Is Etizolam legal in Japan?

Legal status

Etizolam is a 向精神薬, a psychotropic, designated by Cabinet Order in Japan under 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法別表第三第十一号. The entry is 「四―（二―クロロフェニル）―二―エチル―九―メチル―六Ｈ―チエノ［三・二―ｆ］［一・二・四］トリアゾロ［四・三―ａ］［一・四］ジアゼピン（別名エチゾラム）及びその塩類」 at 政令第四条第三十二号, which is 4-(2-chlorophenyl)-2-ethyl-9-methyl-6H-thieno[3,2-f][1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]diazepine, otherwise called etizolam, and its salts. It is a 第三種向精神薬, the residual class the Act defines in 第五十条の九 as 「第一種向精神薬及び第二種向精神薬以外の向精神薬（以下「第三種向精神薬」という。）」, which carries the lightest record keeping. Etizolam is a thienotriazolodiazepine, with a thiophene ring where a benzodiazepine has a benzene ring, and it is listed by that structure in its own right; nothing about it turns on whether it is called a benzodiazepine. This is the position on the psychotropics tables status 3 October 2025, with the narcotics tables status 6 September 2026 and the designated substances list status 6 September 2026 read for the other lanes, and the e-Gov text as at 2 October 2026.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. No Japanese drug statute provides a death sentence: 死刑 appears in the main provisions of none of the 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法 (the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act), the 覚醒剤取締法 (the Stimulants Control Act), the あへん法 (the Opium Act), the 大麻草の栽培の規制に関する法律 (the Cannabis Plant Cultivation Act), the pharmaceuticals Act (the PMD Act) or the 麻薬特例法 (the Narcotics Special Provisions Act), each read on e-Gov on 2 October 2026. Japan has not abolished capital punishment: 刑法第九条 lists it among the principal punishments, 「死刑、拘禁刑、罰金、拘留及び科料を主刑とし、没収を付加刑とする。」, and 第百九十九条 provides it for murder. Every penalty below reads 拘禁刑, the single form of imprisonment that replaced 懲役 and 禁錮 on the day described in the ministerial ordinance's own words as 「刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行の日（令和七年六月一日）」, 1 June 2025; under 刑法第十二条第一項 「有期拘禁刑は、一月以上二十年以下とする。」, so an open ended fixed term such as one year or more runs to twenty years, and 第十四条第二項 allows an aggravated fixed term to rise to thirty. The drug statutes took the new term from 令和四年法律第六十八号. Life imprisonment appears in the drug statutes in three places only: 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法第六十四条第二項 (heroin imported, exported or made for profit), 覚醒剤取締法第四十一条第二項 (stimulants imported, exported or made for profit) and 麻薬特例法第五条 (dealing in any 規制薬物 as a business). Etizolam is a 第三種向精神薬, and the psychotropic articles are the lightest of the controlled lanes. Importing, exporting, manufacturing, preparing or subdividing a 向精神薬 is 第六十六条の三第一項, 「向精神薬を、みだりに、本邦若しくは外国に輸入し、本邦若しくは外国から輸出し、製造し、製剤し、又は小分けした者」, up to five years, and up to seven with a fine of up to two million yen where the circumstances warrant if done for profit. Transferring one, or possessing it in order to transfer it, is 第六十六条の四第一項, 「向精神薬を、みだりに、譲り渡し、又は譲り渡す目的で所持した者」, up to three years, and up to five with a fine of up to one million yen for profit. Attempts are punished. Read the second of those carefully: it reaches possession only where the purpose is transfer, and no article from 第六十四条 to 第七十六条 punishes possessing, receiving or using a 向精神薬 for one's own use, so personal possession of etizolam is not an offence under this Act. An import that falls outside the carriage conditions described under documentation is an import by a person 第五十条の八 does not authorise, which is the conduct 第六十六条の三 punishes. Making a business of it is lifted further by 麻薬特例法第五条, whose 第一号 reaches the 向精神薬 import, export, manufacture and transfer offences in 第六十六条の三 and 第六十六条の四 (possession excluded), and whose penalty is 「無期又は五年以上の拘禁刑及び千万円以下の罰金に処する。」 That is life or at least five years and, cumulatively, a fine of up to ten million yen. So the seven year figure is the ceiling for a one off profit motivated import, not for a dealing business.

If prescribed or medical

Etizolam is a medicine lane substance in Japan rather than a prohibited one: a 向精神薬 reaches a patient through a 向精神薬処方箋 dispensed by a 向精神薬小売業者 (第二条第三十三号, 第五十条の十七), or directly from a hospital or clinic, which 第五十条の十六第一項第一号 allows: 「病院等の開設者が、施用のため交付される向精神薬を譲り渡し、又は譲り渡す目的で所持する場合」. Its class, the 第三種向精神薬, is set out under legal_status. A foreign prescription is not a Japanese 向精神薬処方箋 and does not on its own make the drug importable. What a traveller has instead is 第五十条の八第二号, which lets in 「本邦に入国する者のうち、自己の疾病の治療の目的で向精神薬を携帯して輸入する者であつて厚生労働省令で定めるもの」, with 第五十条の十一第二号 as the matching exit route. Ordering it from abroad by post is not carrying it, so that route does not cover a parcel.

Documentation

A foreign prescription does not make etizolam importable by itself, but no advance permission is involved within the quantity limit. 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法施行規則第二十七条第一号 admits a traveller carrying a psychotropic listed in its 別表第一 at or below the listed quantity, other than an injection, and for etizolam the listed quantity is 「九〇ｍｇ」, that is 90 mg of the active ingredient in total, the same figure the Narcotics Control Department's traveller table gives as «Etizolam 90 mg». Above 90 mg, or for any injectable form, 第二十七条第二号 requires the traveller to hold 「自己の疾病の治療のため特に必要であることを証する書類」, which the Narcotics Control Department describes as a certificate from the prescribing doctor naming the disease, the need for the drug and the quantities. Leaving Japan follows 第三十条 on the same terms. The department also says «If you import the psychotropics more than 1 month supply, please contact the following E-mail adress.» Carry the medicine personally in its dispensing packaging. The quantity is of the 向精神薬 itself, because 別表第三第十二号 makes 「前各号に掲げる物のいずれかを含有する物」 a 向精神薬 too, so a tablet is the drug for this purpose. Unlike 別表第一第七十八号, which reads 「前各号に掲げる物又は大麻のいずれかを含有する物であつて、あへん以外のもの。」 and carves out plants in its ニ, 「麻薬原料植物又は大麻草以外の植物（その一部分を含む。）」, the psychotropic clause has no plant exception. The entry is in a Cabinet Order made under the empowering words of 別表第三第十一号, 「前各号に掲げる物と同種の濫用のおそれがあり、かつ、同種の有害作用がある物であつて、政令で定めるもの」, and the order's article opens 「法別表第三第十一号の規定に基づき、次に掲げる物を向精神薬に指定する。」 Placement relied on: the MHLW designation tables, psychotropics tables status 3 October 2025 (向精神薬の指定状況 令和７年10月３日現在: the Act's 別表第三 with 10 substances and the Cabinet Order's 第四条 with 80, counts that match the e-Gov text read on 2 October 2026).

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