Is Fentanyl legal in Kazakhstan?
- Legal status
- Fentanyl is named in Kazakhstan's controlled list. The first of the three documents Government Resolution No. 470 of 3 July 2019 approves, the Список наркотических средств, психотропных веществ и прекурсоров, подлежащих контролю в Республике Казахстан, carries the entry Фентанил at item 49 of section А of Таблица II of the Список, the schedule of substances used for medical purposes and held under strict control. The second document, the Сводная таблица of small, large and particularly large sizes, then carries the row Фентанил and sets no небольшой размер band at all, крупный размер at 0-0,0002 grams and особо крупный размер above 0,0002 grams. The небольшой размер column is blank on this row, so on the face of the table fentanyl has no small size: the крупный band runs from zero to 0,0002 grams, expressed as one to twenty ampoules of a 0,005 per cent solution of 2 ml, and anything above twenty such ampoules is особо крупный. Around a dozen fentanyl analogues are separately listed in Таблица I, among them acetylfentanyl, furanylfentanyl, cyclopropylfentanyl, acryloylfentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl, most of them at 0,0002 to 0,001 grams with 0,001 grams as the особо крупный threshold. The copy read carries the amendment of 24 February 2026 made by Government Resolution No. 111, and the Сводная таблица is wholly in that redaction, so every size quoted here is the 24 February 2026 text, not an earlier one. [Certain] on the placement and the figures, both re-derived from the instrument in this pass.
- Consequences if caught
- Capital exposure: none. Kazakhstan has abolished the death penalty. No capital punishment remains available anywhere in its Criminal Code, because the law of 29 December 2021 numbered 89-VII on abolition replaced the words carrying it in Article 11 with life imprisonment, and Article 46 now names life imprisonment as the heaviest penalty the Code holds. Kazakhstan grades the offence by the size band. Criminal Code Article 296 part 2 meets ordinary possession without intent to supply with a fine of up to 160 monthly calculation indices, corrective labour, community work or arrest of up to 40 days, part 3 meets a крупный quantity with up to 200 indices or 50 days, and part 4 meets an особо крупный quantity with three to seven years of imprisonment. Public non-medical consumption is part 1. Supply is Article 297 at five to eight years with confiscation and up to fifteen to twenty years for its aggravated forms, and Article 297-1, inserted on 2 January 2025 by law No. 150-VIII, covers manufacture and processing for supply with life imprisonment available at part 4. On the row Фентанил the table prints no небольшой размер band at all, so for Fentanyl the custodial rung opens above 0,0002 grams with nothing below it marked as small. Article 296 also carries a note releasing from liability under that article a person who voluntarily hands the substance over, seeks medical help or actively assists in uncovering a related offence. [Likely] The Criminal Code articles and their year ranges in this cell were read from secondary consolidations rather than from an official publisher in this pass. Two independent consolidations agree on them, and the Code's own article text was not reached: the state portal served only its contents list. The abolition of the death penalty, by contrast, was confirmed against the Code itself and is tagged [Certain] where it appears. [Likely] Carried from the entry published before this batch and not re-derived in this pass: the two middle rungs of that ladder are six to ten years for part 2 and seven to twelve years for part 3. [Certain] Corrected in this pass: carfentanil is NOT named in this instrument. A search for карфентанил returns no hit anywhere in it, and an earlier version of this cell listed carfentanil relatives among the separately scheduled analogues. The named analogues are real; carfentanil is not among them.
- If prescribed or medical
- Таблица II of the Список is headed as the schedule of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances used for medical purposes and held under strict control, so Fentanyl does have a domestic medical route and it is the tightest one the Список operates. That is a statement about the schedule and not about what any individual pharmacy will dispense to a visitor, and the Resolution does not set import rules for a traveller's own supply. The same Resolution also approves a short Список of veterinary medicines containing controlled substances, and Фентанил appears on it.
- Documentation
- Provenance. The placement and the grams on this row were read from the consolidated text of Government Resolution of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 470 of 3 July 2019 approving the Список наркотических средств, психотропных веществ и прекурсоров, подлежащих контролю в Республике Казахстан and the Сводная таблица of small, large and particularly large sizes at https://zakon.uchet.kz/rus/docs/P1900000470, which is the state legal information system's copy, on 2026-09-21. The tables were parsed by column position rather than by reading them as a stream of lines, which matters because a blank небольшой размер cell is a real feature of this table and a line reader silently shifts the remaining figures one column left. The copy read carries the amendment of 24 February 2026 made by Government Resolution No. 111, and the Сводная таблица is wholly in that redaction, so every size quoted here is the 24 February 2026 text. Russian names are quoted as the instrument prints them, except that the list prints the Список entries in capitals and they are given here in ordinary case.
- Kazakhstan, Government Resolution of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 470 of 3 July 2019 approving the Список наркотических средств, психотропных веществ и прекурсоров, подлежащих контролю в Республике Казахстан and the Сводная таблица of small, large and particularly large sizes, read at https://zakon.uchet.kz/rus/docs/P1900000470 on 2026-09-21
- the copy states с изменениями на 24.02.2026 and the Сводная таблица is в редакции постановления Правительства РК от 24.02.2026 № 111. Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Code No. 226-V of 3 July 2014, articles 296, 297 and 297-1, read at https://prg.kz/Document/?doc_id=31575252
- the death penalty was removed from that Code by the Law of 29 December 2021 No. 89-VII.
Court records
We have not yet assessed whether court records are publicly available for this jurisdiction.
Other substances confirmed in Kazakhstan
Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Kazakhstan’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.
Before you travel
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Non-U.S. travelers: check your own government’s travel advisory and embassy.
If you’re detained or arrested abroad
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