Is Ephedrine legal in Cabo Verde?

Legal status

Controlled as a precursor. Ephedrine is in Table IV of Lei n.º 78/IV/93, printed on page 528 of Boletim Oficial I Série n.º 45 of 29 November 1993 as «Efedrina» in the column the page 528 chart heads «PERCURSORES», in the list of precursors, beside lysergic acid, ergometrine, ergotamine, pseudoephedrine, acetone, anthranilic acid, acetic anhydride, ethyl ether, piperidine and phenylacetone, with the line «Os sais das substâncias inscritas no presente quadro, em todos os casos em que a existência destes sais é possivel». Being in Table IV does not make ephedrine a drug a person may not hold. Every Table IV offence needs knowledge that it is or will be used to make narcotics or psychotropics illicitly. The tables are read as printed in 1993. The Law gives no power to add a substance by regulation and the tables carry no analogue clause. No amending instrument was found: a search of boe.incv.cv on 3 October 2026 for Leis and Decretos-Leis mentioning «estupefacientes» returned twelve, none of them touching this Law, and the Government's 2020 request for legislative authority, as Expresso das Ilhas reported on 7 January 2020, said the Law «não sofreu alterações passados já mais de 20 anos». The gazette site indexes a single I Série issue for 1993, so this does not rule out a later amendment that the search could not see.

Consequences if caught

Table IV is not a list of drugs a person may not hold. Article 5(1) punishes producing, offering, selling, buying, transporting, importing or exporting a Table IV substance «sabendo que são ou vão ser utilizados no cultivo, produção ou fabrico ilícitos de estupefacientes ou substâncias psicotrópicas» with two to ten years, and article 5(2) punishes holding it with that same knowledge with one to five years. Article 6(a) gives one to five years where the unlawfulness is considerably diminished, article 8 raises the limits by a quarter in the aggravated cases, and article 11(1) reaches a group formed for those crimes with ten to twenty years. Articles 9 and 20, the personal use provisions, are written for Tables I to III and do not reach Table IV. No article of the Law provides for death or for life imprisonment. Lei n.º 78/IV/93, de 12 de Julho, is Cabo Verde's drug law, read in the full republication that the Rectificação in Boletim Oficial I Série n.º 45 of 29 November 1993 made because the first printing had appeared «de forma incompleta e inexacta». Article 1(2) says the plants, substances and preparations it governs «constam de quatro tabelas anexas ao presente diploma», and article 1(3) calls Tables I and II «drogas de alto risco», Table III «drogas de risco» and Table IV precursors. The classification chart on page 528 fills Table I with substances of Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention, and possibly substances of other schedules (part A), and of Schedule I of the 1971 Convention (part B), Table II with Schedules I and II of the 1961 Convention (part A) and psychotropic substances (part B), Table III with Schedules III (part A) and IV (part B) of the 1971 Convention, and Table IV with eleven named precursors. The UN lists, as the annex prints them, follow on pages 529 to 534; they are older than 1993 in places, for the 1971 Schedule II list printed does not carry delta-9-THC.

If prescribed or medical

No prescription offence attaches to holding an ephedrine medicine for its medical purpose, because article 5 needs knowledge of illicit manufacture and articles 9 and 20 do not reach Table IV. Portaria n.º 49/2023 covers medicines containing narcotic or psychotropic substances, and ephedrine, a precursor, is neither: it is in none of the 1993 penal lists other than Table IV, not on the 2024 Green List and not in the 1961 schedules as at 6 June 2024, so the special control prescription does not apply on any reading.

Documentation

No document is required by this Law for an ephedrine medicine held for its own use. Carry it in its labelled pack; a quantity out of proportion to personal use invites the article 5 question of what it is for.

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