Is Opium legal in Australia?

Legal status

Controlled. Opium is named in Schedule 8 of F2026L01327 as «OPIUM except the alkaloids noscapine in Schedule 2 and papaverine when included in Schedule 2 or 4.». Criminal Code Regulations s15 lists Papaver somniferum as border controlled plant item 5 (marketable quantity 10 kg) and Papaver bracteatum as item 4. Criminal Code Regulations 2019: a controlled drug at Schedule 1 item 211 (commercial quantity 20.0 kg, marketable 10,000.0 g, trafficable 20.0 g) and a border controlled drug at Schedule 2 item 169 (commercial 20.0 kg, marketable 20.0 g). Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 Schedule 4 item 173 («173 Opium»), with poppy straw at item 205 and «Seeds of the plant of the species Papaver somniferum (otherwise known as opium poppy)» at item 219. The Poisons Standard read is the Poisons Standard October 2026 (Federal Register of Legislation F2026L01327, made 28 September 2026, registered 30 September 2026, in force from 1 October 2026 under its s2, replacing the June 2026 issue; no later issue was registered when it was read). This cell states Commonwealth law only. The Poisons Standard has effect through adoption by each state and territory: its Reader's guide, which s5(1) of the instrument says is not part of it, states «The scheduling of poisons is implemented through relevant State and Territory legislation.» Most personal possession and use offences are state and territory law, which differs by jurisdiction, and Criminal Code s300.4 keeps those laws running concurrently with Part 9.1. Read as in force on 2 October 2026 against F2026L01327, the Criminal Code Act 1995 at Compilation No. 174 (compilation date 30 June 2026, C2026C00243), the Criminal Code Regulations 2019 at Compilation No. 6 (compilation date 13 December 2025, F2025C01260) and the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 at Compilation No. 147 (compilation date 13 July 2026, F2026C00751). The Criminal Code Regulations schedules are made by the Governor-General and the Poisons Standard by a delegate of the Secretary under Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 s52D, so a later instrument can change any of this, and this reading does not rule out a later amendment.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. The highest penalty anywhere in Part 9.1 of the Criminal Code is imprisonment for life, and Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973 s6 provides «The punishment of death must not be imposed as the penalty for any offence referred to in subsection 3(2) or (3).» Trafficking opium (s302.1: selling, preparing for supply, transporting, guarding or possessing with intent to sell) is s302.4, imprisonment for 10 years or 2,000 penalty units, or both. Trafficking a marketable quantity, 10,000.0 g or more under Schedule 1 item 211 of the Criminal Code Regulations, is s302.3, 25 years or 5,000 penalty units, or both. A commercial quantity, 20.0 kg or more, is s302.2, imprisonment for life or 7,500 penalty units, or both. Under s302.5 a person who prepares, transports, guards or possesses a trafficable quantity, 20.0 g or more, is taken to have intended to sell unless they prove they had neither that intention nor belief, a legal burden (s13.4). Manufacturing opium for a commercial purpose is s305.5, 10 years or 2,000 penalty units, or both (12 years or 2,400 penalty units if a child under 14 is exposed, s310.4); s305.4 for a marketable quantity, 25 years or 5,000 penalty units (28 years or 5,600 aggravated); s305.3 for a commercial quantity, imprisonment for life or 7,500 penalty units, or both. Under s305.6 manufacturing a trafficable quantity presumes the commercial purpose, rebuttably. Import and export are offences of their own in Division 307 against the border controlled drug listing (Schedule 2 item 169): s307.3, imprisonment for 10 years or 2,000 penalty units, or both, with a defence if the person proves no intention or belief that any would be sold; s307.4, which needs no commercial intent, 2 years or 400 penalty units, or both; s307.2 for a marketable quantity (20.0 g or more), 25 years or 5,000 penalty units, or both; s307.1 for a commercial quantity (20.0 kg or more), imprisonment for life or 7,500 penalty units, or both. Possessing an unlawfully imported quantity is s307.5 to s307.7 on the same thresholds, and possessing one reasonably suspected of unlawful import is s307.8 to s307.10. The Customs Act s233(5) leaves border controlled drugs to these offences rather than to the Customs Act smuggling offence. Possessing opium as a controlled drug is s308.1, imprisonment for 2 years or 400 penalty units, or both, and s308.1(3) lets the court deal with the offender as if the offence were the state or territory possession offence, so diversion available there is available here. Supplying any quantity to a child is s309.2, 15 years or 3,000 penalty units, or both. Part 9.1, other than the import and export offences in Division 307, does not apply to conduct justified or excused by or under a state or territory law (s313.1), which is how lawful prescribing and dispensing sit outside it. There is no Commonwealth offence of using or consuming a drug; use is left to state and territory law. A penalty unit is $364 for an offence committed on or after 1 July 2026 under the Crimes (Amount of a Penalty Unit) Instrument 2026 (F2026N00424), made under Crimes Act 1914 s4AA, so 400 penalty units is $145,600, 2,000 is $728,000 and 7,500 is $2,730,000; «or both» in each penalty means the prison term and the fine are available alternatively or together. Quantities are proved under s312.1 as in force on 2 October 2026, by the pure drug in a mixture. A substituted s312.1, enacted by the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Act 2026 (assented to 26 August 2026), Schedule 2 Part 2, will «treat the mixture as consisting wholly of the prohibited substance»; it commences on a day fixed by Proclamation or at the latest on 26 August 2027, and no Proclamation was found when this was read.

