Is Etizolam legal in Austria?

Legal status

A psychotrope in Austrian law, placed in the Psychotropenverordnung and not in the narcotics instrument. In the Psychotropenverordnung, Annex 1 point 2 carries Etizolam. Etizolam is a thienodiazepine rather than a true benzodiazepine, and Austria has answered that by naming it individually rather than by relying on a class label. The line the schedule prints is the name and nothing more, so it proves placement and carries no operative words of its own; the prohibition comes from SMG §5(1), which confines every Suchtmittel to medical, dental, veterinary and scientific purposes, and the offences from SMG §30 onwards. SMG §3(1) defines a psychotropic substance as one subjected to the §2(1) restrictions by the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances, contained in Schedules III and IV of that convention, and designated as a psychotrope by ministerial regulation; §3(2) permits further national designations, and the Psychotropenverordnung is the regulation that carries the list. Annex 1 reaches the salts and preparations of the substances it names. There is no general derivative or isomer extension in this instrument, so an unlisted designer analogue is not brought in by resemblance.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. The psychotrope ladder ends at ten years, through SMG §31(3) and §31a(3) for the criminal association forms of preparation and trafficking, with no life term above it and no capital sentence in Austrian law at all. Etizolam is a point 2 psychotrope, which is why it reaches the same ceiling as diazepam despite being sold as a research chemical rather than as a medicine. Section 30(1) and §30(2) carry the possession tiers at one year and six months, and the §35 diversion route is expressly available for offences under §30 as well as under §27. SMG §31b requires the psychotrope threshold to be set on the pure active substance, exactly as §28b does for narcotics. Separately from that, and carried forward from this site's published Austria entry rather than re-derived from the Suchtmittelgesetz in this pass, the published penalties are these. Austrian practice is depenalised and not legalised, and the published entry says so in those terms. There is no legal minimum quantity, and possession of any amount for personal use is punishable under section 27, up to six months in prison or a fine. Under Therapie statt Strafe at section 35, small quantity personal use is typically provisionally suspended from prosecution on one to two years of probation where the person accepts counselling or treatment. Consumption itself is not criminalised, but the possession that precedes it is. Above the Grenzmenge, the threshold quantity, the offence becomes dealing or trafficking under sections 28 and 28a, up to one to three years, escalating to ten to fifteen years for commercial or organised cases. Every figure in this paragraph is a penalty range or a fine and none of them is a quantity threshold. They describe the offences that this row's placement in the Austrian Suchtgift and psychotrope lists brings into play.

If prescribed or medical

Austria's traveller rule is the authorized purpose rule and there is no other. SMG §5(1) allows a Suchtmittel to be acquired, possessed, produced, processed, carried, imported, exported, offered, transferred or procured only for medical, dental, veterinary or scientific purposes and only as that Act provides, and professional licensing, medical dispensing and travel exemptions each remain subject to their own particular provisions rather than to any general allowance. Because this substance is a designated psychotrope, SMG §30(3) is available on its own terms. It removes punishment under §30(1) and §30(2) where a medicine containing a psychotropic substance, not exceeding the threshold, is acquired, possessed, carried, imported or exported for personal use or for the needs of an animal, or is offered, transferred or procured without the person drawing an advantage from it. It is not a blanket exception for psychotropic powder. The Psychotropenverordnung closes its Annexes 2 and 3 with travel certificate fields, which is where this system's documented route lives. Nothing read for this row establishes an authorised Austrian etizolam medicine, and SMG §30(3) is written for medicines, so a research chemical supply is not shown to reach it.

Documentation

Carry the dispensed pack with the prescription and a prescriber's letter, and ask the prescriber about the travel certificate whose fields close Annexes 2 and 3 of the Psychotropenverordnung. Etizolam is individually named in the Austrian psychotrope list even though it is not a benzodiazepine. The psychotrope list was read at its 18 September 2026 consolidation, whose last list amendment is BGBl II 394/2024 of 19 December 2024; the later BGBl II 10/2025 changed other provisions and not the list.

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