Is Cathinone legal in China?

Legal status

Controlled — cathinone (khat's natural principal alkaloid) is a 1971 Convention SCHEDULE I psychotropic and is a controlled psychotropic on China's non-medical narcotic/psychotropic catalogue. Mechanism: 1971 Sch-I transposition, named. As the parent compound it is DISTINCT from the khat PLANT (Catha edulis / 恰特草, separately added to the controlled catalogue in 2013/2014) and from the synthetic cathinones (mephedrone, a Category I psychotropic since 2010) that derive from it; cathinone is the named controlled alkaloid, cathine the milder metabolite (1971 Schedule III). Capital reach is left to confirmation: art. 347 permits death for 'large quantities of other drugs' with no published cathinone-specific gram threshold, so capital is not excluded in principle.

Consequences if caught

Controlled psychotropic: trafficking of the alkaloid is severely penalised and capital is not excluded at scale via the art. 347 catch-all. Extreme risk.

If prescribed or medical

1971 Schedule I substance with no accepted medical use and no lawful prescription route for the isolated alkaloid.

Documentation

No licit personal-carry or import route for a controlled psychotropic.

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