Legal status in Bangladesh

Per-substance legal status for Bangladesh, from sourced statutes where available. Legal information, not legal advice; drug laws change, so confirm with the destination’s embassy or drug authority before you travel.

57 confirmed substances31 not individually verifiedLast updated October 8, 2026

Confirmed legal status

1P-LSD

Legal status: 1P-LSD is not named. Lysergide is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4, together with «Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)» and «LSD-25», and 1P-LSD is the N1-propionyl derivative of it, which is what serial 5 of that class reaches: «ক্রমিক নম্বর ৪ এ উল্লিখিত মাদকদ্রব্যসমূহের উপজাত দ্রব্য অথবা যৌগ কিংবা উহাদের হইতে উদ্ভুত অথবা প্রস্তুতকৃত কোনো পদার্থ», the by-products, compounds and anything derived or prepared from the substances at serial 4, «কিংবা উহাদের কোনো অ্যালকালয়েড, সল্ট, আইসোমার, অ্যানালগ, কিংবা অ্যাগনিস্টসমূহ», or any alkaloid, salt, isomer, analogue or agonist of them. Lysergic acid itself is separately a Class 'ka' serial 8 precursor chemical.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. 1P-LSD sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 5 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 30 covers Class 'kha' serial 5 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 31 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 3 kilogrammes or litres is 1 to 3 years, above 3 and up to 10 kilogrammes or litres is 3 to 7 years, above 10 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and 1P-LSD is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 5, and section 36 table rows 30 and 31 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

1P-LSD in Bangladesh, full detail →

4-AcO-DMT

Legal status: 4-AcO-DMT is not named. Psilocine and Psilotsin are named in Class 'ka' at serial 6, and Psilocine and Psilocybine again in Class 'kha' at serial 4. 4-AcO-DMT is the acetate ester of psilocin, which serial 7 of Class 'ka' reaches as a substance «উহাদের হইতে উদ্ভুত অথবা প্রস্তুতকৃত», derived or prepared from those substances, and serial 5 of Class 'kha' reaches on the same wording for its own serial 4.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. 4-AcO-DMT sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 7 of the First Schedule. Section 36 rows 13 and 14 cover Class 'ka' serial 7, one for each limb of section 9(1), and both read the same: up to 500 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 500 grammes and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 10 years, and above 5 kilogrammes or litres is «অন্যূন ১০ বৎসর অনূর্ধ্ব যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», not less than 10 years and up to imprisonment for life, with a fine. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and 4-AcO-DMT is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Life imprisonment does: above 5 kilogrammes or litres for Class 'ka' serial 7, and above 50 kilogrammes or litres for the serial 8 precursors, the ceiling is imprisonment for life. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 7, and section 36 table rows 13 and 14 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

4-AcO-DMT in Bangladesh, full detail →

7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH)

Legal status: 7-hydroxymitragynine is not named. Mitragynine is, in Class 'ka' at serial 4, alongside Mitraphylline. 7-hydroxymitragynine is an alkaloid of the same plant and an oxidation product of mitragynine, and serial 7 of Class 'ka' reaches «উহাদের কোনো অ্যালকালয়েড», any alkaloid of the serial 4 to 6 substances, expressly. Section 2(4) defines an alkaloid as a substance obtained by chemical analysis from a scheduled substance or narcotic whose addiction-forming psychoactive reaction resembles the parent's.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. 7-hydroxymitragynine sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 7 of the First Schedule. Section 36 rows 13 and 14 cover Class 'ka' serial 7, one for each limb of section 9(1), and both read the same: up to 500 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 500 grammes and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 10 years, and above 5 kilogrammes or litres is «অন্যূন ১০ বৎসর অনূর্ধ্ব যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», not less than 10 years and up to imprisonment for life, with a fine. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and 7-hydroxymitragynine is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Life imprisonment does: above 5 kilogrammes or litres for Class 'ka' serial 7, and above 50 kilogrammes or litres for the serial 8 precursors, the ceiling is imprisonment for life. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 7, and section 36 table rows 13 and 14 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) in Bangladesh, full detail →

Adderall

Legal status: Adderall has no separate legal identity. It is a mixture of dextroamphetamine and amphetamine salts, and Class 'ka' serial 5 of the First Schedule names «Amphetamine», «Dexamphetamine» and «Levamphetamine» individually. Section 2(29)(b) then makes the whole preparation a narcotic: «মাদকদ্রব্যের সহিত অন্য যে-কোনো দ্রব্য একীভূত, মিশ্রিত, কিংবা দ্রবীভূত থাকিলে উহাদের সমুদয় কোনো দ্রব্য», where any other substance is combined, mixed or dissolved with a narcotic, the entirety is a narcotic. So a tablet is weighed whole, not by its amphetamine content.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Adderall sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 5 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and Adderall is in one of them: serial 5, at table rows 9 and 10. The two limbs of section 9 carry different thresholds here, which no secondary account of this Act reproduces. Row 9, for section 9(1)(a) conduct: up to 100 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 100 and up to 200 is 5 to 10 years, and «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২০০ গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or life above 200 grammes or millilitres. Row 10, for section 9(1)(b) conduct: up to 200 is 1 to 5 years, above 200 and up to 400 is 5 to 10 years, and death or life above 400 grammes or millilitres. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 5, and section 36 table rows 9 and 10 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Adderall in Bangladesh, full detail →

Alcohol

Legal status: Alcohol is the one narcotic the Act does not prohibit outright: section 9(1) opens «অ্যালকোহল ব্যতীত», save for alcohol, and section 10 governs it separately by licence, permit and pass. Alcohol is Class 'kha' serial 3 of the First Schedule: ethyl alcohol (ethanol), absolute alcohol, rectified spirit, any liquid prepared with more than 0.5 percent alcohol that is capable of producing intoxication and can be or could be drunk as an intoxicant, wine, beer, wash, চোলাইমদ, any kind of মদ, and any substance containing more than 0.5 percent alcohol capable of producing intoxication. Section 2(5) defines alcohol by reference to this same entry.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Alcohol sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 3 of the First Schedule. Alcohol is prosecuted under section 10 rather than section 9, and section 36 gives it five rows. Row 23, section 10(1)(a) or (b): 1 to 10 years. Row 24, section 10(1)(c), (d) or (e): up to 10 kilogrammes or litres is 6 months to 3 years, above 10 and up to 100 is 3 to 5 years, above 100 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 10 years. Row 25, section 10(1)(f): 6 months to 2 years. Rows 26 and 27, section 10(1)(g) and (h): 1 to 10 years each. Section 36(5) adds up to 1 year for drunken nuisance or drunk driving. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and alcohol is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Alcohol runs on permits rather than prescriptions, with one medical exception written into the Act. Section 11(1) provides that no permit to drink alcohol may be given to a Muslim without a written prescription from a doctor holding a degree or from an associate professor or above of a government medical college. Section 11(2) disapplies that for tari and pachui drunk by the communities it names and for traditionally made liquor among the small ethnic communities of Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari. Section 11(3)(a) allows foreigners, and nationals holding a permit, to drink seated in a licensed bar, and section 11(3)(b) disapplies the restrictions entirely for holders of a diplomatic passport and for persons covered by a customs pass book or the baggage rules.
Documentation: Alcohol is the one narcotic with its own documentation regime. A permit under section 13 is what makes drinking lawful, it is issued by the Director General or an officer empowered by him on conditions and fees fixed by rules, and section 13(2) runs it to the end of the financial year, with a licence or permit unrenewed for three consecutive years no longer renewable. Section 11(3)(b) exempts holders of a diplomatic passport and persons covered by a customs pass book or the baggage rules from the import, export, purchase, carriage, storage and drinking restrictions. Section 11(4) requires every duty free alcohol operation to run on a licence under this Act. Section 14 disqualifies an applicant with certain convictions. No traveller litre allowance is stated in the Act itself and none is stated here.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 3, and section 36 table rows 23 to 27 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated October 8, 2026

