Are Barbiturates legal in Cyprus?

Legal status

Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law of 1977 (Law No. 29/1977, as amended; Classes A/B/C). Barbiturates are controlled member by member, most named ones as Class C drugs, secobarbital as Class B, and phenobarbital and barbital not at all: barbiturates are a family answered member by member. Part III, Class C of the First Schedule to the Law as substituted by the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Controlled Drugs) (Amending) Order of 2025, K.Δ.Π. 367/2025, published in Official Gazette No. 5985 on 5 December 2025 names «Amobarbital», «Butalbital», «Cyclobarbital» and «Pentobarbital»; Part II, Class B, names «Secobarbital»; phenobarbital and barbital are not named in any Part. Under section 30 and the Third Schedule, for a Class C barbiturate possession carries up to 4 years' imprisonment and possession with intent to supply, supply, production, import and export up to 8 years, and for secobarbital, Class B, up to 8 years and life respectively, in each case or a fine, or both; taking any controlled drug in any way is a section 10 offence carrying up to life imprisonment or a fine, or both, whatever its class.

Consequences if caught

Barbiturates are controlled in Cyprus under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law of 1977 (Law No. 29/1977, as amended), member by member: amobarbital, butalbital, cyclobarbital and pentobarbital in Part III, Class C, secobarbital in Part II, Class B, of the First Schedule to the Law as substituted by the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Controlled Drugs) (Amending) Order of 2025, K.Δ.Π. 367/2025, published in Official Gazette No. 5985 on 5 December 2025, while phenobarbital and barbital are not named. Section 30 and the Third Schedule set the penalties. Possessing a controlled drug, under section 6(2), carries up to 12 years' imprisonment for a Class A drug, 8 years for Class B and 4 years for Class C, or a fine, or both. Possessing one with intent to supply under section 6(3), producing or supplying it under section 5(2), and importing or exporting it under section 4(1) carry up to life imprisonment for Class A and Class B and up to 8 years for Class C, or a fine, or both. Section 10(δ) makes it an offence «να λαμβάνει με οποιοδήποτε τρόπο οποιοδήποτε ελεγχόμενο φάρμακο», to take any controlled drug in any way, and the general column of the Third Schedule sets life imprisonment or a fine, or both, for a section 10 offence whatever the class. The proviso to section 30(2) limits imprisonment to two years for a person convicted of an offence of use, possession or transport of a controlled drug for personal use who was under 25 when it was committed and has no previous conviction under the Law or its Regulations. Section 30A presumes, unless the person satisfies the court otherwise, that possession or transport was for supply at 30 g or more of cannabis or its derivatives, 10 g or more of prepared opium or prepared cocaine or their derivatives, or 20 g or more in solid form or 20 cubic centimetres or more in liquid form of any controlled drug, and that cultivation was for supply at three or more cannabis plants, twenty or more opium poppy plants or five or more coca plants. The Law provides no death sentence; the longest term in its Third Schedule is life imprisonment, and the EMCDDA's Cyprus Country Drug Report 2019 states that «a life term has never been imposed».

If prescribed or medical

Barbiturates are medicines, and the answer differs by member. For secobarbital, which K.Δ.Π. 282/2003 shows in the Third Schedule to the 1979 Regulations, regulation 9(2) lets any person possess it for administration for medical purposes in accordance with the directions of a doctor registered in Cyprus. Whether amobarbital, butalbital, cyclobarbital or pentobarbital are in the Second or Third Schedule to those Regulations was not established. Phenobarbital and barbital are not controlled drugs and are regulated as medicines. Under section 78(1) of the Medicinal Products for Human Use (Quality Control, Supply and Prices) Law of 2001 (Law 70(I)/2001), the Drugs Council classifies each product, when it grants the marketing authorisation, as one for which a medical prescription is required or is not required, and section 80 requires it to keep a list of prescription only products, ratified by Ministerial Order in the Gazette. That list was not read for this cell, so whether a particular phenobarbital product is prescription only in Cyprus is not stated here. Section 77 defines a medical prescription as one issued by a licensed health professional «είτε στη Δημοκρατία είτε σε άλλο κράτος μέλος», either in the Republic or in another member state. Cap. 254, the Pharmacy and Poisons Law, as printed in the CyLaw consolidation, lists barbituric acid derivatives in Part I of its First Schedule, the Poisons List. Section 21 lets a Part I poison be sold only by an authorised seller of poisons, on registered premises, by or under the supervision of a registered pharmacist, to a person certified or known to the seller, with an entry in the poisons book, and section 24 disapplies those rules for a medicine supplied by a duly qualified doctor for medical treatment. No possession offence was found in Part III of Cap. 254. Section 20 lets the Council of Ministers change the list by notice, so the consolidation may lag it.

Documentation

Part III of the First Schedule as substituted by K.Δ.Π. 367/2025 names «Amobarbital», «Butalbital», «Cyclobarbital» and «Pentobarbital», Part II names «Secobarbital», and searching for phenobarbital and barbital returned no entry, so those two are not controlled drugs under the Law as at that Order. Class C possession carries up to 4 years and supply up to 8 years; secobarbital, as Class B, carries up to 8 years for possession and life for supply. The Seventh Schedule to the 1979 Regulations, which lists phenobarbital among others, is a list of psychotropic substances whose customs clearance must be reported under regulation 20, not a list of controlled drugs. K.Δ.Π. 282/2003 inserted tramadol into the Third Schedule to the 1979 Regulations «αμέσως μετά τη λέξη «Secobarbital»», so secobarbital is in that Third Schedule. Cap. 254, the Pharmacy and Poisons Law, as printed in the CyLaw consolidation, lists «Βαρβιτουρικό οξύ· τα άλατα αυτού· παράγωγα βαρβιτουρικού οξέος», barbituric acid, its salts and its derivatives, in Part I of its First Schedule, the Poisons List. Section 21 lets a Part I poison be sold only by an authorised seller of poisons, on registered premises, by or under the supervision of a registered pharmacist, to a person certified or known to the seller, with an entry in the poisons book, and section 24 disapplies those rules for a medicine supplied by a duly qualified doctor for medical treatment. No possession offence was found in Part III of Cap. 254. Section 20 lets the Council of Ministers change the list by notice, so the consolidation may lag it. The Law is cited as Law 29/1977 because that is how the CyLaw consolidation and the Gazette print it; earlier text on this page gave it as 29(I)/1977. The CyLaw consolidation runs to Law 159(I)/2020, and K.Δ.Π. 367/2025 recites the Laws of 1977 to 2020. The First Schedule printed inside that consolidation is still the 1977 text and is not the list in force. This is stated as at K.Δ.Π. 367/2025, published on 5 December 2025. Paragraph 3 of that Order replaces the whole First Schedule and paragraph 4 revokes every earlier Controlled Drugs Order. It is the latest Controlled Drugs Order in the CyLaw index of regulatory administrative acts read on 4 October 2026, which lists acts published up to 25 September 2026, and section 3(2) of the Law lets the Council of Ministers amend the First Schedule by Order, so this does not rule out a later amendment.

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