Are Barbiturates legal in Netherlands?

Also known as: barbs

Legal status

Controlled member by member, and not all on the same list. The class name barbiturates is not named in lijst I, lijst IA or lijst II. The live cell also recorded that they are regulated as medicines under the Geneesmiddelenwet, and that is carried forward from it and not verified here.

Consequences if caught

Lijst II names «allobarbital», «amobarbital», «barbital», «butalbital», «butobarbital», «cyclobarbital», «fenobarbital», «methylfenobarbital», «pentobarbital», «secbutabarbital» and «vinylbital». Lijst I names «secobarbital», so one member of the class sits on the hard drug list and attracts article 2 and article 10 while the others attract article 3 and article 11. Article 13 of the Opiumwetbesluit then lifts the presence, processing and preparation prohibitions from barbital and barbital preparations plainly intended for analytical chemical purposes. Use is not itself made an offence by the Opiumwet, which is why the Dutch position is often misread: article 2 and article 3 reach import, export, cultivation, preparation, sale, supply, transport, manufacture and presence, and presence is what a traveller carrying the substance has. Article 10 carries the penalties for lijst I. Intentionally having the substance present, the limb at article 2 under C, carries imprisonment of up to 6 years. Intentionally cultivating, preparing, processing, selling, delivering, supplying, transporting or manufacturing it, article 2 under B and D, carries up to 8 years. Intentionally bringing it into or out of Netherlands territory, article 2 under A, carries up to 12 years, so the trafficking and import limbs run from 8 to 12 years. Where the presence, or the bringing into or out of the territory, concerns a small quantity intended for own use, article 10, sixth limb, lowers the ceiling to 1 year or a fine of the third category; it does not reach the article 2 under B and D acts. The fine on the serious limbs is the fifth category, which the Criminal Code prints at 67.000 euro with an editorial note recording 110.000 euro from 1 January 2026. Article 11 carries the penalties for lijst II. Acting intentionally against article 3 under B, C or D carries imprisonment of up to 2 years, and up to 6 years where the person acts in the exercise of a profession or business. Intentionally bringing it into or out of the territory, article 3 under A, carries up to 4 years. Where the offence concerns a large quantity the two year and the four year cases both rise to 6 years. Article 1 of the Opiumwetbesluit fixes that large quantity at 500 gram hennep, 200 hennepplanten or 500 units of another lijst II substance. The fine is the fifth category, printed at 67.000 euro with an editorial note recording 110.000 euro from 1 January 2026. Article 2a carries the lijst IA prohibition and article 10b its penalties. Acting intentionally against it carries imprisonment of up to 6 years. Acting without intent carries hechtenis of up to 3 months. Where intentional import, export or presence concerns a small quantity for own use the ceiling is 6 months. Article 10c adds up to 3 years for preparatory acts. The fine is the fifth category on the intentional offence and the third category on the others, printed at 67.000 euro and 6.700 euro with editorial notes recording 110.000 euro and 11.000 euro from 1 January 2026. They describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play. The Aanwijzing Opiumwet of the Openbaar Ministerie is prosecution policy and not a statute. For lijst I it treats as a small quantity for own use one bolletje, one ampul, one wikkel or one pill or tablet, in any event a quantity of at most 0,5 gram, and for GHB one consumption unit of 5 ml, with no targeted investigation and prosecution only in support of care. A tolerated quantity is not a lawful one. This is stated as at the Opiumwet consolidation in force from 17 September 2026, read at wetten.overheid.nl on 22 September 2026, and it does not rule out a later amendment. The live cell recorded the lijst II tier as the Dutch transposition of the 1971 Convention. That attribution is carried forward from it and not verified here.

If prescribed or medical

Bijlage 1 to the Opiumwetbesluit admits the lijst II substances as a class, with hasjiesj excepted, so article 2 of that decree leaves a lawful prescription route open where an authorised medicinal product exists. Carry it in its original packaging with the prescription. For Schengen travel the route is the article 75 certificate issued via the CAK, valid 30 days and covering up to 4 Schengen countries, with a legalised medical certificate valid 1 year beyond Schengen.

Documentation

Carry the Schengen Article 75 certificate and prescription, in original packaging, roughly a ≤3-month supply.

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