If prescribed or medical

Opium has a prescription route as a Schedule 8 controlled drug. The Reader's guide, which is not part of the instrument, describes Schedule 8 as «Substances which should be available for use but require restriction of manufacture, supply, distribution, possession and use to reduce abuse, misuse and physical or psychological dependence.» Prescribing, dispensing and the permits a prescriber may need are state and territory law. Possession under a lawful prescription is conduct justified or excused by state or territory law, so Part 9.1 outside Division 307 does not apply to it (s313.1), and Criminal Code s10.5 provides «A person is not criminally responsible for an offence if the conduct constituting the offence is justified or excused by or under a law.» Its alkaloids that are medicines carry their own entries. The Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 (Compilation No. 16, compilation date 14 October 2024) also applies, because it defines drug as «any substance that is a drug for the purposes of the Convention», the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961: it licenses the manufacture of narcotic drugs through manufacture licences and permits.

Documentation

Traveller rule, Commonwealth: regulation 5(2)(b) of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 lifts the import prohibition for a drug carried by a passenger on a ship or aircraft that «is required for the medical treatment of the person or of another passenger under the care of the person», «was prescribed by a medical practitioner for the purposes of that treatment» and «was supplied to the person in accordance with the prescription of the medical practitioner referred to in subparagraph (ii)». Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990 Schedule 5 item 1 (Compilation No. 130, compilation date 8 September 2026) covers «therapeutic goods that are imported for therapeutic use in the treatment of the importer or the importer’s immediate family» and limits the personal import to «not more than 3 months’ supply at the maximum dose recommended by the manufacturer» in one importation and, for goods in Schedule 4 or Schedule 8 of the current Poisons Standard, requires a written authority from a medical practitioner, or an overseas medical practitioner where the goods are carried by a passenger. The Australian Border Force traveller guidance (abf.gov.au, read 2 October 2026) asks the traveller to «carry a letter or copy of your prescription (written in English) from your doctor to certify that the medicine has been prescribed to you to treat a medical condition», to keep the medicine in its original packaging and to declare it on arrival. Anything outside that exemption needs an import licence and permission from the Office of Drug Control under regulation 5(1). Where the medicine is also a border controlled drug, Division 307 of the Criminal Code has no traveller exception of its own; the traveller relies on Criminal Code s10.5, «A person is not criminally responsible for an offence if the conduct constituting the offence is justified or excused by or under a law.», on the footing that an import within regulation 5(2)(b) is so excused. That footing is this cell's reading of the provisions; no decision applying it was read. The Therapeutic Goods Administration and Office of Drug Control traveller pages (tga.gov.au, odc.gov.au) did not respond from this network on 2 October 2026 (curl timeout after 60 seconds, twice, and a second fetcher timed out), so nothing in this cell rests on them.

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