Alcohol in Bangladesh, full detail →

Amphetamine

Legal status: Amphetamine is named first in Class 'ka' at serial 5 of the First Schedule, with Benzfetamine, Lefetamine, Metamphetamine, Methyl Amphetamine, Metamphetamine racemate, Brolamphetamine, DOB, Dexamphetamine, Etilamphetamine, Levamphetamine and Tenamphetamine.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Amphetamine sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 5 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and amphetamine is in one of them: serial 5, at table rows 9 and 10. The two limbs of section 9 carry different thresholds here, which no secondary account of this Act reproduces. Row 9, for section 9(1)(a) conduct: up to 100 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 100 and up to 200 is 5 to 10 years, and «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২০০ গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or life above 200 grammes or millilitres. Row 10, for section 9(1)(b) conduct: up to 200 is 1 to 5 years, above 200 and up to 400 is 5 to 10 years, and death or life above 400 grammes or millilitres. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 5, and section 36 table rows 9 and 10 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Amphetamine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Ayahuasca

Legal status: Ayahuasca has no entry of its own, and neither Banisteriopsis caapi nor Psychotria viridis is named. DMT is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4, and section 2(29)(b) carries the classification to the brew: «মাদকদ্রব্যের সহিত অন্য যে-কোনো দ্রব্য একীভূত, মিশ্রিত, কিংবা দ্রবীভূত থাকিলে উহাদের সমুদয় কোনো দ্রব্য», where any other substance is combined, mixed or dissolved with a narcotic, the entirety of it is a narcotic. A DMT-containing ayahuasca brew is therefore weighed as a whole. The plants themselves are separately reachable under Class 'kha' serial 2.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Ayahuasca sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and ayahuasca is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Ayahuasca in Bangladesh, full detail →

Barbiturates

Legal status: The barbiturates are named individually in Class 'kha' at serial 4: Allobarbital, Amobarbital, Barbital, Butobarbital, Phenobarbital, Secobarbital, Vinylbital, Butalbital, Cyclobarbital, Pentobarbital and Methylphenobarbital. Serial 5 of the same class adds their by-products, compounds, alkaloids, salts, isomers, analogues and agonists, so a barbiturate not on the list of eleven is still reached.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. The barbiturates sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and the barbiturates is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Barbiturates in Bangladesh, full detail →

Benzodiazepines

Legal status: Listed in two classes of the First Schedule, not one. The benzodiazepines are Class 'ga' serial 3 of the First Schedule, which names about forty compounds from Flunitrazepam through Alprazolam, Bromazepam, Clonazepam, Diazepam, Lorazepam, Midazolam, Nimetazepam, Nitrazepam, Oxazepam, Temazepam and Triazolam to Zolpidem. The class is not wholly in Class 'ga', and that matters: Chlordiazepoxide and Ethyl loflazepate are in Class 'kha' at serial 4 instead, a heavier class, so a single answer for the whole family would be wrong. Serial 4 of Class 'ga' carries the derivatives, alkaloids, salts, isomers, analogues and agonists of serial 3.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. The benzodiazepines sits in Class 'ga', the lightest class, at serial 3 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 33 covers Class 'ga' serial 3 under either limb of section 9(1): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 3 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 3 to 5 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, with a fine at every tier. Seven years is the ceiling for this class. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and the benzodiazepines is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ga', serial 3, and section 36 table row 33 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated October 8, 2026

Benzodiazepines in Bangladesh, full detail →

Buprenorphine

Legal status: Buprenorphine is named in Class 'ka' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, between Alphamethadol and Cocaine. Serial 4 is one of the three capital entries in the whole schedule.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Buprenorphine sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and buprenorphine is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Buprenorphine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Caffeine

Legal status: Caffeine is named last but one in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, and the entry is not caffeine at large. It reads, after the word Caffeine, «শতকরা ০.১৪৫ ভাগের ঊর্ধ্বে ক্যাফেইনযুক্ত যে কোনো তরল পানীয়», any liquid drink containing more than 0.145 percent caffeine. A coffee, a tea or a caffeine tablet is outside the entry unless it is a liquid drink over that concentration; an energy drink can be inside it.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Caffeine sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and caffeine is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Caffeine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Cannabis / THC

Legal status: Cannabis is in two classes at once and the difference is the difference between ten years and the death penalty. The herb is Class 'kha' serial 1: «গাঁজা গাছ কিংবা উহার শাখা প্রশাখা, পাতা ও ফুল। ভাং গাছ কিংবা উহার শাখা প্রশাখা, পাতা ও ফুল। গাঁজা, ভাং, সিদ্ধি», and anything prepared with them capable of producing intoxication or addiction. The concentrates are Class 'ka' serial 6, which names «Cannabis resin», «Charas» অথবা «Hashis» and «Hashis oil» in bold, alongside Cathinone and Mescaline. Tetrahydrocanabinol is in the same serial 6.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Cannabis sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 1 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 18 covers the cannabis or bhang plant under section 9(1)(a): up to 50 plants is 1 to 5 years, above 50 and up to 500 is 5 to 7 years, above 500 is 7 to 10 years. Row 19 covers anything prepared from the branches, leaves or flowers under section 9(1)(b): up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 6 months to 5 years, above 5 and up to 15 kilogrammes is 5 to 7 years, above 15 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years. Rows 21 and 22 cover consumption and patronage for Class 'kha' at 3 months to 2 years and 1 to 7 years. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and cannabis is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it there. That is true of the herb and false of the concentrates, and the difference is the difference between ten years and the death penalty. Class 'ka' serial 6 names Cannabis resin, Charas, Hashis and Hashis oil, and Tetrahydrocanabinol, and serial 6 IS capital: table row 11 gives death or life above 25 grammes or millilitres for section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 12 gives death or life above 50 grammes or millilitres for section 9(1)(b) conduct. So hashish, charas, hash oil and a THC extract carry capital exposure in Bangladesh and herbal cannabis does not. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 1, and section 36 table rows 18 and 19 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Cannabis / THC in Bangladesh, full detail →

