Is Opium legal in Samoa?

Legal status

Opium is named as item 5 of the Second Schedule, Class B narcotics, to the Narcotics Act 1967, the official version as at 31 December 2023: "Opium." Section 2 defines "opium" as the coagulated juice of the opium poppy, "medicinal opium" as opium processed for medicinal use, and "prepared opium" as opium prepared for smoking, along with dross and other smoking residues. The opium poppy plant itself, Papaver somniferum, is separately a "prohibited plant" under section 2 limb (b), bringing its unlicensed cultivation within section 6 rather than the Class B possession offences. Third Schedule item 78 downgrades dilute opium preparations (not more than 0.2 percent morphine, compounded with other active ingredients not named in the First or Second Schedule) to Class C, and item 82 does the same for "Ipecacuanha and opium powder containing 10 percent of opium in powder and 10 percent of ipecacuanha root in powder intimately mixed with finely powdered lactose."

Consequences if caught

Section 18 of the Act makes it an offence to deal in, possess, sell, give, supply, administer, procure, consume, smoke or otherwise use a Class B narcotic, with liability on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years. Section 18A sets the same 14 year maximum for unlawfully manufacturing a Class B narcotic, and section 17 sets the same 14 year maximum for illegally importing or exporting one. Where the Judge is satisfied the contravention was not wilful, or was merely a procedural breach relating to books, prescriptions or similar matters, section 18's proviso substitutes a fine not exceeding 5 penalty units or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years, or both. On conviction, articles connected with the offence are liable to forfeiture under section 25. The Act does not provide a death penalty for a Class B narcotics offence; life imprisonment under sections 17, 18 and 18A is reserved for Class A narcotics, which this substance is not. Section 10(1) separately makes it an offence, without a stated maximum of its own, to import into or export from Samoa any prepared opium at all. Section 13(c) makes it an offence, carrying imprisonment not exceeding 7 years or a fine not exceeding 200 penalty units, or both, to smoke or otherwise use prepared opium without lawful excuse or to be on premises used for opium smoking. Section 6 sets cultivation of the opium poppy at imprisonment not exceeding 14 years, or, where the Court is satisfied the offence was not wilful, a fine not exceeding 20 penalty units or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years, or both. A preparation meeting the item 78 or item 82 threshold is reclassified to Class C, carrying the 7 year maxima under sections 17, 18 and 18A.

If prescribed or medical

Section 8 lets the Chief Executive Officer keep a register of persons who, before this Act's passage, had become addicted to the quasi medical use of opium and are unlikely to be safely cured of that addiction, and to supply reasonable quantities of medicinal opium to registered persons, who may then personally make quasi medical use of it without committing an offence. This is a closed, historically framed register and is not a general opioid substitution scheme; ordinary prescription supply of medicinal opium otherwise follows section 7(2)(c) and a section 11 licence to deal, as for other narcotics. Dispensing by a pharmacist is separately governed by the Pharmacy Act 2007, and the Drugs Act 1967 supplies a general medicines framework rather than a substance by substance prescription list.

Documentation

The Narcotics Act 1967 (1967 No. 3), the official version as at 31 December 2023, is the authority for the position stated. Whether a later Gazette amendment or a Head of State Order under section 5 of the Act has varied it since that date could not be established from the sources searched this session, so the position given is as at the version read and is not asserted as current beyond it. A traveller carrying a prescribed quantity of opium into or out of Samoa should carry the original packaging and the prescription; import and export of opium otherwise require a licence granted by the Chief Executive Officer under section 10(2) of the Act. No Samoa specific traveller documentation requirement beyond this was located in the sources searched.

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