Are Benzodiazepines legal in Ghana?

Legal status

Controlled, under two different instruments. One benzodiazepine is a narcotic drug: Fifth Schedule S of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) names «Flunitrazeparn (5-(o-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-ni-tro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one) and any of its salts or derivatives», as printed, so flunitrazepam carries the Act 1019 offences. The others found are not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule and are controlled substances for medical supply under the Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), which list alprazolam, bromazepam, chlordiazepoxide, clorazepate, diazepam, flurazepam, lorazepam, midazolam, nitrazepam, pinazepam, temazepam and triazolam under «Substances in Schedule IV (1971 Convention)» and define a psychotropic substance as one «listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention», which on the Green List 2024 takes in clonazepam, etizolam, nimetazepam and bromazolam too. Whether the «derivatives» limb of item S reaches any other benzodiazepine is not settled by any instrument or decision found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. For flunitrazepam the Act 1019 Second Schedule applies: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, and possession for trafficking, importation or prohibited business under sections 36 to 38, a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years; section 50 adds life imprisonment on a qualifying third conviction. For the guideline benzodiazepines, section 118(1) of Act 851 forbids importing, distributing, selling or supplying an unregistered drug, and section 129 punishes that by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read makes possession of a guideline benzodiazepine by a patient or user an offence.

If prescribed or medical

The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read.

Documentation

Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read. For flunitrazepam, section 36(1) of Act 1019 requires a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import it.

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