Cathinone

Legal status: Cathinone is named in Class 'ka' at serial 6 of the First Schedule, immediately after Hashis oil and before Clonitazene. Methcathinone is named in the same serial. Cathine, the milder metabolite, is not: it sits in Class 'kha' at serial 4 instead, a lighter class, so the two alkaloids of the khat plant are in different classes with different maximum penalties.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Cathinone sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 6 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and cathinone is in one of them: serial 6, at table rows 11 and 12. Row 11, for section 9(1)(a) conduct: up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 5 and up to 25 is 5 to 10 years, and «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড ও অর্থদণ্ড», death or life above 25 grammes or millilitres. Row 12, for section 9(1)(b) conduct: up to 10 is 1 to 5 years, above 10 and up to 50 is 5 to 10 years, and death or life above 50 grammes or millilitres. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 6, and section 36 table rows 11 and 12 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Cathinone in Bangladesh, full detail →

Clonazepam

Legal status: Clonazepam is named in Class 'ga' at serial 3 of the First Schedule, between Clobazam and Clorazepate.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Clonazepam sits in Class 'ga', the lightest class, at serial 3 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 33 covers Class 'ga' serial 3 under either limb of section 9(1): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 3 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 3 to 5 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, with a fine at every tier. Seven years is the ceiling for this class. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and clonazepam is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ga', serial 3, and section 36 table row 33 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Clonazepam in Bangladesh, full detail →

Cocaine

Legal status: Cocaine is named in Class 'ka' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, immediately after Buprenorphine. It is also reached at Class 'ka' serial 2, which covers the coca plant and coca bush, coca leaf, all narcotics derived from coca, «শতকরা ০.১ এর অধিক কোকেনযুক্ত যে-কোনো পদার্থ অথবা কোকেনের যে-কোনো ক্ষার», any substance containing more than 0.1 percent cocaine or any salt of cocaine. Section 36 gives serial 2 rows only for the plant and the leaf, so powder and base are prosecuted on serial 4.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Cocaine sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and cocaine is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Cocaine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Codeine

Legal status: Codeine is named in Class 'ka' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, between Di-hydrocodone and Hydromorphine. Acetyl dihydrocodeine and Norcodeine are in the same serial. Dihydrocodeine, Nicocodine, Narcodeine and Nicodicodine are in serial 6 instead.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Codeine sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and codeine is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Codeine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Crack Cocaine

Legal status: Crack has no separate identity in the Act. It is cocaine in its base form, and Class 'ka' serial 4 of the First Schedule names «Cocaine» without qualification, while Class 'ka' serial 2 reaches «কোকেনের যে-কোনো ক্ষার», any salt or base of cocaine, and any substance containing more than 0.1 percent cocaine. The capital threshold is measured by the weight of the material, and section 2(29)(b) makes a mixture a narcotic in its entirety, so the whole rock is weighed.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Crack cocaine sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and crack cocaine is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Crack Cocaine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Delta-8-THC

Legal status: Delta-8-THC reads onto a named entry in Class 'ka' of the First Schedule, the heaviest class, on the face of the words, and the schedule conflicts with itself on it. Class 'ka' serial 6 of the First Schedule names «Tetrahydrocanabinol», with no delta specified, no isomer named and no exclusion. Delta-8-THC is a tetrahydrocannabinol, so it reads onto the entry, and Class 'ka' serial 7 would reach it in any event as an isomer. Dronabinol, which is delta-9-THC, is named separately in Class 'kha' at serial 4, a lighter class, and the Act does not resolve the conflict. No Bangladeshi decision choosing between the two entries was found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Delta-8-THC sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 6 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and Delta-8-THC is in one of them: serial 6, at table rows 11 and 12. Row 11, for section 9(1)(a) conduct: up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 5 and up to 25 is 5 to 10 years, and «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড ও অর্থদণ্ড», death or life above 25 grammes or millilitres. Row 12, for section 9(1)(b) conduct: up to 10 is 1 to 5 years, above 10 and up to 50 is 5 to 10 years, and death or life above 50 grammes or millilitres. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 6, and section 36 table rows 11 and 12 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated October 8, 2026

Delta-8-THC in Bangladesh, full detail →

Diazepam

Legal status: Diazepam is named in Class 'ga' at serial 3 of the First Schedule, the first entry on the schedule's second page of that serial, before Estazolam.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Diazepam sits in Class 'ga', the lightest class, at serial 3 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 33 covers Class 'ga' serial 3 under either limb of section 9(1): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 3 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 3 to 5 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, with a fine at every tier. Seven years is the ceiling for this class. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and diazepam is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ga', serial 3, and section 36 table row 33 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Diazepam in Bangladesh, full detail →

DMT

Legal status: DMT is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, printed with its formula as 3-{2-(Dimethylamino) ethyl}indole, the gazette carrying an obvious typographical slip in that bracket. DET is named in the same serial.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. DMT sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and DMT is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

DMT in Bangladesh, full detail →

DOM

Legal status: DOM is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule as «STP/DOM [2, 5-dimethoxy-alpha, 4-dimethylphenethylamine]». It should not be confused with DOB, which is a different substance in a heavier class: Brolamphetamine, DOB, is Class 'ka' serial 5.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. DOM sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and DOM is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

DOM in Bangladesh, full detail →

DXM

Legal status: Dextromethorphan is not named, and the Act carries no exclusion for it of the kind the 1961 Convention has. What is named is its racemate and its enantiomer: Racemethorphan, Levomethorphan and Racemorphan are all in Class 'ka' at serial 6. Class 'ka' serial 7 then reaches «উহাদের কোনো অ্যালকালয়েড, সল্ট, আইসোমার, অ্যানালগ, কিংবা অ্যাগনিস্টসমূহ», any alkaloid, salt, isomer, analogue or agonist of the serial 4 to 6 substances, and dextromethorphan is the dextrorotatory isomer of racemethorphan. Section 2(6) defines an isomer for the Act's purposes.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Dextromethorphan sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 7 of the First Schedule. Section 36 rows 13 and 14 cover Class 'ka' serial 7, one for each limb of section 9(1), and both read the same: up to 500 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 500 grammes and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 10 years, and above 5 kilogrammes or litres is «অন্যূন ১০ বৎসর অনূর্ধ্ব যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», not less than 10 years and up to imprisonment for life, with a fine. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and dextromethorphan is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Life imprisonment does: above 5 kilogrammes or litres for Class 'ka' serial 7, and above 50 kilogrammes or litres for the serial 8 precursors, the ceiling is imprisonment for life. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 7, and section 36 table rows 13 and 14 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

