Is Ephedrine legal in Malta?

Legal status

Ephedrine is governed by the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Chapter 101, and not by the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance. Malta runs two drug ordinances and a cell that answers from one when the substance sits in the other is wrong. Ephedrine is not an ordinary scheduled drug at all. It sits in the Third Schedule as a precursor, and the offence written for it is article 22(1D), which reaches dealing with knowledge or suspicion that the substance is for use in producing a drug. The schedule entry reads "Ephedrine". Ephedrine appears in Chapter 101's Third Schedule as a precursor, not as an ordinary scheduled drug, and article 22(1D) requires knowledge or suspicion of use in drug production. The power to change that list is article 34(1): ‘The Minister responsible for public health may by regulations amend the First, the Second and the Third Schedules to this Ordinance.’

Consequences if caught

Capital and life exposure. Malta has no death penalty and no Maltese drug offence can bring one. The ceiling is life, and it is reached by an unusual route. Ephedrine is a Third Schedule precursor, so the offence written for it is article 22(1D) of Chapter 101, which targets dealing with knowledge or suspicion that the substance is for use in drug production, and that offence can reach life under article 22(2)(a)(i). The Chapter 537 route does not follow automatically here. Its personal possession route is not established for mere precursor possession, because Chapter 537 defines a prohibited drug by reference to Chapter 31 article 120A or Chapter 101 article 22 rather than to the precursor provision. Knowledge or suspicion is an element the prosecution has to prove, so possession alone is not the article 22(1D) offence.

If prescribed or medical

The ordinance that controls ephedrine is the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Chapter 101, which is the narcotics ordinance rather than the medical one. Article 22(1D) requires knowledge or suspicion that the substance is for use in producing a drug, so ordinary possession of a medicine or a preparation containing it is outside the offence as defined. What this source does not establish is the prescribing and dispensing conditions themselves. The dossier read the two controlled drug ordinances and Chapter 537 and says in terms that it ‘did not attempt to decide separate medicines, pharmacy, veterinary, poisons, tobacco, alcohol, food, product-safety, or driving laws’. Treat the prescribing route as unread here rather than as absent. No Maltese personal import permit, traveller certificate or advance declaration route for a controlled medicine was found in the texts that were read, and none of Chapter 31, Chapter 101 or Chapter 537 carries a travellers provision. That is an absence in what was read rather than proof that no scheme exists, so confirm with a Maltese mission before you travel. One further point bears on any prescribed supply: the schedule entry prints the name Ephedrine itself, so there is no argument that the control reaches this substance only by inference, and a product labelled with that name is the listed thing. The entry is transcribed in full in the legal status for this cell.

Documentation

Carry the prescription and the dispensing label if ephedrine was dispensed to you, and understand that nothing you can carry makes an undispensed supply lawful in Malta. That is the whole of the carriage answer, because no Maltese personal import permit, traveller certificate or advance declaration route for a controlled substance appears in any of the texts read for this row, and none of them carries a travellers provision at all. An absence in what was read is not proof that no scheme exists, so a Maltese mission is the place to settle it before you fly rather than the airport on arrival. Keep the medicine in the packaging it was dispensed in, keep the quantity to what the prescription covers, and keep the prescriber's details legible. The provenance is the consolidated English text of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Chapter 101 on Legislation Malta, read on 18 September 2026 at https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/101/eng. The amendment horizon is 18 September 2026, and on that date the consolidated texts stood at Chapter 31 through Legal Notice 46 of 2026, Chapter 101 through Legal Notice 97 of 2025, Chapter 537 through Acts VII and XII of 2025, and Chapter 628 through Act XII of 2025. Legislation Malta prints the footer ‘© Dritt tal-awtur: L-Uffiċċju tal-Avukat tal-Istat’ on each page, no open reuse licence was located, and only the words needed to identify the provision are quoted here.

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