Is Methaqualone (Quaaludes) legal in Peru?

Legal status

This substance is carried by Peru's controlling schedule. Anexo N. 2 of the Reglamento approved by Decreto Supremo 023-2001-SA carries it at Lista I B item 22, which prints Metacualona, and what the list prints is the operative text rather than any chemical resemblance to it. The search was run over Anexo N. 2 under metacualona. Matching was anchored at the start of the entry name rather than run as a free substring, which is what separates this entry from Meclocualona. Article 2 of the Reglamento prohibits outright the production, manufacture, export, import, commerce and use of the substances in Lista I A and Lista I B, so this placement carries no lawful civilian route at all. The listing read is Anexo N. 2 of the Reglamento approved by Decreto Supremo 023-2001-SA, in the Catalogo de Sustancias Controladas published by the Direccion General de Medicamentos, Insumos y Drogas and marked NOVIEMBRE_2024_V1, which is the version this row was settled against as at 21 September 2026. Article 86 of Decreto Ley 22095 and the closing provisions of that Decreto Ley let the annexed lists be altered by Resolucion Suprema, so reading that version does not rule out a later list. Placement decides only that the substance is controlled; the criminal classification still turns on the conduct and on whether it was authorised. The convention limb of article 2 reaches it as well: the 1971 Convention Schedule II carries this substance at code PM 006, printed METHAQUALONE, read in the INCB list this pass, so the placement does not stand on the domestic catalogue alone. The band has moved the other way. The 1978 annex to Decreto Ley 22095 carried METACUALONA in Lista III C, a dispensable band, and Anexo N. 2 now carries it in Lista I B, which article 2 of the Reglamento puts beyond production, import, commerce and use altogether. The later published listing is taken as governing.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. This is not a flat abolition. Article 140 of the 1993 Constitution, read in the official text in this pass rather than carried, provides that la pena de muerte solo puede aplicarse por el delito de traicion a la patria en caso de guerra, y el de terrorismo, conforme a las leyes y a los tratados de los que el Peru es parte obligada. The penalty therefore exists in Peruvian constitutional law and reaches two offences, neither of which is a drug offence. Read against the offence articles themselves, every one of Codigo Penal articles 296 to 303 states pena privativa de libertad with a numeric range and none of them states death. The ceiling that does run is 25 to 35 years under the final paragraph of article 297, which reaches the agent who acts as jefe, dirigente o cabecilla of an organisation dedicated to illicit drug trafficking or to the inputs for its elaboration, and applies the same range where a person uses illicit drug trafficking to finance terrorist activity. That ceiling is available on this row because Anexo N. 2 carries the substance at Lista I B item 22, which prints Metacualona. Article 296 first paragraph sets 8 to 15 years and 180 to 365 dias-multa for promoting, favouring or facilitating illegal consumption by acts of manufacture or trafficking; its second paragraph sets 6 to 12 years for possession for illicit trafficking; its third paragraph sets 5 to 10 years for supplying raw materials or chemical substances, controlled or not controlled, destined for illegal drug elaboration; and its fourth paragraph sets 5 to 10 years for a conspiracy of two or more persons. Article 297 raises the range to 15 to 25 years for its listed aggravations. Article 298 sets 3 to 7 years for microcomercializacion and microproduccion within its own quantity bands, rising to 6 to 10 years where the conduct also answers aggravations 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 of article 297. Article 298 sets its own quantity bands, which are the figures that keep conduct inside the lesser offence: 50 g of pasta basica de cocaina and its illicit derivatives, 25 g of clorhidrato de cocaina, 5 g of latex de opio or 1 g of its derivatives, 100 g of marihuana or 10 g of its derivatives, and 2 g of extasis. Article 297 numeral 7 sets the ceilings at the other end: 20 kg of pasta basica, 10 kg of clorhidrato, 5 kg of latex de opio or 500 g of its derivatives, 100 kg of marihuana or 2 kg of its derivatives, and 15 g of extasis. The 2003 amendment the previous cell cited, Ley 28002 of 17 June 2003, is part of this lineage and derogated article 296-D, but it is not the current wording of these articles: articles 296, 297, 298 and 299 were replaced again by Decreto Legislativo 982 of 22 July 2007, and articles 296 and 297 again by Decreto Legislativo 1237 of 26 September 2015, which is the text read here. Article 299, in the wording given it by article 2 of Decreto Legislativo 982 of 22 July 2007, makes possession for the holder's own and immediate consumption not punishable in a quantity not exceeding five grams of pasta basica de cocaina, two grams of clorhidrato de cocaina, eight grams of marihuana or two grams of its derivatives, one gram of latex de opio or two hundred milligrams of its derivatives, or two hundred and fifty milligrams of extasis containing Metilendioxianfetamina, Metilendioximetanfetamina, Metanfetamina or sustancias analogas. Its second paragraph excludes the possession of two or more kinds of drug from that protection, so two substances each under their own figure is an offence where either alone would not have been. Article 299 prints no figure for this substance. Its five limbs name cocaine paste, cocaine hydrochloride, marihuana and its derivatives, latex de opio and its derivatives, and extasis, and nothing else, so the non-punishable quantity rule has no stated figure to offer this row. Article 303, as replaced by the second complementary modifying provision of Ley 30219 of 8 July 2014, provides that a foreign national who has served the custodial sentence imposed, or who is granted a penitentiary benefit, is expelled from the country and barred from returning. Carried from the previous cell and not re-derived in this pass: about 60 per cent of drug detentions in Peru are for use or possession, police frequently treat a possessor as a trafficker, and up to 15 days of preventive detention can apply. The band has moved the other way. The 1978 annex to Decreto Ley 22095 carried METACUALONA in Lista III C, a dispensable band, and Anexo N. 2 now carries it in Lista I B, which article 2 of the Reglamento puts beyond production, import, commerce and use altogether. The later published listing is taken as governing. Article 89 numeral 13 of Decreto Ley 22095, defining droga, closes by providing that para los efectos de la represion penal se considera unicamente las listas I y II A, so the Decreto Ley's own definition limits criminal repression under it to Lista I and Lista II A. The Codigo Penal articles set out here speak instead of drogas toxicas, estupefacientes o sustancias psicotropicas without naming a list, and which of the two framings governs a prosecution is not settled by anything read in this pass. This entry sits inside those lists.

