Is Tramadol legal in U.S. Virgin Islands (US)?

Legal status

Tramadol is controlled federally. Federal Schedule IV under the Controlled Substances Act, 21 CFR 1308.14(b)(3), DEA code 9752, listed as '2-[(dimethylamino)methyl]-1-(3-methoxyphenyl)cyclohexanol, its salts, optical and geometric isomers and salts of these isomers (including tramadol)'. The territory's own schedules at 19 V.I.C. sec. 595 were not read in this run.

Consequences if caught

The federal Controlled Substances Act applies here. 21 U.S.C. 802(26) defines the term State to mean 'a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States', so the federal schedules and the federal offences reach this territory directly. Federally this is a Schedule IV controlled substance, 21 CFR 1308.14(b)(3), DEA code 9752. O-desmethyltramadol, listed with the other name desmetramadol, is separately and temporarily in Schedule I at 21 CFR 1308.11(h)(88), DEA code 9667. Federal simple possession is 21 U.S.C. 844(a). A first offence carries 'a term of imprisonment of not more than 1 year, and shall be fined a minimum of $1,000, or both', with higher minimums after one prior conviction and after two or more. Supply, and possession with intent to supply, is 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1). For a Schedule IV substance section 841(b)(2) provides 'a term of imprisonment of not more than 5 years'. The territory also has its own controlled substances statute in title 19 of the Virgin Islands Code. Its schedules appear in a search engine result title for the law.justia.com page as section 595, Schedules of controlled substances, and the Third Circuit described 19 V.I.C. sec. 604(a)(1) in Government of the Virgin Islands v. Lopez, 459 F.2d 5 (1972), as the provision 'which prohibits knowing or intentional possession of controlled substances with the intention of manufacturing, distributing or dispensing', as the section stood in 1972; whether it has since been amended was not read. Neither section's text was read in this run: every route tried to the code itself was refused or unreachable, and the routes are listed in the documentation field. So whether the territorial schedules list this substance, and the territorial penalty, are not stated here. Two statutes can reach the same conduct, the federal Act and the territory's own, and which one is charged decides the exposure.

If prescribed or medical

21 U.S.C. 844(a) excepts a substance 'obtained directly, or pursuant to a valid prescription or order, from a practitioner, while acting in the course of his professional practice'. Whether a prescription written outside the United States meets that exception was not established here, and the territory's own prescription rules were not read.

Documentation

Carry any prescribed medicine in its original packaging with the prescription. Bringing a controlled substance into this territory from the mainland United States or from abroad engages federal importation and customs provisions as well as the territorial law, and neither was read here. Routes tried on 3 October 2026 for the territorial text, 19 V.I.C. secs. 595 and 604: law.justia.com 2019 U.S. Virgin Islands Code pages refused with HTTP 403 to a scripted fetch, to curl with a browser User Agent and to WebFetch; the Wayback Machine holds no capture of sec. 595 and refused further requests with HTTP 429; the LexisNexis free Virgin Islands Code at lexisnexis.com/hottopics/vicode redirects to a JavaScript application that a text fetch cannot read; womenslaw.org's copy of sec. 593 and Bill No. 30-0258 of the Thirtieth Legislature on stthomassource.com both refused with HTTP 403. An earlier version of this cell, sourced through the Library of Congress and the UNODC legal database rather than the territory's statute, recorded that drugs here fall under the Virgin Islands Code (Title 19) controlled-substances provisions, that trafficking carries imprisonment together with a fine, that the maximum penalty for a drug offence is imprisonment, and that cannabis is treated differently: medical cannabis is legal under the Virgin Islands Medical Cannabis Patient Care Act (2019) and personal possession of small amounts has been decriminalized, while non-medical sale and cultivation remain prohibited. None of that territorial material was read in this run and it is carried forward unverified.

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