DXM in Bangladesh, full detail →

Ephedrine

Legal status: Ephedrine is a precursor chemical, not a narcotic in the ordinary sense, and the Act gives precursors their own place: Class 'ka' serial 8 of the First Schedule, «প্রিকারসর কেমিক্যালস», the chemicals essential as an ingredient or component in producing or processing a Class 'ka' or Class 'kha' narcotic. Ephedrine is named there, as are Pseudoephedrine, Norephedrine, Ergometrine, Ergotamine, Lysergic acid, Safrole, Isosafrole, Piperonal, Potassium Permanganate, Acetic anhydride, Acetone, Toluene and APAAN. Norpseudoephedrine, by contrast, sits in Class 'kha' at serial 4. Section 2(19) adds that the Government may declare further precursor chemicals from time to time by notification in the official Gazette.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Ephedrine sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 8 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 15 covers the precursor chemicals under either limb of section 9(1): up to 10 kilogrammes or litres is 1 to 5 years, above 10 and up to 50 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 10 years, and above 50 kilogrammes or litres is «অন্যূন ১০ বৎসর, অনূর্ধ্ব যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», not less than 10 years and up to imprisonment for life, with a fine. Section 9(2) states the precursor prohibitions separately from section 9(1). The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and ephedrine is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Life imprisonment does: above 5 kilogrammes or litres for Class 'ka' serial 7, and above 50 kilogrammes or litres for the serial 8 precursors, the ceiling is imprisonment for life. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 8, and section 36 table row 15 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Ephedrine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Fentanyl

Legal status: Fentanyl is named second in Class 'ka' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, and the serial names fourteen further fentanyls with it: Acetyl-alpha-methyl Fentanyl, Alpha-methyl Fentanyl, Alfentanyl, Beta-hydroxy Fentanyl, Beta-hydroxy-3-methyl Fentanyl, Lofentanyl, 3-Methyl Fentanyl, Sufentanil, Alpha-methyl Thiofentanyl, 3-Methylthiofentanyl, Remifentanil, Sufentanyl and Thiofentanyl. Para-fluorofentanyl is in serial 6 instead.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Fentanyl sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and fentanyl is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Fentanyl in Bangladesh, full detail →

GBL

Legal status: Gamma-butyrolactone is not named. GHB is, in Class 'kha' at serial 4 as «GHB [Gama-Hydroxybutyric Acid]», and GBL is its lactone, which converts to GHB in the body. Class 'kha' serial 5 reaches «উপজাত দ্রব্য অথবা যৌগ কিংবা উহাদের হইতে উদ্ভুত অথবা প্রস্তুতকৃত কোনো পদার্থ» of serial 4, the by-products, compounds and derived or prepared substances, and section 2(2) separately defines an agonist as a substance that acts like a scheduled narcotic in producing an addictive psychoactive response even though its chemical structure is not similar.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Gamma-butyrolactone sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 5 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 30 covers Class 'kha' serial 5 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 31 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 3 kilogrammes or litres is 1 to 3 years, above 3 and up to 10 kilogrammes or litres is 3 to 7 years, above 10 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and gamma-butyrolactone is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

GBL in Bangladesh, full detail →

GHB

Legal status: GHB is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule as «GHB [Gama-Hydroxybutyric Acid]», between Fenproporex and Mazindol.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. GHB sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and GHB is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

GHB in Bangladesh, full detail →

Heroin

Legal status: Heroin is named in Class 'ka' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, after Etrophine and before Acetyl dihydrocodeine, and the gazette prints it in bold. Serial 4 is one of the three capital entries in the whole schedule.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Heroin sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and heroin is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Heroin in Bangladesh, full detail →

Hydrocodone

Legal status: Hydrocodone is named in Class 'ka' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, after Acetyl dihydrocodeine and before Di-hydrocodone. Hydrocodone bitartrate is separately named in serial 6, a difference in class between the free base and one of its salts that the Act does not explain.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Hydrocodone sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and hydrocodone is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Hydrocodone in Bangladesh, full detail →

Ketamine

Legal status: Ketamine is named in Class 'ka' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, between Hydromorphine and Mitragynine. Serial 4 is one of the three capital entries in the whole schedule, so ketamine in Bangladesh sits in the same tier as heroin and cocaine, not in the lighter psychotropic tiers it occupies in most jurisdictions.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Ketamine sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and ketamine is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Ketamine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Khat

Legal status: Khat is covered by the Act, named as the Act's own worked example in Class 'kha' serial 2. That serial covers «নেশার উৎসরূপে ব্যবহৃত হইতে পারে কিংবা আসক্তি সৃষ্টিতে সক্ষম যে কোনো উদ্ভিদ (ক শ্রেণিতে উল্লিখিত উদ্ভিদ ব্যতীত) এবং উহাদের শাখা প্রশাখা, পাতা, ফল, ফুল, বীজ কিংবা নির্যাস যাহা নেশা ও আসক্তি সৃষ্টিতে সক্ষম (যেমন-খাত, ইত্যাদি)», any plant other than a Class 'ka' plant usable as a source of intoxication or capable of producing addiction, and its branches, leaves, fruit, flower, seed or extract, giving khat as the example. The plant's two alkaloids are in different classes: Cathinone is Class 'ka' serial 6 and Cathine is Class 'kha' serial 4.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Khat sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 2 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 20 covers Class 'kha' serial 2 under either limb of section 9(1): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 3 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes is 3 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. Rows 21 and 22 cover consumption at 3 months to 2 years and patronage at 1 to 7 years. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and khat is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it there. That is true of the plant entry and not of the plant's principal alkaloid. Cathinone is named in Class 'ka' at serial 6, which IS capital: death or life above 25 grammes or millilitres under table row 11 and above 50 under row 12. Section 2(29)(b) makes a mixture a narcotic in its entirety, so fresh khat leaf carrying cathinone is reachable as a Class 'ka' serial 6 narcotic by the weight of the whole leaf rather than by its alkaloid content. That reading is available on the words and no Bangladeshi decision testing it was found. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 2, and section 36 table row 20 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated October 8, 2026

Khat in Bangladesh, full detail →

Kratom

Legal status: Kratom the plant is not named, but its two principal alkaloids are, and in the heaviest class: Mitragynine and Mitraphylline are both in Class 'ka' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, alongside heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. Section 2(29)(b) then carries that to the leaf: «মাদকদ্রব্যের সহিত অন্য যে-কোনো দ্রব্য একীভূত, মিশ্রিত, কিংবা দ্রবীভূত থাকিলে উহাদের সমুদয় কোনো দ্রব্য», where any other substance is combined, mixed or dissolved with a narcotic, the entirety is a narcotic. Class 'kha' serial 2 would otherwise have caught the plant, but it excludes plants named in Class 'ka'.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Kratom sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and kratom is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Kratom in Bangladesh, full detail →

