Is 2C-B legal in South Africa?

Legal status

Controlled as an undesirable dependence-producing substance under Schedule 2 Part III of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act 140 of 1992.

Consequences if caught

The printed name is "4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphene-thylamine (2C-B), (Nexus)." and the reader should see it exactly as the Act sets it, because the published text breaks the chemical name with a hyphen in the middle of the word phenethylamine, in the cached text and in the.pdf alike. Nexus is carried in the schedule itself as a second alias. Section 4 (b) forbids the use or possession of any dangerous dependence-producing substance or undesirable dependence-producing substance. Section 13 (d) makes that an offence and section 17 (d) fixes the penalty at such fine as the court may deem fit to impose, or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 years, or both. Dealing is section 5 (b), made an offence by section 13 (f) and punished under section 17 (e) by imprisonment for a period not exceeding 25 years, or by both that imprisonment and such fine as the court may deem fit to impose. The reader should note how wide dealing is: section 1 defines deal in to include transhipment, importation, cultivation, collection, manufacture, supply, prescription, administration, sale, transmission and exportation. Capital exposure: none, and life exposure: none. Section 17 sets out the whole penalty scale of this Act and its highest figure is 25 years for dealing; no provision of the Act carries a death sentence or a sentence of life imprisonment. One boundary on this cell: the minimum sentence regime in the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997 was not read for this cell, so nothing here states whether a minimum term attaches to a drug offence of this kind.

If prescribed or medical

The Act's own lawful route is the set of exceptions in section 4, paragraphs (i) to (vi). A patient falls outside section 4 only where the substance was acquired from a medical practitioner, dentist or practitioner acting in a professional capacity and in accordance with the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act 101 of 1965, or from a pharmacist on that person's oral instruction or written prescription, and is used for medicinal purposes under that person's care or treatment. Section 2 states that this Act applies in addition to, and not in substitution for, the Medicines Act. The Medicines Act schedules themselves are not held in this repository and were not read for this cell, so no medicine schedule number is stated here. Nothing in Part III is available on prescription as such; a lawful holding would have to come through the Medicines Act route the section 4 exceptions describe.

Documentation

Search record. The terms searched through Schedules 1 and 2 were 2c-b, 2C-B, bromo-2,5-dimethoxy, phenethylamine and Nexus. The schedule returns one printed name and it is not an inference: "4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphene-thylamine (2C-B), (Nexus)." The dossier for this row repairs the typesetting and quotes the name as 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine, which is not what the Act prints. The form above is the printed form, checked against both the cached text and the published.pdf. The text read for this cell is the Juta consolidation of the Act downloaded on 29 May 2025, taken from the Department of Justice copy at justice.gov.za whose sha256 begins bc1216a3. It carries the substitution of Schedules 1 and 2 by section 2 of Act 14 of 2022 with effect from 14 December 2022, and it marks section 7 of the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act 7 of 2024, the provision that would amend Schedule 2 again, as not yet put into operation by proclamation. The schedules are stated as at that consolidation and this does not rule out a later amendment made or commenced since. The Schedule and the Part named in this cell are read from the Act itself at the lines quoted; they are nowhere printed in the verbatim quotation supplied for this row.

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