine is not MDMA, and Part I of the Act prints no clause that reaches ring substituted amphetamines in general. The Act read is Chapter 103 of the Substantive Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2020, showing the substantive laws as at 31 December 2020, whose Schedule II carries the footnote «This Schedule was amended by Statutory Instrument No. 5 of 2014 and Statutory Instrument No 132 of 2020.» The two later amending Acts, No. 25 of 2023 and No. 26 of 2024, were read too: the first amends section 48(4) and the second repeals section 28B, and neither touches section 4, section 7, section 18, section 28 or any Schedule.

Consequences if caught

Section 7(1) of the Act makes it unlawful to have a controlled drug in your possession, section 7(2) makes that an offence, and section 7(3) makes possession with intent to supply a separate offence. This is a Class A drug, and section 28 gives Schedule III effect for every offence other than drug trafficking. Schedule III punishes possession under section 7(2) of a Class A drug on summary conviction with «5 years or $100,000, or both.» Section 28(2) reads a period in that table as the maximum term and a sum as the maximum fine, and Schedule III prints a summary column only for this offence. Possession with intent to supply is a drug trafficking offence, and section 18(1) punishes drug trafficking and possession for the purpose of drug trafficking without regard to class. On summary conviction the person shall be imprisoned for not less than three years and up to ten years and, in addition, shall be ordered to pay a fine of not less than ten thousand dollars and up to one hundred thousand dollars, or three times the street value of the drug where there is evidence of that value, whichever is greater. On conviction on indictment it is not less than five years and up to fourteen years and, in addition, a fine of not less than fifty thousand dollars and up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or three times the street value. The proviso that lets a court refrain from the mandatory custodial term for special reasons recorded in writing is written for quantities of heroin, cocaine, opium, morphine and cannabis, and the section 7(4) presumption quantities name the same five drugs, so neither prints a figure for this substance. The Senior Courts' Practice Direction No. 7 of 2025, Sentencing Guidelines for Drug Offences, tells courts that in drug trafficking the mandatory minimum custodial sentence and fine should both be imposed unless the proviso in that section applies or in the circumstances of the particular case it is grossly disproportionate. Section 18(2) deems a person found in possession of a controlled drug in any school premises, any other place of education or training, a centre for the rehabilitation of drug addicts, or the immediate vicinity of any of them, to have it for the purpose of drug trafficking unless the contrary is proved. Section 28(6) requires a suspended sentence and referral to a drug rehabilitation centre for a first time offender proved to be addicted, in any case other than drug trafficking. These figures are the Revised Edition 2020 text. The 1990 text as UNODC holds it, the Misuse of Drugs Act 1990, Act 22 of 1990, numbered drug trafficking as section 17, punishment as section 27 and the offence of smoking or otherwise using prepared opium, cocaine, heroin or cannabis as section 11, which the Revised Edition prints as section 12, and it printed different trafficking figures, a fine or imprisonment or both, which the Revised Edition, citing Acts 26 of 1992 and 18 of 1998 in the margin of section 18, has replaced with a mandatory term and a fine together.

If prescribed or medical

The Misuse of Drugs Regulations sort controlled drugs into five schedules for their own purposes, and regulation 3 says so in terms: «Schedules I to V shall have effect for the purpose of specifying the controlled drugs to which certain provisions of these Regulations apply.» Schedule II of the Regulations is headed «CONTROLLED DRUGS SUBJECT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF REGULATIONS 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25 AND 26.» Regulation 7(2) lets a doctor or dentist administer to a patient any drug specified in Schedule II, III or IV, and regulation 8 lets a practitioner or a chemist and druggist manufacture or compound a Schedule II drug and supply it to a person who may lawfully have it. Regulation 10(2) lets a person have a Schedule II or III drug in his possession «for administration for medical, dental or veterinary purposes in accordance with the directions of a practitioner». Regulation 4 lifts the section 5(1) import and export prohibition only for Schedules IV and V, so it does not reach a Schedule II drug, and nothing in the Regulations read turns a prescription written outside Belize into an import authority. Tenamphetamine is printed in Schedule II paragraph 1 of the Regulations.

Documentation

Carry a prescribed medicine in the pharmacy's original labelled packaging with the prescription and a letter from the prescriber naming the patient, the active ingredient, the dose, the quantity and the treatment period. Those papers evidence a therapeutic purpose; they are not an import authorisation, and section 5(2) of the Act lifts the import prohibition only for a drug excepted by regulations made under section 9 or imported under a licence issued by the Minister. For this row the fact to carry is the printed entry «Tenamphetamine(methlenedioxyomphetamine).» in Schedule II Part I paragraph 1 of the Act. Tenamphetamine returned one occurrence in the Act and one in the Regulations. Read on 3 October 2026.

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