Is Opium legal in Tuvalu?

Legal status

Controlled in Tuvalu under the Dangerous Drugs Act, Cap. 10.10 (2022 Revised Edition), read with the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2025 (Act 9 of 2025), and opium is named in three separate forms that sit in three separate Parts. Raw opium is controlled by Part II. Section 4(1) (printed page 10) reads “The provisions of this Part of this Act shall apply to raw opium, coca leaf and Indian hemp and resins obtained from Indian hemp and preparations of which such resins form the base.” Section 2 (printed page 9) defines “raw opium” as “the spontaneously coagulated juice obtained from the capsules of the Papaver somniferum which has been submitted only to the necessary manipulations for packing and transport, whatever its morphine content”. Prepared opium is controlled by Part III, and section 2 defines it as “the product of raw opium obtained by a series of special operations, especially by dissolving, boiling, roasting and fermentation designed to transform it into an extract suitable for consumption, and includes dross and all other residues remaining after opium has been smoked”. Medicinal opium is controlled by Part IV: paragraph 6 of Part I of Schedule 2 (printed page 34) reads “Medicinal opium.”, and section 2 defines it as “raw opium which has undergone the processes necessary to adapt it for medicinal use in accordance with the requirements of the British Pharmacopoeia”. Paragraph 5 of the same Part also names the concentrate of poppy straw, and paragraph 8 reaches any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance containing any proportion of a substance in paragraphs 1 to 7. Opium is therefore reached by name in each form. The plant is controlled too: section 7 (printed page 10) reads “No person shall cultivate in Tuvalu the opium poppy or Indian hemp or coca leaf plant.” Part II of Schedule 2 excepts two opium preparations, and mixtures of them under paragraph 14, in paragraph 11 (medicinal opium or morphine, not more than 0.2 per cent of morphine calculated as anhydrous morphine base, compounded so as to have no or a negligible risk of abuse) and paragraph 13 (the compound ipecacuanha and opium powder of 10 per cent opium). Section 30 (printed page 16) provides: “The provisions of sections 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 shall not apply to any preparation or other substance for the time being falling within Part II of Schedule 2.” Those sections include the section 14 import and export ban, the store rules and the section 20 possession offence, so a preparation that falls within Part II of Schedule 2 is outside them. Section 15 and new section 5(1) carry no matching exception. Section 13(2) lets the Minister modify Schedule 2 by order, and no such order is in the text read. The schedule is printed in the Act and carries that delegated amendment power, so the entry is stated as at the 2022 Revised Edition and Act 9 of 2025.