Lorazepam

Legal status: Lorazepam is named in Class 'ga' at serial 3 of the First Schedule, between Loprazolam and Lormetazepam.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Lorazepam sits in Class 'ga', the lightest class, at serial 3 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 33 covers Class 'ga' serial 3 under either limb of section 9(1): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 3 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 3 to 5 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, with a fine at every tier. Seven years is the ceiling for this class. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and lorazepam is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ga', serial 3, and section 36 table row 33 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Lorazepam in Bangladesh, full detail →

LSD

Legal status: LSD is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule three times over, as «(+Lysergide)», as «Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)» and as «LSD-25». Lysergic acid, the precursor, is separately in Class 'ka' at serial 8.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. LSD sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and LSD is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

LSD in Bangladesh, full detail →

MDA

Legal status: MDA is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule as «MDA [Alpha-methyl-3,4-(methylenedioxy)phenethylamine]», with N-hydroxy MDA and MDE, N-ethylMDA, in the same serial. MMDA, a different substance, appears both in that serial and in Class 'ka' serial 6, and a search that matches on the letters MDA will find MMDA in the heavier class and read it as this one.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. MDA sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and MDA is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

MDA in Bangladesh, full detail →

MDMA

Legal status: MDMA is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule as «MDMA [(±)-N,alpha-dimethyl-3,4-(methylphenedioxy) phenethylamine]», between MDE and Mescaline.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. MDMA sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and MDMA is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

MDMA in Bangladesh, full detail →

Mescaline

Legal status: Mescaline is named twice, in two different classes, and the Act does not say which governs. Class 'ka' serial 6 of the First Schedule names «Mescaline» between Meperdine and Metameprodine. Class 'kha' serial 4 names «Mescaline» again, between MDMA and 4-Methyl aminorex. Class 'ka' serial 6 is capital above 25 grammes and Class 'kha' serial 4 has a maximum of ten years, so the two readings are a long way apart. Psilocine is duplicated across the same two serials in the same way.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Mescaline sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 6 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and mescaline is in one of them: serial 6, at table rows 11 and 12. Row 11, for section 9(1)(a) conduct: up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 5 and up to 25 is 5 to 10 years, and «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড ও অর্থদণ্ড», death or life above 25 grammes or millilitres. Row 12, for section 9(1)(b) conduct: up to 10 is 1 to 5 years, above 10 and up to 50 is 5 to 10 years, and death or life above 50 grammes or millilitres. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. This cell takes the Class 'ka' serial 6 entry rather than the Class 'kha' serial 4 entry. That is a choice, not a reading, because the schedule names mescaline in both and gives no rule for choosing, and it errs deliberately towards the severe side: a reader who plans around a ten year maximum and meets serial 6 is in far worse trouble than one who plans around the death penalty and meets serial 4. No Bangladeshi decision choosing between the two entries was found. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 6, and section 36 table rows 11 and 12 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Mescaline in Bangladesh, full detail →

Methadone

Legal status: Methadone is named in Class 'ka' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, after Mitraphylline and before Benzyl Morphine, with Acetyl-methadol, Acetyl Methadol, Alpha cetyl Methadol, Beta Acetyl Methadol and Alphamethadol. Methadone intermediate is in serial 6 instead, and Isomethadone, Noracymethadol and Normethadone are also in serial 6.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Methadone sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and methadone is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Methadone in Bangladesh, full detail →

Methamphetamine

Legal status: Methamphetamine is named in Class 'ka' at serial 5 of the First Schedule as «Metamphetamine», with «Methyl Amphetamine» given as the alternative name and «Metamphetamine racemate» named separately. Yaba, the methamphetamine and caffeine tablet, is not named as such; section 2(29)(b) makes the whole tablet a narcotic where methamphetamine is mixed into it, so a tablet is weighed whole.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Methamphetamine sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 5 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and methamphetamine is in one of them: serial 5, at table rows 9 and 10. The two limbs of section 9 carry different thresholds here, which no secondary account of this Act reproduces. Row 9, for section 9(1)(a) conduct: up to 100 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 100 and up to 200 is 5 to 10 years, and «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২০০ গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or life above 200 grammes or millilitres. Row 10, for section 9(1)(b) conduct: up to 200 is 1 to 5 years, above 200 and up to 400 is 5 to 10 years, and death or life above 400 grammes or millilitres. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 5, and section 36 table rows 9 and 10 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Methamphetamine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Methaqualone (Quaaludes)

Legal status: Methaqualone is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, immediately after Mecloqualone, which is named in the same serial.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Methaqualone sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and methaqualone is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Methaqualone (Quaaludes) in Bangladesh, full detail →

Methylphenidate

Legal status: Methylphenidate is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, spelled «Methylphenedate» in the gazette, between Methaqualone and Phenmetrazine. The misspelling is the schedule's own and a search on the correct spelling returns nothing.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Methylphenidate sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and methylphenidate is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Methylphenidate in Bangladesh, full detail →

Mitragynine

Legal status: Mitragynine is named in Class 'ka' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, between Ketamine and Mitraphylline, which is also named there. This puts the principal kratom alkaloid in the same serial as heroin, cocaine and fentanyl, and in the heaviest capital tier the Act has.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Mitragynine sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and mitragynine is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Mitragynine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Morphine

Legal status: Morphine is named in Class 'ka' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, with Benzyl Morphine, Normorphine and Hydromorphine in the same serial. Several other morphine compounds sit one class lower in Class 'ka' serial 6, among them Benzylmorphine spelled as one word, Desomorphine, Dihydromorphine, Ethylmorphine, Hydromorphone, Hydromorphinol, Nicomorphine, Morphine-N-oxide and morphine methobromide.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Morphine sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and morphine is in one of them: serial 4, at table rows 7 and 8. Row 7 covers section 9(1)(a) conduct and row 8 covers section 9(1)(b) conduct, and both read the same at limb (c): «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ (পঁচিশ) গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড এবং অর্থদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life and a fine where the quantity is above 25 grammes or millilitres. Below that, above 5 and up to 25 grammes or millilitres is 5 to 10 years, and up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, each with a fine. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 7 and 8 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Morphine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Nicotine

