Is 25I-NBOMe legal in United Arab Emirates?

Legal status

25I-NBOMe is named in the phenethylamines block of Schedule 5 of Decision No. 158 of 2025, at item 25, subitem 17. The entry is «25I-NBOMe؛ 2C-I-NBOMe», so the schedule carries the compound under both of the abbreviations it circulates as, and the dossier renders the accompanying chemical name as 2-(4-Iodo-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-N-(2-methoxybenzyl)ethanamine. Naming the synonym matters on an N-benzyl row, because the point at which a 2C compound becomes an NBOMe compound is exactly where an analogue argument would otherwise be made, and here the schedule has named the product rather than left it to inference. Schedule 5 is the first psychotropic schedule, which is why this row runs through Articles 10, 41 and 57 rather than through the Schedule 6 to 8 branch, and Schedule 10 places it in group 1 for quantity purposes. The dossier states the content of Article 57 and does not state what Articles 10 and 41 provide. The placement was read on 20 September 2026.

Consequences if caught

Schedule 5 is one of the four schedule groups Article 57 names, and subitem 17 of the phenethylamines block is where this row sits inside it. The dossier records Article 57 as stating mandatory death for its trafficking or promotion trigger and as stating no quantity for it, so the capital route on this row is quantity free. Schedule 10 does place this substance in group 1, and group 1 is a real quantity band, but the dossier is explicit that the Schedule 10 bands do not gate the Article 57 route. That is the whole of the distinction worth carrying away: a group 1 figure answers a different question from the capital one, and reading it as the death threshold would invent a threshold the article does not contain. Article 41 is the personal use route the dossier attaches to this branch, with its tariff unstated.

If prescribed or medical

The dossier records at one row, modafinil, that a 268 entry ministry travellers list was checked and expressly not used as a schedule, so that list does not decide placement for anything. Attached to this substance: 25I-NBOMe is at Schedule 5, item 25, subitem 17, a psychotropic placement with no medicinal product behind it in the dossier's record. No prescribing route, exemption or permit procedure is given for it, and inventing one from the Schedule 5 branch would be an inference the dossier does not support, so the question is deferred.

Documentation

There is no medicine here to document. The dossier records 25I-NBOMe only as a scheduled psychotropic at Schedule 5, item 25, subitem 17, with no product, prescription or permit route attached to it, so no paperwork is described for this row. Provenance: the entry «25I-NBOMe؛ 2C-I-NBOMe» and the subitem 17 placement were read on 20 September 2026, and the capital analysis rests on Article 57 rather than on the group 1 quantity band.

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