Is Amphetamine legal in Jordan?
- Legal status
- Amphetamine is a psychotropic substance under Law No. 23 of 2016, the Jordanian narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances law, and that is a defined term rather than a description. Article 2 provides «المؤثرات العقلية: كل مادة طبيعية أو تركيبية من المواد المدرجة في الجداول ذوات الارقام (5) و(6) و(7) و(8) و(9) الملحقة بهذا القانون.», psychotropic substances being every natural or synthetic substance listed in Schedules 5 to 9 attached to this Law. Amphetamine is expressly printed in Schedule 6, «الجدول رقم (6): أمفيتامين», which makes the route direct rather than derivative: nothing has to be inferred from Adderall, which is a formulation of amphetamine salts, or from methamphetamine, which is a separate molecule with its own entry in the same schedule. Schedules are not frozen in the enacted text. Article 37 provides «لمجلس الوزراء بناء على تنسيب الوزير إجراء تعديل على أي من الجداول الملحقة بهذا القانون بحذف أي مادة منه أو إضافة أي مادة أخرى اليه أو تعديل النسب أو المواصفات أو الشروط الخاصة والمتعلقة بأي منها على ان يتم نشر ذلك في الجريدة الرسمية.», which is to say the Council of Ministers, on the Minister of Health's recommendation, may amend any attached schedule by a decision published in the Official Gazette.
- Consequences if caught
- Amphetamine's Schedule 6 placement makes it a psychotropic substance for this Law, which puts it inside articles 19 and 20 and up to the death penalty article 20 states in the words «يعاقب بالإعدام». Three articles stack. Article 19(a) is the trafficking provision and its opening words are «يعاقب بالأشغال الشاقة المؤقتة مدة لا تقل عن خمس عشرة سنة وبغرامة لا تقل عن عشرة آلاف دينار ولا تزيد على عشرين ألف دينار كل من أقدم على أي فعل من الافعال التالية بقصد الاتجار», temporary hard labour of not less than fifteen years and a fine of ten thousand to twenty thousand Jordanian dinars for the listed dealing conduct committed with intent to traffic. Article 19(b) then provides «تكون العقوبة الأشغال الشاقة المؤبدة», and the indicative verb makes life imprisonment mandatory once a listed aggravator is proved: repeat offending, the status of a specified drug control or supervisory official, or committing the offence with or through a minor. Death under article 20 is mandatory in the same way, but only where an article 19 offence carries the specified international drug gang connection or the listed international criminal activity circumstances. Quantity is not the trigger anywhere in this structure, since neither article states a weight threshold, and the amphetamine trade in this region moves in tablet form at volume, which is the context in which the international aggravators at article 20 are most likely to be argued.
- If prescribed or medical
- Amphetamine is a prescribed medicine for attention deficit disorder and narcolepsy in many countries, and being a medicine does not lift the control. A supply lawfully dispensed to a patient is not trafficking, because article 19(a) defines that offence by the words «بقصد الاتجار», with intent to traffic, and that is a point about how the offence is framed rather than a permission. A patient carrying a prescribed amphetamine preparation should expect the substance to be treated as a Schedule 6 psychotropic substance and should not assume that a routine repeat prescription abroad translates into routine treatment here. What Law No. 23 of 2016 fixes is the control status, and what it does not fix is the prescribing and dispensing conditions; Jordan's separate medicines and pharmacy regimes were not audited for this table, so a route there is treated as unread rather than as absent.
- Documentation
- Carry the prescription and the original dispensing packaging, keep the quantity to what the prescription covers, and keep the prescriber's details legible. Bring a doctor's letter naming the patient, the active ingredient, the dose and the treatment period, and get the Jordan Food and Drug Administration's position in writing before you fly rather than at the airport. No traveller permit scheme, declaration form or carriage allowance appears anywhere in the text of Law No. 23 of 2016 as read for this row, and an absence in what was read is not proof that no scheme exists; Jordan does furnish the International Narcotics Control Board a traveller regulation sheet. The Schedule 6 placement was read on 17 September 2026.
- Jordan, Law No. 23 of 2016, Schedule 6 entry for amphetamine «الجدول رقم (6): أمفيتامين», with article 2 supplying the Schedules 5 to 9 psychotropic definition, article 3 the scope provision, articles 19 and 20 the trafficking, life and death provisions and article 37 the amendment power
- read at https://www.jfda.jo/ebv4.0/root_storage/ar/eb_list_page/%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AE%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA_%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D8%AB%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%82%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9_%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%A9_2016_%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%87.pdf, the Jordan Food and Drug Administration's own consolidation of the Law, with the official schedules at https://www.jfda.jo/ebv4.0/root_storage/ar/eb_list_page/%D8%AC%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%84_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AE%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A9_%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D8%AB%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%82%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9_%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%81_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%A9_29-12-2025.pdf and the regulator's legislation index at https://jfda.jo/Ar/List/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86
- Law No. 23 of 2016 was published in Official Gazette No. 5402 on 16 June 2016 and took effect on 15 August 2016, as amended by Law No. 24 of 2021, Gazette No. 5746 of 23 September 2021, in force 23 October 2021
- the amendment horizon is 16 September 2026 and the body of the 16 September 2026 schedules file could not be retrieved, so the last fully searchable official schedule text is the consolidation updated 29 December 2025
- the regulator's copyright page permits viewing and printing for personal and non-commercial use, permits linking, and permits short portions to be republished unchanged with attribution, which is the basis on which the Arabic above is quoted
- read as at 17 September 2026
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Court records
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Other substances confirmed in Jordan
Same substance, other countries
Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Jordan’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.
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