Is Methadone legal in Saint Lucia?

Legal status

Controlled. Class A drug under section 4(1)(b), specified in Part I of Schedule 2. The entry as printed is 'Methadone'. Part I prints a large methadone family separately, including 'Methadyl acetate', 'Isomethadone', 'Normethadone', 'Noracymethadol', 'Alphacetylmethadol', 'Betacetylmethadol', 'Alphamethadol', 'Betamethadol' and 'Dimepheptanol'. Part I paragraph 2 extends control to any stereoisomeric form of a paragraph 1 substance other than dextromethorphan and dextrorphan, which carries levomethadone. Section 4(2) lets the Minister amend Schedule 2 by statutory instrument after consultation with or on the recommendation of the Advisory Council, and section 49 lets the Minister amend the Schedules by order, so the printed schedule is not the last word. No statutory instrument later than the Revised Edition showing the law as at 31 December 2021 was read here, and no index of Saint Lucia statutory instruments could be enumerated, so that is a real limit on this cell and not a form of words.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. No section 8(4) quantity presumption attaches to methadone. Nothing in the act creates a substitution treatment exception: section 21(2)(h) and (i) empower regulations requiring a doctor to notify the prescribed authority about a person he or she suspects is addicted to controlled drugs and prohibiting a doctor from prescribing specified controlled drugs to such persons except under licence, and whether any such regulations exist was not established here. Schedule 3, which section 37 brings into effect, sets every punishment and it graduates by class rather than by substance. The Class A and Class B columns carry identical figures in every row of Schedule 3, so the class split makes no difference to the sentence. Importation or exportation under section 5(3) and production or being concerned in production under section 6(2) each carry, on summary conviction, 3 years or $100,000, and on indictment 14 years and $200,000. Supplying or offering to supply under section 6(3) carries the same figures. Possession under section 8(2) carries, on summary conviction, 3 years or $100,000, and on indictment 7 years or $200,000. Possession with intent to supply under section 8(3) carries, on summary conviction, 3 years and/or $100,000, and on indictment 14 years and/or $200,000. Section 25(1) is a separate trafficking ceiling and it does not graduate by substance at all: on summary conviction a fine of $100,000 or, where there is evidence of the street value of the controlled drug, 3 times that street value whichever is the greater, together with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years but which shall not be less than 5 years; on conviction on indictment, imprisonment for life. Section 2 defines drug trafficking to reach producing, supplying, transporting, storing, importing and exporting a controlled drug. The act provides no death penalty and the words death, capital and sentenced to death appear nowhere in it. Section 12(1) makes possession of any controlled drug in or within a radius of one hundred yards of school premises unlawful in itself and section 12(4) deems that possession to be for supply unless the contrary is proved. Section 25(3) separately deems possession in any school premises to be for drug trafficking unless the contrary is proved. Section 38 requires forfeiture on conviction.

If prescribed or medical

Section 10(3) obliges the Minister to exercise the regulation making power in section 10(1) so as to secure that it is not unlawful under section 6(1) for a doctor, dentist or veterinary practitioner acting in his or her capacity as such to prescribe, administer, manufacture, compound or supply a controlled drug, and not unlawful under section 8(1) for a doctor, dentist, veterinary practitioner, druggist or person lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy business to possess one for that purpose. Section 10(4) lets the Minister take a named drug back out of that protection by statutory instrument. Section 21(2)(g) empowers regulations regulating the issue of prescriptions containing controlled drugs. Whether regulations under sections 10 and 21 of this act have been made, and whether there is an authorised medicinal form of this substance in Saint Lucia, was not established here.

Documentation

Carry a prescribed controlled medicine in its original pharmacy packaging with the prescription. The act puts no documentation duty on a private traveller: section 21(2)(b) and (c) put documentation of transactions and record keeping on the trade, and sections 15 to 18 govern controlled drugs brought into Saint Lucia in transit under an export authorisation or diversion certificate, which is consignment traffic and not personal carriage. No local traveller permit scheme was established here.

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