Is Methadone legal in Barbados?

Legal status

Under the Drug Abuse (Prevention and Control) Act, Cap. 131, enacted as Act 1990-14 and commenced 15 August 1990, read in the L.R.O. 1991 revised edition, the entry that places it is in Part I of the First Schedule, the «list OF narcotic drugs under control», and it is printed «methadone (6-dimethylamino-4,4-diphenyl-3-heptanone)». The synthetic is placed with its manufacturing intermediate and its relatives as separate entries, «methadone-intermediate (4-cyano-2-dimethylamino-4,4-diphenylbutane)», «isomethadone (6-dimethylamino-5-methyl-4,4-diphenyl-3-hexanone)» and the hexanone homologue, so the chain from intermediate to product is controlled at each step. Part I then extends the list in five further paragraphs, reaching any stereoisomeric form other than dextromethorphan and dextrorphan, any ester or ether, any salt, any preparation or other product containing one, and any preparation designed for administration by injection. Section 3 makes a substance a controlled drug only by its presence in the First Schedule, and section 3(2) lets the Minister by order add to or remove from Parts I to III of that Schedule, after consultation with the Drug Formulary Committee under section 3(3) and subject to affirmative resolution under section 3(4). The edition read is the L.R.O. 1991 consolidation served by the Barbados law courts statute portal. No amending order or later revision was located on that portal, so anything made after that revision has not been read and is not asserted here.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. The Fourth Schedule, given effect by section 37, sets the punishment for every offence under the Act, and it was read row by row from the section 4(3) row to the section 35(3) row, which is its last. Not one row carries death. The heaviest punishment it prints anywhere is «Imprisonment for life» on indictment. No Second Schedule row names it, so the section 6(4) deeming provision does not reach it and a supply allegation must be proved on its own facts. Section 18(1) defines trafficking as importing, exporting, supplying or possessing a trafficable quantity, and the section 18(4) row of the Fourth Schedule punishes it summarily with «A fine of $250,000 or where there is evidence of the street value of the controlled drug three times the street value of the controlled drug, whichever is greater; and to imprisonment for 7 years», and on indictment with «Imprisonment for life». Simple possession under section 6(2) draws a fine of $250,000 or 5 years or both summarily, and $500,000 or 20 years or both on indictment, the same figures the section 6(3) possession with intent row carries. Section 21 adds its own tier for possession within a radius of one hundred yards of school premises, punished summarily by «A fine of $250,000 and imprisonment for 7 years» and on indictment by imprisonment for life. Barbados retains capital punishment for murder in its general criminal law. This Act is not part of that and provides no death penalty for any drug offence, which is why the opening sentence reads as it does.

If prescribed or medical

Section 6(1) makes possession of a controlled drug unlawful unless regulations under section 12 permit it, and section 12(3) requires the Minister to secure that a practitioner acting as such may prescribe, administer, compound or supply, and that a practitioner or pharmacist may possess for that purpose. The Act defines «doctor» as a medical practitioner registered in the Medical Register under the Medical Registration Act, Cap. 371, and «dentist» and «veterinary practitioner» by the equivalent Barbados registers, so the lawful route runs through a Barbados registration and not through a foreign one. Importation is a separate question under section 4(1), which an arriving traveller engages on their own account. It is a Part I narcotic drug used in substitution treatment, and the Act's only lawful holding route runs through the section 12 regulations and a Barbados registered prescriber, with section 26 letting the Minister direct that a named practitioner stop prescribing a specified controlled drug.

Documentation

Carry the medicine in its original dispensing packaging with the prescription and a letter from the prescriber naming the patient, the active ingredient, the strength, the daily dose and the length of treatment, and settle the import question with the Barbados authorities before travelling rather than at the airport. Ask specifically whether the section 12 regulations permit a visitor to bring the drug in at all, because section 4(1) makes importation unlawful in its own right and a prescription answers the possession question rather than the import one. The entry, its intermediate and the two homologue entries were read together in Part I. Read on 20 September 2026 from the PDF of the Act itself. The edition read is the L.R.O. 1991 consolidation served by the Barbados law courts statute portal. No amending order or later revision was located on that portal, so anything made after that revision has not been read and is not asserted here.

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