Legal status: Nicotine is not a narcotic under this Act and the narcotics regime does not reach it. The only place nicotine appears in the whole First Schedule is inside the definition of something else: the schedule's Explanation at clause (গ) says «শিশা (Shisha) অর্থ বিভিন্ন ধরনের ভেষজের নির্যাস সহযোগে ০.২%-এর ঊর্ধ্বে নিকোটিন এবং এসেন্স ক্যারামেল মিশ্রিত ফ্রুট ফ্লেভার সহযোগে তৈরি যে-কোনো পদার্থ», shisha means any substance made with herbal extracts carrying more than 0.2 percent nicotine together with essence, caramel and fruit flavour. Shisha itself is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4. Nicotine on its own, and nicotine replacement products, are named nowhere.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. This substance is in no serial of the First Schedule that could be identified, so no row of the section 36 table can be matched to it and no penalty range is stated here. Do not read that as permission. Section 65 lets the Government add a name to any schedule by notification in the official Gazette at any time, and Class 'ka' serial 7, Class 'kha' serial 5 and Class 'ga' serial 4 each sweep in the derivatives, alkaloids, salts, isomers, analogues and agonists of the substances above them. No quantity threshold applies to nicotine because no schedule entry was matched to it, and the death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole schedule: Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6. Nothing in Class 'kha' or Class 'ga' is capital under that table, and neither is Class 'ka' serial 1, 2, 3, 7 or 8. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. So a substance outside the schedule is outside the section 36 table, and would only reach the capital tier if a court read it into one of those three serials through the derivative and analogue clauses.
If prescribed / medical: Not a controlled medicine under this Act. The prescription machinery of sections 9(3), 12 and 13 applies to a narcotic, meaning something in the First Schedule, and this substance is not in it.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule read in full, all three classes, and section 36 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Nicotine in Bangladesh, full detail →

Nimetazepam

Legal status: Nimetazepam is named in Class 'ga' at serial 3 of the First Schedule, between Midazolam and Nitrazepam.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Nimetazepam sits in Class 'ga', the lightest class, at serial 3 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 33 covers Class 'ga' serial 3 under either limb of section 9(1): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 3 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 3 to 5 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, with a fine at every tier. Seven years is the ceiling for this class. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and nimetazepam is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ga', serial 3, and section 36 table row 33 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Nimetazepam in Bangladesh, full detail →

Opium

Legal status: Opium is placed in Class 'ka' of the First Schedule by two entries of its own, and neither is capital. Class 'ka' serial 1 is «অপিয়াম পপি গাছ, অপিয়াম পপি ফল, কিংবা অপিয়াম পপির অঙ্কুরোদগম উপযোগী বীজ», the opium poppy plant, its fruit and germination-capable seed. Class 'ka' serial 3 is «অপিয়াম ফল নিঃসৃত আঠাল পদার্থ, পরিশোধিত অথবা অপরিশোধিত কিংবা প্রস্তুতকৃত যে-কোনো ধরনের আফিম কিংবা আফিম সহযোগে তৈরি আসক্তি সৃষ্টিতে সক্ষম যে-কোনো পদার্থ», the gum exuded from the opium fruit, refined or unrefined or prepared opium of any kind, and anything made with opium capable of producing addiction. Omnopone and Oripavine, both opium products, are in Class 'ka' serial 6, which is capital.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Opium sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 3 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 6 covers opium gum and prepared opium: up to 10 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 10 and up to 50 is 5 to 10 years, above 50 is 10 to 15 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and opium is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 3, and section 36 table row 6 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated October 8, 2026

Opium in Bangladesh, full detail →

Oxycodone

Legal status: Oxycodone is named in Class 'ka' at serial 6 of the First Schedule, between Oripavine and Oxymorphone. Serial 6 is capital, and oxycodone sits in it rather than in the lighter classes.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Oxycodone sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 6 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and oxycodone is in one of them: serial 6, at table rows 11 and 12. Row 11, for section 9(1)(a) conduct: up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 5 and up to 25 is 5 to 10 years, and «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড ও অর্থদণ্ড», death or life above 25 grammes or millilitres. Row 12, for section 9(1)(b) conduct: up to 10 is 1 to 5 years, above 10 and up to 50 is 5 to 10 years, and death or life above 50 grammes or millilitres. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 6, and section 36 table rows 11 and 12 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Oxycodone in Bangladesh, full detail →

PCP

Legal status: PCP is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule as «PCP [Phencyclidine]», with PCE and Eticyclidine named in the same serial. Three related arylcyclohexylamines are in a heavier class instead: Eticyclidine, Rolicyclidine and Tenocyclidine all appear in Class 'ka' serial 6 as well, and Eticyclidine is therefore in two classes at once.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. PCP sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and PCP is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

PCP in Bangladesh, full detail →

Peyote

Legal status: Peyote is not named, and neither is Lophophora williamsii. Mescaline, its principal alkaloid, is named twice: in Class 'ka' at serial 6 and again in Class 'kha' at serial 4. Section 2(29)(b) carries the classification to the cactus: «মাদকদ্রব্যের সহিত অন্য যে-কোনো দ্রব্য একীভূত, মিশ্রিত, কিংবা দ্রবীভূত থাকিলে উহাদের সমুদয় কোনো দ্রব্য», where any other substance is combined, mixed or dissolved with a narcotic, the entirety is a narcotic. Class 'kha' serial 2 would reach the plant on its own terms but excludes plants named in Class 'ka'.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Peyote sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 6 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and peyote is in one of them: serial 6, at table rows 11 and 12. Row 11, for section 9(1)(a) conduct: up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 5 and up to 25 is 5 to 10 years, and «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড ও অর্থদণ্ড», death or life above 25 grammes or millilitres. Row 12, for section 9(1)(b) conduct: up to 10 is 1 to 5 years, above 10 and up to 50 is 5 to 10 years, and death or life above 50 grammes or millilitres. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. This cell takes the Class 'ka' serial 6 entry for mescaline rather than the Class 'kha' serial 4 entry, and then carries it to the cactus through the mixture rule. Both steps are inferential and both err deliberately towards the severe side. The schedule names mescaline twice and gives no rule for choosing, and it names neither peyote nor Lophophora williamsii at all. No Bangladeshi decision on either step was found. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 6, and section 36 table rows 11 and 12 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Peyote in Bangladesh, full detail →

Pink Cocaine / Tusi

Legal status: Pink cocaine is a mixture and the Act has an express mixture rule, which is the whole answer here. Section 2(29)(b) provides that a narcotic means «মাদকদ্রব্যের সহিত অন্য যে-কোনো দ্রব্য একীভূত, মিশ্রিত, কিংবা দ্রবীভূত থাকিলে উহাদের সমুদয় কোনো দ্রব্য», where any other substance is combined, mixed or dissolved with a narcotic, the entirety of it. So the powder is a narcotic whole and is weighed whole, whatever the proportions. What it usually contains decides the class: ketamine is Class 'ka' serial 4, MDMA and MDA are Class 'kha' serial 4, methamphetamine is Class 'ka' serial 5, cocaine is Class 'ka' serial 4, and caffeine in a solid is outside the schedule altogether. The name has no legal meaning in Bangladesh and the analysis is of the contents.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Pink cocaine sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and pink cocaine is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it there. That is true only of the entry its commonest ingredients sit in, and the mixture rule makes the rest of it dangerous. Ketamine and cocaine are both Class 'ka' serial 4, which IS capital at death or life above 25 grammes or millilitres under table rows 7 and 8, and methamphetamine is Class 'ka' serial 5. Because section 2(29)(b) makes the entirety of a mixture a narcotic, a 30 gramme bag of pink cocaine containing any ketamine is 30 grammes of a Class 'ka' serial 4 narcotic and is over the capital threshold, not 30 grammes of a mixture to be assayed. The name has no legal meaning and the contents decide everything. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Pink Cocaine / Tusi in Bangladesh, full detail →