Consequences if caught

Conduct, by form of opium, from the text. Raw opium. Possession and sale: section 8(b) as amended by section 4 of Act 9 of 2025 (printed page 6) makes guilty of an offence every person “found in possession of or selling, or otherwise traffics or engages in the trafficking of, to any person any substance to which this Part applies”. Import and export: section 4(2) reads “No person shall import or export any of the substances to which this Part applies.” Cultivation of the opium poppy: sections 7 and 8(a), the latter reaching a person who “knowingly cultivates opium poppy, Indian hemp or coca leaf whether for private use or otherwise”. Seeds: the 2022 section 5 banned import and export of any seed of the opium poppy, but section 3 of Act 9 of 2025 repeals section 5 in its entirety and replaces it with a new section 5 that does not mention seeds. Prepared opium. Section 11 (printed page 11) reads “No person shall import or export any prepared opium, or any pipes or other utensils for use in connection with the smoking of opium, or any utensil for use in connection with the preparation of opium for consumption.” Section 12(1) makes it an offence to manufacture, sell, deal in or traffic prepared opium (paragraph (a) as replaced by section 5 of Act 9 of 2025), to possess prepared opium, to occupy or manage premises used for preparing or selling it, to possess pipes or utensils, or to smoke or otherwise use prepared opium or frequent a place used for opium smoking. Medicinal opium. It is a Part IV drug, so section 20 (printed page 14) makes it an offence to be found in possession of it unless the person can prove it was obtained under the authority of the Act, on the prescription of a person on the Medical and Dental Register, or from a person having authority to sell it, and sections 14, 22 and 27 require an authorisation to import or export it. The Act as read carries no presumption of supply and no separate offence of possession for supply for any form of opium. Penalty bands in Schedule 3 to Act 9 of 2025 (printed pages 8 and 9), quoted as printed with the gaps left in. For the opium poppy or coca plant: growing, “Not exceeding 1 plants” maximum 5 years, minimum 12 months, and “More than 3 plants” maximum 10 years, minimum 2 years, with no band for 2 or 3 plants; possession, “Not exceeding 5 grams” maximum 5 years, minimum 24 months, and “More than 10 grams” maximum 7 years, minimum 24 months, with no band for more than 5 and up to 10 grams; selling or trafficking, “Not exceeding 5 grams” maximum 7 years, minimum 2 years, and “More than 5 grams” maximum 20 years, minimum 3 years. For prepared opium: manufacture, “Not exceeding 10 grams” maximum 7 years, minimum 24 months, with no band printed above 10 grams; selling or trafficking, not exceeding 10 grams maximum 15 years, minimum 5 years, and more than 10 grams “Maximum of life imprisonment”, minimum 7 years; possession, not exceeding 10 grams maximum 7 years, minimum 24 months, and more than 10 grams maximum 10 years, minimum 3 years; occupier of premises, maximum 10 years, minimum 24 months; management of premises, maximum 7 years, minimum 24 months; possession of pipes or utensils, maximum 5 years, minimum 24 months; smoking or using, not exceeding 10 grams maximum 10 years, minimum 24 months, and more than 10 grams maximum 20 years, with no minimum printed. Section 8(2), inserted by section 4 of Act 9 of 2025 (printed page 6), reads “Any person who commits an offence under this Act shall be sentenced according to Schedule 3.” Section 5(2) is worded for the conduct named in new section 5(1), which is import, export, manufacture, cultivation, sale and use, and does not name possession. The section 20 possession offence therefore reaches Schedule 3, if at all, only through section 8(2), and Schedule 3 has no row for a Part IV drug. Where the text does not settle which route governs: Schedule 3 prints no row for raw opium or medicinal opium by name, only for the opium poppy or coca leaf and for prepared opium. The text does not say whether the opium poppy rows reach raw opium, which is the coagulated juice of the capsules, and it does not say whether section 39(2) governs medicinal opium or raw opium. Section 39(2) (printed page 21) applies to “each offence for which no penalty is otherwise prescribed”: on conviction by the High Court sitting with assessors, “a fine of $4,000 and to imprisonment for 10 years”, or on summary conviction, “a fine not exceeding $1,000 and to imprisonment for 5 years”, with forfeiture. Customs: item 7 of the list of prohibited imports in Schedule 2 to the Customs Revenue and Border Protection Act, Cap. 26.04 (printed page 145) reads “Prepared opium and pipes or other utensils for use in connection with the smoking of opium or the preparation of opium for smoking.” Section 35(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act (printed page 19) deems articles whose importation that Act prohibits to be goods prohibited under the Customs Act. Section 35(2) (printed page 19) provides: “If any goods the exportation of which is prohibited or restricted by this Act are exported in contravention thereof, or brought to a wharf or other place to be shipped in any conveyance, the exporter or his agent shall be liable for each offence to forfeit either treble the value of the goods or $200, at the option of the Customs Officer.” The text does not say how that liability relates to section 39(2) or to Schedule 3. Item 14 of the list of prohibited imports in Schedule 2 to that Act (printed page 146) reads “Goods the importation of which is prohibited by any other law in force in Tuvalu.” and item 9 of the list of restricted imports (printed page 147) reads “Goods the importation of which is regulated by any other law in force in Tuvalu except in accordance with such law.” For goods prohibited under its section 78, the Customs Act provides these routes. Section 212(1)(a) and (3) (printed pages 108 and 109) sets a fine not exceeding $2,000 for importing them, and section 212(1)(c) and (2) makes a person knowingly concerned in such an importation liable, for an individual, to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or both. Section 215 (printed page 110) covers knowing possession or custody of prohibited imports: for an individual a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or both, and for a body corporate a fine not exceeding $10,000, or a fine of 3 times the value of the goods, whichever is the lesser. Section 216 (printed page 110) covers knowing purchase, sale, exchange or other acquisition or disposal: for an individual a fine not exceeding $5,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or both, and for a body corporate a fine not exceeding $50,000, or 3 times the value, whichever is the lesser. The text read does not say whether these Customs Act penalties apply to opium alongside section 39(2). The text read does not say how those Customs penalties relate to Schedule 3. Maximum: the highest penalty the Act text provides is life imprisonment for selling or trafficking in more than 10 grams of prepared opium, and no provision read provides a death penalty. Tuvalu's general law on capital punishment was not checked.

