Are Benzodiazepines legal in Bahrain?

Legal status

Controlled. The benzodiazepines are reached through their members, thirty of which are listed individually in that table, with flunitrazepam one table higher in Group II Schedule 3. The entry relied on reads «ALPRAZOLAM; DIAZEPAM; CLONAZEPAM; LORAZEPAM; MIDAZOLAM; NITRAZEPAM; OXAZEPAM; TEMAZEPAM; TRIAZOLAM» in Group II Schedule 4 of the annex, in Bahrain's Law 15 of 2007. Under their own names they are not named in any of the twelve tables, so the answer here rests on that other entry rather than on a listing of their own.

Consequences if caught

Article 34 of Law 15 of 2007 punishes trafficking and the related commercial conduct in the psychotropic substances of Group II Schedules 2, 3 and 4 by imprisonment of not more than five years. The same article adds a fine of not more than 3,000 Bahraini dinars. Article 35 sets not more than six months for the same conduct done for personal use or without payment, with a fine of not more than 100 dinars. The Law states no quantity threshold anywhere, and no table states one for The benzodiazepines. Article 50 of the Penal Code, Decree-Law No. 15 of 1976, puts civil deprivation of 1 to 3 years on a misdemeanour, which is the tier Article 35 sits in, while Article 49 puts civil deprivation of 3 to 15 years on a felony. Bahrain's published drug penalties also include Article 30, which carries death or life imprisonment with a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 dinars, and Article 30(b), which makes the penalty death in five listed cases; but this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Bahrain's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure. Article 51 makes confiscation of the substance, the equipment and any vehicle prepared for the purpose mandatory in every case. Article 54 lets the court add permanent deportation of a foreign national to the sentence. Bahraini courts have passed drug death sentences, including in a 2019 smuggling case, and executions for drug offences have not been carried out, sentences being commonly commuted; that last point is carried forward from the cell this replaces and was not re-derived here.

If prescribed or medical

The benzodiazepines is dispensable in Bahrain only against a prescription on a Ministry of Health form under Article 23 of Law 15 of 2007, and that prescription is valid for seven days for a psychotropic substance rather than the three days a Group I narcotic gets. Article 24 requires a prescription covering more than a month of use to be dispensed in two instalments. A patient who has been treated abroad may bring in a treatment quantity of a Group II substance for not more than one week from the date of entry, under Article 26(c), against a prescription approved by the competent authorities in the country of treatment.

Documentation

The version read for this cell is the annex to Law 15 of 2007 as printed in Official Gazette 2804 of 16 August 2007 at pages 20 to 34, together with the publisher's amendment register for the Law, which on 22 September 2026 listed exactly three amendments and showed a site update of 17 September 2026. The register does not certify that no other instrument exists, so the consolidation is silent on that stronger point. The power that moves these tables is article 4 of the Law, which lets the Council of Ministers add to the attached schedules or change their percentages on the Minister's proposal after a committee of specialists approves, so the list can move without a new Law and all three amendments so far were made that way. The twelve tables reproduce the convention lists: the Group I Schedule 3 heading names Schedule III of the 1961 Convention in its English line and the 1971 Convention in its Arabic line, which is a mismatch inside the Gazette itself, Group II carries the four schedules of the 1971 Convention, and Group III mirrors the two tables of the 1988 Convention down to the note excluding the salts of hydrochloric and sulphuric acid. All twelve tables were read and the name The benzodiazepines is not printed in any of them; the placement stated above is through the entry quoted, not through an entry bearing this row's own name. The terms searched were benzodiazepines, benzodiazepine. That sub-claim is stated as those schedules stand after Decision 14 of 2020, the last of the three amendments on the publisher's register for this Law, read on 22 September 2026. The group and schedule placement stated here is not printed in the quotation column of the dossier this lane was given: that column carries a bare entry name on its placement rows and a synthesised Arabic search record on its absence rows, and no group marker on any of its 88 rows, so every placement in this batch was read from the Gazette annex page instead. Bahrain's drug law carries capital exposure, and which offences reach it is set out in the street section of this cell rather than recited as a general fact about the country.

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