Psilocybin

Legal status: Psilocybin is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule as «Psilocybine», between Psilocine and Rolicyclidine. Psilocin, which is what psilocybin becomes in the body, is named in two classes at once: in Class 'kha' serial 4 alongside psilocybin, and again in Class 'ka' serial 6 as «Psilocine» and «Psilotsin». The mushroom itself is not named, but section 2(29)(b) makes a mixture a narcotic in its entirety.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Psilocybin sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and psilocybin is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it there. That is true of psilocybin itself and not of psilocin. Psilocine and Psilotsin are named in Class 'ka' at serial 6, which IS capital: death or life above 25 grammes or millilitres under table row 11 and above 50 under row 12. Psilocin is also named in Class 'kha' serial 4 alongside psilocybin, so the same substance sits in two classes and the Act does not say which governs. Since psilocybin becomes psilocin in the body and a mushroom contains both, the harsher entry is reachable on the face of the schedule. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Psilocybin in Bangladesh, full detail →

Salvia divinorum

Legal status: Salvinorin A is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, between Pyrovalerone and Synthetic Canabinoids. The plant Salvia divinorum is not named, but Class 'kha' serial 2 reaches any plant, other than a Class 'ka' plant, usable as a source of intoxication or capable of producing addiction, together with its leaves and extract, and section 2(29)(b) makes a salvinorin-containing preparation a narcotic in its entirety.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Salvia divinorum sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and Salvia divinorum is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Salvia divinorum in Bangladesh, full detail →

Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice)

Legal status: Synthetic cannabinoids are caught as a class, named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, spelled «Synthetic Canabinoids», between Salvinorin A and Tramadol. Naming the class rather than the compounds means a new synthetic cannabinoid is caught on the day it appears without any amendment, and Class 'kha' serial 5 adds the derivatives, analogues and agonists on top of that. Section 36(11), added in 2026, requires law enforcement to notify the Department the moment a new psychoactive substance is identified and the Department to issue an early warning.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. The synthetic cannabinoids sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and the synthetic cannabinoids is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated October 8, 2026

Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice) in Bangladesh, full detail →

THC-P

Legal status: THC-P is not named. Class 'ka' serial 6 of the First Schedule names «Tetrahydrocanabinol» with no delta specified, no chain length specified and no exclusion, and THC-P is tetrahydrocannabiphorol, a tetrahydrocannabinol with a seven carbon side chain. On the face of the words it reads onto the entry, and Class 'ka' serial 7 reaches the analogues and homologues of serial 6 in any event. The same conflict arises as for the other cannabinoids: Dronabinol is named separately in the lighter Class 'kha' serial 4. No Bangladeshi decision testing either reading was found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: section 36, table rows 7 to 12, which are class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 only. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: section 36 was read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026. Its table carries the death penalty on rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else, and those six rows draw their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, at more than 25 g or ml for serial 4, more than 200 g and more than 400 g for serial 5, and more than 25 g and more than 50 g for serial 6. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under that serial is carried from the published entry; the First Schedule itself was not read in this pass. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. THC-P sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 6 of the First Schedule. Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6 are the only three entries in the entire First Schedule that section 36 makes capital, and THC-P is in one of them: serial 6, at table rows 11 and 12. Row 11, for section 9(1)(a) conduct: up to 5 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 5 and up to 25 is 5 to 10 years, and «মাদকদ্রব্যের পরিমাণ ২৫ গ্রাম অথবা মিলিলিটারের ঊর্ধ্বে হইলে মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড ও অর্থদণ্ড», death or life above 25 grammes or millilitres. Row 12, for section 9(1)(b) conduct: up to 10 is 1 to 5 years, above 10 and up to 50 is 5 to 10 years, and death or life above 50 grammes or millilitres. Death is not mandatory. The table offers «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or imprisonment for life, as alternatives, and section 36(7), added in 2026, lets the court or the Narcotics Offences Suppression Tribunal take account of the offender's age, character, antecedents and physical and mental condition and of any mitigating circumstance, and apply the Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960 where appropriate. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass from the Bengali text of section 36, read at bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd on 21 September 2026 in the Ministry of Law's consolidation, whose footnotes cite the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act 101 of 2026. The table carries «মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড», death or life imprisonment, at limb (গ) of rows 7 to 12 and nowhere else. Rows 7 and 8 take their substance from First Schedule class 'ka' serial 4 above 25 g or ml, rows 9 and 10 from serial 5 above 200 g and above 400 g, and rows 11 and 12 from serial 6 above 25 g and above 50 g. Rows 1 to 6, which are the opium poppy and coca entries at serials 1, 2 and 3, carry no death at any tier. [Likely] That this substance is one of the entries under serial 4, 5 or 6 is carried from the entry published before this batch. The First Schedule was sought on three routes in this pass and none of them carried it, so the membership on which this row's capital exposure depends is stated rather than confirmed.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ka', serial 6, and section 36 table rows 11 and 12 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

THC-P in Bangladesh, full detail →

Tobacco

Legal status: Tobacco is not a narcotic under this Act and the narcotics regime does not reach it. It is named nowhere in the First Schedule, and neither is nicotine except inside the definition of shisha, which the schedule's Explanation at clause (গ) defines as a substance made with herbal extracts carrying more than 0.2 percent nicotine with essence, caramel and fruit flavour. Shisha is Class 'kha' serial 4; a cigarette is not. Tobacco in Bangladesh is regulated outside this Act, and this cell does not state which instrument does it because none was read.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. This substance is in no serial of the First Schedule that could be identified, so no row of the section 36 table can be matched to it and no penalty range is stated here. Do not read that as permission. Section 65 lets the Government add a name to any schedule by notification in the official Gazette at any time, and Class 'ka' serial 7, Class 'kha' serial 5 and Class 'ga' serial 4 each sweep in the derivatives, alkaloids, salts, isomers, analogues and agonists of the substances above them. No quantity threshold applies to tobacco because no schedule entry was matched to it, and the death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole schedule: Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6. Nothing in Class 'kha' or Class 'ga' is capital under that table, and neither is Class 'ka' serial 1, 2, 3, 7 or 8. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. So a substance outside the schedule is outside the section 36 table, and would only reach the capital tier if a court read it into one of those three serials through the derivative and analogue clauses.
If prescribed / medical: Not a controlled medicine under this Act. The prescription machinery of sections 9(3), 12 and 13 applies to a narcotic, meaning something in the First Schedule, and this substance is not in it.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule read in full, all three classes, and section 36 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Tobacco in Bangladesh, full detail →