If prescribed or medical

The medical route, as the text shows it, differs by form. Medicinal opium is a Part IV drug. Section 20 excuses possession that the person proves was obtained “in accordance with the prescription of a person whose name appears in the said Medical and Dental Register”, and section 15(1)(c) (printed page 13) empowers the Minister to make rules “regulating the issue by medical practitioners of prescriptions containing any such dangerous drug and the dispensing of any such prescription”. No rules under section 15 are in the text read, and the legislation site's index of laws, as fetched on 7 October 2026, lists none beneath the Act. Paragraph 11 of Part II of Schedule 2 covers low strength compounded preparations of medicinal opium or morphine. Under section 30, a preparation within Part II of Schedule 2 is outside section 14 and sections 16 to 29, including the section 20 possession offence. Section 14A, inserted by section 6 of Act 9 of 2025 (printed page 6), reads “The Minister may issue licenses for the importation, exportation, manufacture, cultivation, sale, or use of dangerous drugs for medical and scientific purposes.” It is worded for dangerous drugs generally, and the text does not say whether it reaches raw opium under Part II or prepared opium under Part III, neither of which has a medical exception of its own. Section 42 of the Pharmacy and Therapeutic Products Act, Cap. 28.32 (printed page 28) provides: “If a therapeutic product is also a dangerous drug under the Dangerous Drugs Act, the prohibitions, conditions, and requirements in this Act are in addition to those contained in or imposed under the Dangerous drugs Act.” Section 9 of that Act (printed page 13) requires a Tuvalu Medicines Schedule whose classes include “prescription medicines”, “dangerous drugs” and “prohibited substances”. That Schedule was searched for on three routes and no copy was found, so how it classes any opium product is shown by no text read.

Documentation

Instruments read on 7 October 2026 from the Tuvalu government's own legislation site: the Dangerous Drugs Act, Cap. 10.10, 2022 Revised Edition (36 pages; sections 1 to 42 and Schedule 2); the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2025, Act 9 of 2025 (9 pages, including Schedule 3); section 9 and section 42 of the Pharmacy and Therapeutic Products Act, Cap. 28.32, 2022 Revised Edition; and section 78, sections 212 to 216 and Schedule 2 of the Customs Revenue and Border Protection Act 2014, Cap. 26.04, 2022 Revised Edition. Part II, Part III and Part IV of the Dangerous Drugs Act were read in full, and the Customs Act text was searched for opium, morphine, heroin, narcotic and dangerous drug and names only prepared opium. The endnotes (printed pages 35 and 36) print amendment by Act 4 of 2009 (commencement 6 July 2009) and no later amendment, and the legislation site's index of laws lists Act 9 of 2025 as the amending Act beneath the Dangerous Drugs Act; no other amendment since 1 January 2023 was found. The 2022 Revised Edition does not incorporate Act 9 of 2025, so the two are read together, and the amendment replaces section 5, amends section 8(b), replaces section 12(1)(a) and inserts section 14A and Schedule 3. Commencement: Act 9 of 2025 section 1(2) reads “This Act shall come into force on the date of publication.” The Act commenced on the date of its publication under its section 1(2); the PDF prints no calendar date for that publication, so none is given. Medicines Schedule outcome: the Tuvalu Medicines Schedule under section 9 of the Pharmacy and Therapeutic Products Act was searched for on the legislation site, on Ministry of Health and government hosts, and in WHO and Pacific health sources, and no copy was found. This entry rests on the Dangerous Drugs Act and its 2025 amendment. Tuvalu’s Penal Code was not read. The printed pages of the Dangerous Drugs Act carry only the words “2022 Revised Edition” and no consolidation date. The legislation site’s home page, https://www.tuvalu-legislation.tv/cms/, read on 7 October 2026, states that the Laws of Tuvalu are in force as at 31st December 2022.

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