Is Ayahuasca legal in Netherlands?

Also known as: yagé, hoasca

Legal status

Controlled as a preparation of a named substance. Ayahuasca is a brew and the name is not named in lijst I, lijst IA or lijst II, nor are Banisteriopsis caapi or Psychotria viridis.

Consequences if caught

What is named is the alkaloid the brew is taken for: lijst I prints «N,N-dimethyltryptamine, DMT | 3-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]indol». Article 1 of the Opiumwet defines substantie to include plants and parts of plants and preparaat as a mixture of substances, and defines middel as a substance or a preparation, so a brew containing DMT is a middel as meant in lijst I. Article 11 of the Opiumwetbesluit, which has to lift article 2 from very dilute codeine preparations, confirms that preparations containing a lijst I substance are otherwise inside article 2. Use is not itself made an offence by the Opiumwet, which is why the Dutch position is often misread: article 2 and article 3 reach import, export, cultivation, preparation, sale, supply, transport, manufacture and presence, and presence is what a traveller carrying the substance has. Article 10 carries the penalties for lijst I. Intentionally having the substance present, the limb at article 2 under C, carries imprisonment of up to 6 years. Intentionally cultivating, preparing, processing, selling, delivering, supplying, transporting or manufacturing it, article 2 under B and D, carries up to 8 years. Intentionally bringing it into or out of Netherlands territory, article 2 under A, carries up to 12 years, so the trafficking and import limbs run from 8 to 12 years. Where the presence, or the bringing into or out of the territory, concerns a small quantity intended for own use, article 10, sixth limb, lowers the ceiling to 1 year or a fine of the third category; it does not reach the article 2 under B and D acts. The fine on the serious limbs is the fifth category, which the Criminal Code prints at 67.000 euro with an editorial note recording 110.000 euro from 1 January 2026. Article 11 carries the penalties for lijst II. Acting intentionally against article 3 under B, C or D carries imprisonment of up to 2 years, and up to 6 years where the person acts in the exercise of a profession or business. Intentionally bringing it into or out of the territory, article 3 under A, carries up to 4 years. Where the offence concerns a large quantity the two year and the four year cases both rise to 6 years. Article 1 of the Opiumwetbesluit fixes that large quantity at 500 gram hennep, 200 hennepplanten or 500 units of another lijst II substance. The fine is the fifth category, printed at 67.000 euro with an editorial note recording 110.000 euro from 1 January 2026. Article 2a carries the lijst IA prohibition and article 10b its penalties. Acting intentionally against it carries imprisonment of up to 6 years. Acting without intent carries hechtenis of up to 3 months. Where intentional import, export or presence concerns a small quantity for own use the ceiling is 6 months. Article 10c adds up to 3 years for preparatory acts. The fine is the fifth category on the intentional offence and the third category on the others, printed at 67.000 euro and 6.700 euro with editorial notes recording 110.000 euro and 11.000 euro from 1 January 2026. They describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play. The Aanwijzing Opiumwet of the Openbaar Ministerie is prosecution policy and not a statute. For lijst I it treats as a small quantity for own use one bolletje, one ampul, one wikkel or one pill or tablet, in any event a quantity of at most 0,5 gram, and for GHB one consumption unit of 5 ml, with no targeted investigation and prosecution only in support of care. A tolerated quantity is not a lawful one. This is stated as at the Opiumwet consolidation in force from 17 September 2026, read at wetten.overheid.nl on 22 September 2026, and it does not rule out a later amendment. The live cell recorded that a religious use defence under article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights was rejected as justified by the protection of public health. That is carried forward from it and not verified here.

If prescribed or medical

Article 2 of the Opiumwetbesluit forbids prescribing an Opiumwet substance unless one of the two bijlagen to that decree names it, and neither names this one. There is accordingly no lawful prescription route for it outside research under the Wet medisch-wetenschappelijk onderzoek met mensen. No article 75 Schengen certificate is available for it either, because that route presupposes a prescribed medicine.

Documentation

There is no lawful personal import route, because DMT is a lijst I substance and article 2 under A of the Opiumwet prohibits bringing it, or a preparation containing it, into or out of the territory. The live cell recorded that the 2018 Hoge Raad decision removed the religious use exemption that Amsterdam courts had recognised in the 2001 and 2009 Santo Daime cases, and that is carried forward from it and not verified here.

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