If prescribed or medical

The country level rule in Peru is that the Reglamento approved by Decreto Supremo 023-2001-SA governs prescription and dispensing by the list a substance sits in, with articles 23 and following setting a receta especial numerada for the estupefaciente lists and an ordinary retained receta for the psicotropico lists, and article 300 of the Codigo Penal punishing a health professional who improperly prescribes or dispenses a controlled medicine with 2 to 5 years and disqualification. Attached to this substance: this substance sits at Lista I B item 22, which prints Metacualona, and Lista I A and Lista I B are the two bands article 2 of the Reglamento puts beyond production, manufacture, import, export, commerce and use altogether, so there is no prescribing route to attach and no traveller carriage document that could create one.

Documentation

Provenance: the placement relied on is Lista I B item 22, which prints Metacualona in Anexo N. 2 of the Reglamento approved by Decreto Supremo 023-2001-SA, read in the DIGEMID Catalogo de Sustancias Controladas marked NOVIEMBRE_2024_V1 and cross read against the DIGEMID publication of the same Anexo dated 2021, which agrees on the list, the item number and the entry. The offence articles are Codigo Penal articles 296 to 303 as read in the Congreso compendio, with articles 298 and 299 confirmed against Decreto Legislativo 982. Personal use possession of a single kind of drug below its article 299 figure is not a crime, while possessing two or more kinds at once is, because the second paragraph of article 299 withdraws the protection. Medical cannabis is lawful under Ley 30681 of 2017, whose Reglamento was approved by Decreto Supremo 005-2019-SA and is cited in the catalogue's own footnote to the cannabis entries; hemp is regulated under Ley 32195 of 2024, carried from the previous cell and not re-derived here. The coca leaf has a status of its own, re-derived in this pass rather than carried: no entry among the 244 in Anexo N. 2 is the leaf, the only coca entries being Cocaina at Lista II A item 1 and Lista IV A item 10, and article 89 numeral 6 of Decreto Ley 22095 defines Cocaina as the alkaloids extracted from the leaves of the coca bush or synthesised from ecgonina, while numeral 4 defines the arbusto de coca separately as the plant of the genus erythroxilon. The leaf is therefore outside the drug schedule altogether and sits instead under a state monopoly and cultivation regime: article 31 prohibits cultivation in new areas, article 32 puts all coca varieties under state fiscalisation, and article 41, as replaced by article 1 of Ley 27634 published on 16 January 2002, gives the industrialisation and commercialisation of leaf from registered holdings to the state company ENACO S.A. The offences that go with that regime are in article 60, as substituted by article 1 of Decreto Legislativo 122 published on 15 June 1981, which sets 2 to 5 years for cultivating coca without being on the Registro de Productores or beyond the registered extent, for supplying coca leaves as payment for personal services, and for commercialising leaf in unauthorised zones or without an ENACO licence. Article 60 has a fourth limb that is not about coca at all and is the one most likely to reach a visitor: limb c imposes the same 2 to 5 years on el propietario, arrendatarios, administrador, vigilante o encargado a cualquier titulo who consents to the distribution or consumption of drugs on premises in their charge, so permitting use in a room or venue you control is an offence in its own right. Nothing read in this pass makes possession or traditional chewing of the leaf an offence, which is why it is not treated here as one. Carry any controlled medicine in its original labelled packaging with the prescription, and confirm the position with your embassy before travelling.

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