Tramadol

Legal status: Tramadol is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4 of the First Schedule, between Synthetic Canabinoids and Caffeine. It is the only common prescription opioid the schedule puts in Class 'kha'; codeine, buprenorphine, methadone, morphine and hydrocodone are all in Class 'ka' serial 4 and oxycodone is in Class 'ka' serial 6.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Tramadol sits in Class 'kha', the middle class, at serial 4 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 28 covers Class 'kha' serial 4 under section 9(1)(a) at a flat 1 to 7 years. Row 29 covers section 9(1)(b), (c) or (d): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 5 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 7 to 10 years, with a fine at every tier. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and tramadol is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'kha', serial 4, and section 36 table rows 28 and 29 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Tramadol in Bangladesh, full detail →

Xanax (Alprazolam)

Legal status: Alprazolam is named in Class 'ga' at serial 3 of the First Schedule, the second entry in a list of about forty benzodiazepines and related hypnotics that runs from Flunitrazepam to Zolpidem. Class 'ga' is the lightest of the three classes.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Alprazolam sits in Class 'ga', the lightest class, at serial 3 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 33 covers Class 'ga' serial 3 under either limb of section 9(1): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 3 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 3 to 5 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, with a fine at every tier. Seven years is the ceiling for this class. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and alprazolam is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ga', serial 3, and section 36 table row 33 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Xanax (Alprazolam) in Bangladesh, full detail →

Zolpidem

Legal status: Zolpidem is named last in Class 'ga' at serial 3 of the First Schedule, after Vinylbital, which is also named in Class 'kha' serial 4.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. Zolpidem sits in Class 'ga', the lightest class, at serial 3 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 33 covers Class 'ga' serial 3 under either limb of section 9(1): up to 1 kilogramme or litre is 1 to 3 years, above 1 and up to 5 kilogrammes or litres is 3 to 5 years, above 5 kilogrammes or litres is 5 to 7 years, with a fine at every tier. Seven years is the ceiling for this class. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and zolpidem is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4.
If prescribed / medical: Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.
Documentation: Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

Bangladesh, Narcotics Control Act 2018, Act No. 63 of 2018, assented 14 November 2018 and in force from 27 December 2018 by S.R.O. No. 362-Law/2018 of 10 December 2018, as amended by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2020, Act No. 26 of 2020, and the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026, Act No. 101 of 2026 of 16 July 2026 · First Schedule, Class 'ga', serial 3, and section 36 table row 33 · the Bengali text is the authentic one and section 70(2) gives it priority over any English translation, so this cell was read in Bengali and no translation was relied on · sections read from the consolidated Act at http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-print-1276.html, which does not carry the schedules · the First Schedule read from the Bangladesh Gazette, Extraordinary, 14 November 2018, pages 15051 to 15056, reached through the Department of Narcotics Control's own law page at https://dnc.jhalakathi.gov.bd/pages/law-policy/6978735335ce18e1c0660a39 · read as at 2026-09-17, on which date neither amending Act contained the word তপশিল and the Department's own list of ten instruments carried no schedule amendment, so the First Schedule stands as enacted · Updated September 21, 2026

Zolpidem in Bangladesh, full detail →

Not individually verified

31 substances are not individually verified for Bangladesh

For these the governing national drug law is cited, but we have not verified that the substance specifically is scheduled under it. Treat them as unanswered, not as legal. Confirm with Bangladesh’s drug authority or your embassy.

Substance	What we found
2-FDCK	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. 2-FDCK is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Ketamine is, in Class 'ka' at serial 4...
25I-NBOMe	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. 25I-NBOMe is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Searched, on 2026-09-17: the full...
2C-B	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. 2C-B is named nowhere in the First Schedule. The near miss matters and it is the trap...
2C-E	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. 2C-E is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Searched, on 2026-09-17: the full First...
2C-I	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. 2C-I is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Searched, on 2026-09-17: the full First...
2C-T-7	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. 2C-T-7 is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Searched, on 2026-09-17: the full First...
3-MMC	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. 3-MMC is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Methcathinone and Cathinone are, both in...
4-HO-MET	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. 4-HO-MET is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Psilocine is, in Class 'ka' at serial...
5-MeO-DMT (Bufo / Toad)	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. 5-MeO-DMT is named nowhere in the First Schedule. DMT is, in Class 'kha' at serial 4...
6-APB	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. 6-APB is named nowhere in the First Schedule. MDA is, in Class 'kha' at serial 4, and...
Amanita muscaria	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Amanita muscaria is named nowhere, and neither muscimol nor ibotenic acid is named....
Amyl Nitrite	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Amyl nitrite is named nowhere in the First Schedule, and no alkyl nitrite of any kind...
Cannabinol	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Cannabinol is named nowhere. The nearby entries are not it. Class 'ka' serial 6 names...
CBD	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Cannabidiol is named nowhere in the First Schedule and there is no cannabidiol...
Etizolam	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Etizolam is named nowhere in the First Schedule. It is a thienotriazolodiazepine, a...
Gabapentin	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Gabapentin is named nowhere in the First Schedule, and neither is pregabalin....
HHC	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Hexahydrocannabinol is named nowhere. Class 'ka' serial 6 names «Tetrahydrocanabinol»...
LSA (Morning Glory)	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Lysergic acid amide is named nowhere in the First Schedule, under that name or as...
MDPV	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. MDPV is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Pyrovalerone is, in Class 'kha' at serial...
Memantine	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Memantine is named nowhere in the First Schedule, and neither is amantadine. Searched...
Mephedrone (4-MMC)	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Mephedrone is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Methcathinone and Cathinone are...
Methylone	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Methylone is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Methcathinone is, in Class 'ka' at...
Modafinil	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Modafinil is named nowhere in the First Schedule, and neither is armodafinil or...
MXE	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Methoxetamine is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Ketamine is, in Class 'ka' at...
Nitrous Oxide	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Nitrous oxide is named nowhere in the First Schedule, and no inhalant or gas of any...
Phenibut	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Phenibut is named nowhere in the First Schedule. Searched, on 2026-09-17: the full...
Poppers	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Poppers are named nowhere in the First Schedule. No alkyl nitrite of any kind appears...
Pregabalin	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Pregabalin is named nowhere in the First Schedule, and neither is gabapentin....
Quetiapine	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Quetiapine is named nowhere in the First Schedule, and no antipsychotic of any kind...
Scopolamine (Devil's Breath)	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Scopolamine is named nowhere in the First Schedule, under that name or as hyoscine...
Xylazine	Not confirmed for Bangladesh. Xylazine is named nowhere in the First Schedule, and no veterinary sedative of any...

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

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Verify current rules with the destination country’s official drug authority and your own country’s embassy before traveling. Find the destination’s U.S. embassy & official country guidance →
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