Is Benzodiazepines legal in Switzerland?

Legal status

Controlled by member, and in this table every member resolves to list b. The ordinance carries no class heading for benzodiazepines; it names compounds, and the source row records „Alprazolam; Clonazepam; Diazepam; Lorazepam“. Six members are answered individually elsewhere in this same table and all six sit in list b of BetmVV-EDI: alprazolam, clonazepam, diazepam, etizolam, lorazepam and nimetazepam. The class label covers the 1,4 and 1,5 benzodiazepine sedatives and hypnotics together with the thienodiazepine etizolam, which the ordinance names in its own right. A designer benzodiazepine that is not separately named is controlled only where one of the defined families in list e reaches it or an article 1(2) extension does, because resemblance to a named benzodiazepine is not itself a schedule rule.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Switzerland has no death penalty and the drug act authorises no life term, so a list b benzodiazepine carries the same 20 year ceiling as the rest of the schedule, set by BetmG article 19(2) for the aggravated forms and by StGB article 40 for the maximum itself. The list b placement is what decides the band, and the six members this table settles, alprazolam, clonazepam, diazepam, etizolam, lorazepam and nimetazepam, all sit there. An unnamed designer compound engages article 19 only where a defined family in list e or an article 1(2) extension catches it, so the member has to be identified before any figure is quoted. Unauthorised consumption is a separate offence under BetmG article 19a and is not silently treated as trafficking.

If prescribed or medical

Every benzodiazepine answered in this table sits in list b, so list b is the placement to attach to the country level rule. That rule is the personal use regime: BetmG article 19a keeps unauthorised consumption punishable, article 19b makes a negligible quantity prepared for one's own consumption nonpunishable, and article 19b(2) fixes the negligible quantity at 10 g of cannabis and at nothing else, so no stated margin exists for alprazolam, clonazepam, diazepam, etizolam, lorazepam or nimetazepam. No traveller certificate route for a prescribed list b medicine was established in this dossier.

Documentation

Carry a prescribed benzodiazepine in its original dispensing packaging with the prescription naming the compound, since Swiss control is by named member and the box is what shows whether the medicine is one of the list b entries. The provenance is BetmVV-EDI list b in the German consolidation dated 13 March 2026, read at Fedlex on 18 September 2026, cross read against the individual rows for alprazolam, clonazepam, diazepam, etizolam, lorazepam and nimetazepam in this same table; the source dossier marked the class not applicable, and that treatment is corrected here.

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