Is Methaqualone (Quaaludes) legal in Bahrain?

Legal status

Controlled. Methaqualone is placed in Group II Schedule 2 of the annex, in Bahrain's Law 15 of 2007 on narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, where the entry reads «METHAQUALONE; 2-methyl-3-o-tolyl-4(3H)-quinazolinone». Mecloqualone is a separate entry in the same table and is a different substance.

Consequences if caught

Article 34 of Law 15 of 2007 punishes trafficking and the related commercial conduct in the psychotropic substances of Group II Schedules 2, 3 and 4 by imprisonment of not more than five years. The same article adds a fine of not more than 3,000 Bahraini dinars. Article 35 sets not more than six months for the same conduct done for personal use or without payment, with a fine of not more than 100 dinars. The Law states no quantity threshold anywhere, and no table states one for Methaqualone. Article 50 of the Penal Code, Decree-Law No. 15 of 1976, puts civil deprivation of 1 to 3 years on a misdemeanour, which is the tier Article 35 sits in, while Article 49 puts civil deprivation of 3 to 15 years on a felony. Bahrain's published drug penalties also include Article 30, which carries death or life imprisonment with a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 dinars, and Article 30(b), which makes the penalty death in five listed cases; but this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Bahrain's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure. Article 51 makes confiscation of the substance, the equipment and any vehicle prepared for the purpose mandatory in every case. Article 54 lets the court add permanent deportation of a foreign national to the sentence. Bahraini courts have passed drug death sentences, including in a 2019 smuggling case, and executions for drug offences have not been carried out, sentences being commonly commuted; that last point is carried forward from the cell this replaces and was not re-derived here.

If prescribed or medical

The Law provides no prescription route for Methaqualone. Article 23 lets a pharmacist dispense only a narcotic drug or a psychotropic substance on a Ministry of Health prescription form, and Article 26's traveller allowances are written for Group I and Group II medicines, so neither reaches this row.

Documentation

The version read for this cell is the annex to Law 15 of 2007 as printed in Official Gazette 2804 of 16 August 2007 at pages 20 to 34, together with the publisher's amendment register for the Law, which on 22 September 2026 listed exactly three amendments and showed a site update of 17 September 2026. The register does not certify that no other instrument exists, so the consolidation is silent on that stronger point. The power that moves these tables is article 4 of the Law, which lets the Council of Ministers add to the attached schedules or change their percentages on the Minister's proposal after a committee of specialists approves, so the list can move without a new Law and all three amendments so far were made that way. The twelve tables reproduce the convention lists: the Group I Schedule 3 heading names Schedule III of the 1961 Convention in its English line and the 1971 Convention in its Arabic line, which is a mismatch inside the Gazette itself, Group II carries the four schedules of the 1971 Convention, and Group III mirrors the two tables of the 1988 Convention down to the note excluding the salts of hydrochloric and sulphuric acid. The entry for this row sits in Group II Schedule 2 of the annex and was read on the rendered Gazette page rather than taken from a text layer, because the published file is a scan with no extractable text. Mecloqualone is a separate entry in the same table and is a different substance. The group and schedule placement stated here is not printed in the quotation column of the dossier this lane was given: that column carries a bare entry name on its placement rows and a synthesised Arabic search record on its absence rows, and no group marker on any of its 88 rows, so every placement in this batch was read from the Gazette annex page instead. Bahrain's drug law carries capital exposure, and which offences reach it is set out in the street section of this cell rather than recited as a general fact about the country.

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