Is Ephedrine legal in Slovakia?

Legal status

Ephedrine is not listed in the Slovak narcotic and psychotropic schedule. Act No. 139/1998 carries one closed operative schedule at Annex 1, divided into Groups I, II and III, and no matching listed substance was found for ephedrine. The source records the aliases searched: efedrín; ephedrine, run through every group of Annex 1, its extension clauses and its final line. A no-hit on an English spelling would not have been enough, because the schedule uses Slovak names, chemical formulas, brand-neutral synonyms, plant entries and member-by-member lists. Two statutes divide the work. Act No. 139/1998 decides whether a substance is in the three-group list at Annex 1, and section 3(1) classifies narcotic and psychotropic substances by their effects on health into those three groups. The Criminal Code, No. 300/2005, decides the amount category through sections 135c to 135f and supplies the offences at sections 171 to 173. This reading is stated as in force on 18 September 2026. The consolidation of Act No. 139/1998 read was effective 1 January 2026 and incorporates amendment No. 293/2025; the Criminal Code consolidation read was effective 18 August 2026 and incorporates amendments through No. 168/2026. An absence is a statement about a list at a moment, and this one is stated as at that consolidation and no later.

Consequences if caught

Capital and life exposure. Slovakia has no death penalty. It does have life imprisonment for a drug offence, under Criminal Code section 173(5), and that is the one point on which this row has to be read carefully: the life ceiling is not assigned to ephedrine, because sections 171 to 173 attach to the substances in Act No. 139/1998 Annex 1 and ephedrine is not one of them. No controlled-substance threshold is given for it either, for the same reason. If a listed constituent is proved in a given material, that constituent is assessed separately and carries its own exposure. That is not a statement that ephedrine is unregulated in Slovakia; it is a statement that the drug offence scale is not the instrument that reaches it, and this row did not audit whichever regime does.

If prescribed or medical

There is no controlled drug prescription question for ephedrine in Slovakia, because Annex 1 to Act No. 139/1998 does not carry it. Whether ephedrine is available on prescription, over the counter or on general sale is a question for the Slovak medicines and pharmacy regime, which this row did not audit; the source states in terms that it is a schedule and penalty verification and not advice about licensing, medicines, precursors, food or tobacco. The State Institute for Drug Control is the body that answers it. Treat the supply route for ephedrine as unread rather than as open.

Documentation

Carry ephedrine as the Slovak medicines and pharmacy regime allows and do not read this row as a carriage permission, because a substance that is off the schedule is not thereby free to cross a border. That is the carriage answer for ephedrine and it is deliberately narrow. No traveller permit scheme, declaration form or carriage allowance for ephedrine appears in what was read here. Provenance follows. Act No. 139/1998 and Criminal Code No. 300/2005 were read on Slov-Lex, the official legal information portal, on 18 September 2026, and every annex was carried to its end: Act 139 Annex 1 ends with zolpidem followed by the salts clause, and Criminal Code Annex 1 ends with the lysergide row.

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