Is Methaqualone (Quaaludes) legal in Japan?

Legal status

Methaqualone is a 向精神薬, a psychotropic, designated by Cabinet Order in Japan. The entry is 「二―メチル―三―（二―トリル）―四（三Ｈ）―キナゾリノン（別名メタカロン）及びその塩類」 at 政令第四条第七十三号, which is 2-methyl-3-(2-tolyl)-4(3H)-quinazolinone, otherwise called methaqualone, and its salts. Methaqualone is only a 向精神薬 in Japan. It is a Schedule II narcotic in the United States and a capital drug in parts of Asia, and here it sits in the lightest of the listed regimes with no medical use and no Japanese approval, so nobody can be lawfully supplied with it at all.

Consequences if caught

Capital and life exposure. This is the lightest of the listed regimes. The ceiling is seven years for trafficking, possession for your own use is not an offence at all, and no drug offence in Japan can bring the death penalty. Japan retains capital punishment and carries it out, but 死刑 appears in none of the six drug statutes, measured by searching every one of them for the word. It is available for homicide and for a small number of other offences and for no drug offence at all. 拘禁刑 replaced 懲役 and 禁錮 on 1 June 2025 under 令和四年法律第六十八号, so current texts read 拘禁刑 where older translations say imprisonment with labour. 有期拘禁刑 is a fixed term, capped at twenty years and at thirty where the term is aggravated; 無期拘禁刑 is indefinite. Across all six regimes 無期 appears exactly twice, at 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法第六十四条第二項 and at 覚醒剤取締法第四十一条第二項, and both are for profit motivated import, export or manufacture. Neither is available here, and the psychotropic regime is the lightest of the listed ones. Importing, exporting, manufacturing, preparing or subdividing a 向精神薬 is 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法第六十六条の三第一項, 「向精神薬を、みだりに、本邦若しくは外国に輸入し、本邦若しくは外国から輸出し、製造し、製剤し、又は小分けした者」, punishable by up to five years, rising to seven with a fine of up to two million yen where it is done for profit. Transferring one, or possessing it for the purpose of transferring it, is 第六十六条の四第一項: 「向精神薬を、みだりに、譲り渡し、又は譲り渡す目的で所持した者」, punishable by up to three years, rising to five with a fine of up to one million yen for profit. Read the second of those carefully. It reaches possession only where the purpose is transfer, so possessing methaqualone for your own use is not an offence under the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act at all. That is a real and unusual gap and it is the single most important thing to understand about this regime.

If prescribed or medical

The route is lighter than for a narcotic and it is not a permit. 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法第五十条の八 lists who may import a 向精神薬 and its 第二号 covers 「本邦に入国する者のうち、自己の疾病の治療の目的で向精神薬を携帯して輸入する者であつて厚生労働省令で定めるもの」, a person entering Japan carrying a psychotropic for treatment of their own illness who meets the conditions the ministerial ordinance sets. No advance permission is needed within those conditions, which turn on quantity; beyond them an import permit is. The equivalent on the way out is 第五十条の十一第二号. Note what this route does not cover. It runs to a person carrying the medicine, so ordering methaqualone from an overseas pharmacy and having it posted is an import outside the exemption even where carrying the same quantity would have been inside it. Carry the prescription and keep the medicine in the dispensing packaging.

Documentation

Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and keep the medicine in the packaging it was dispensed in. No permit is needed within the quantity conditions the ministerial ordinance sets, and beyond them an import permit is. Carry a doctor's letter if the quantity is large enough to look like a supply rather than a course. The instrument behind that is 麻薬、麻薬原料植物、向精神薬、麻薬向精神薬原料等を指定する政令, 平成二年政令第二百三十八号, last amended by 令和八年政令第二百五十八号, promulgated 2026-08-07 and in force 2026-09-06. The entry is at 政令第四条第七十三号, in a Cabinet Order rather than in the Act. The empowering words are 「前各号に掲げる物と同種の濫用のおそれがあり、かつ、同種の有害作用がある物であつて、政令で定めるもの」, and the article opens 「法別表第三第十一号の規定に基づき、次に掲げる物を向精神薬に指定する。」 Two further things travel with the entry. 別表第一第七十八号 extends the narcotics table to 「前各号に掲げる物又は大麻のいずれかを含有する物であつて、あへん以外のもの。」, anything containing a listed substance other than opium, which is what reaches a tablet, a solution or a mixture rather than the pure compound. And its ニ takes 「麻薬原料植物又は大麻草以外の植物（その一部分を含む。）」 back out again, so a plant that is neither a 麻薬原料植物 nor cannabis is outside that extension however much of a listed alkaloid it contains. Read as at 2026-09-17.

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