Legal status in Ghana

Per-substance legal status for Ghana, from sourced statutes where available. Legal information, not legal advice; drug laws change, so confirm with the destination’s embassy or drug authority before you travel.

72 confirmed substances16 not individually verifiedLast updated October 3, 2026

Confirmed legal status

1P-LSD

Legal status: 1P-LSD is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for 1P-LSD, 1-propionyl and lysergamide returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 4, «Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) (N.N-diethyllysergamide) and any salt thereof», as printed; 1P-LSD is the 1-propionyl amide of LSD, a chemical fact from outside the text, and is not a salt, isomer, ester or ether of it, which are the only reaches the Seventh Schedule prints. It is not on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating 1P-LSD as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. 1P-LSD is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription or medical route for 1P-LSD was found. Act 851 section 118(1) forbids selling or supplying an unregistered drug.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Fifth to Eighth Schedules, definition of narcotic drug, section 112 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, effective 1 January 2021, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 2 and 3.1 and appendix 9 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 118, 122, 126 and 129 · INCB Green List, 35th edition 2024, read at https://www.incb.org/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2025/2412193E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Updated October 3, 2026

1P-LSD in Ghana, full detail →

25I-NBOMe

Legal status: 25I-NBOMe is a controlled substance for medical supply in Ghana, reached through the guideline's definition, and it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) as read on 3 October 2026. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances (FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, adopted 8 December 2020, effective 1 January 2021), issued «In pursuance of Section 126 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851)», define «"Controlled Substances" or "Controlled drug"» as «a Narcotic drug, Psychotropic substance or Precursor chemical» and a psychotropic substance as «those natural or synthetic substances or any natural material listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention». Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». The guideline's appendix 9.2.1 says Schedule I «includes the hallucinogen group LSD, DMT, psilocybin etc.», its tables do not name 25I-NBOMe, and its appendix says its list «includes but not limited to» the Green List. The Green List, 36th edition 2025, carries it in Schedule I as PN 008, «2-(4-iodo-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-N-(2-methoxybenzyl)ethanamine». UNODC records that the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, at its 58th session in March 2015, placed «25I-NBOMe» in Schedule I, and that for the substances added to the 1971 Convention «the decision becomes effective at the beginning of November 2015», so it was listed long before the guideline was adopted on 8 December 2020 and its reach does not turn on whether the definition follows later additions. Under Act 1019 the answer is not settled. Fifth Schedule R names amphetamines with their «derivatives, isomers and analogues», and the Act does not define «analogues». 25I-NBOMe is the N-(2-methoxybenzyl) derivative of 2C-I, a phenethylamine without amphetamine's alpha-methyl group, a chemical fact brought from outside the text, so whether it is an amphetamine analogue is a question of construction that no text read answers. The nearest named entry, Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 23, «4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxybenzeneethanamine and any salt, isomer or salt of isomer thereof», is 2C-B, and 25I-NBOMe is not an isomer of it. A web search of ghalii.org, judy.legal, lawsghana.com and dennislawgh.com on 3 October 2026 found no decision applying it either way, which is not proof that none exists. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation read on 3 October 2026 records as the Act's only amendment, «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023) on 2 August 2023». The Bill for that Act, read the same day, is «composed of a single clause» and was introduced «to substitute section 43»; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, list ninety six regulations and five Schedules of their own on the table of contents read on 3 October 2026 and revise no Schedule of the Act, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Two regimes, and which one reaches 25I-NBOMe for a user is not settled. Under the medical supply regime: Act 851's offences attach to a «drug», which section 149 defines to include a substance referred to in a publication named in its Fourth Schedule, which was not read, and a substance «prepared, sold or represented for use» in treating disease or in modifying organic functions, so whether a street sale of 25I-NBOMe is a sale of a drug in that sense is not settled. If it is: Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Authority has not registered, section 122(1) forbids importing a drug without a licence or permit under that Part, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. Breach of the guideline itself is sanctioned by section 148: subsection (1) says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice», subsection (4) makes a person who fails to comply liable to «an administrative penalty of not more than two thousand five hundred penalty units», and subsection (5) makes failure to pay that penalty an offence carrying imprisonment of not more than five years. Section 113(1) also makes it an offence to sell a drug «in contravention of Regulations or Guidelines made under this Part», punishable under section 129, but it sits under the heading «Deception of consumers», and whether it reaches a sale that breaks the guideline's prescription rule without deceiving anyone is not settled. Section 126 itself creates no offence. Section 123(1) reaches possession only of a «counterfeit drug». No provision of Act 851 read for this cell makes possession by a user an offence. If the «analogues» limb of Fifth Schedule R were held to reach 25I-NBOMe, it would be a narcotic drug under Act 1019, and then every Act 1019 offence would attach, including possession for use and purchase for personal use. Its Second Schedule, read in the text layer of the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes a purchase «for personal use», a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription or medical route for 25I-NBOMe was found. The guideline restricts supply of every controlled substance to licensed wholesalers, hospitals and registered pharmacies, and pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order».
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read. Section 118 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) reaches 25I-NBOMe only if it is a drug in the section 149 sense, and no personal import permit route for it was found. Sections 36(1) and 40(1) of Act 1019 require a licence to import a narcotic drug or plant. That would apply to 25I-NBOMe only if Fifth Schedule R were held to reach it.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/content on 3 October 2026, Fifth Schedule R, Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 23, Fifth to Eighth Schedules searched, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule, definitions, section 112 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 113, 118, 122, 123, 126, 129 and 148 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, section 2 and appendix 9, with sections 1, 3.1 and 5 and appendices 9.2 and 9.2.1 · INCB Green List, 36th edition 2025, read at https://www.incb.org/incb/uploads/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2026/2510307E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · L.I. 2475 table of contents, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · UNODC announcement, decision of the 58th session effective November 2015, https://www.unodc.org/LSS/announcement/Details/4f0822c2-9b26-4607-ab43-8685710d7068 · Updated October 3, 2026

25I-NBOMe in Ghana, full detail →

2C-B

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for 2C-B is Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 23, which names «4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxybenzeneethanamine». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 23 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for 2C-B.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for 2C-B.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 23, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

2C-B in Ghana, full detail →

3-MMC

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), on the reading that Seventh Schedule Part 1 item 2, «Cathinones and their derivatives», names the cathinone class. Part 1, headed «Psychotropic Substances of natural origin», names «Catha edulis Forsk. its preparations, derivatives, alkaloids and salts, including:» and its item 2 is «Cathinones and their derivatives». Part 2 names methcathinone at item 20, printed «2-Metliylamino-I-phenyl-I-propanone». The Act's definition of narcotic drug reaches a listed substance «whether in a natural or synthetic form». 3-MMC is 3-methylmethcathinone, a substituted cathinone and a ring-methylated derivative of methcathinone, a chemical fact brought from outside the text; the Act does not name it. Item 2's subject is a plural class name, «Cathinones», of which 3-MMC is itself a member, where Fifth Schedule S, held open in this batch's benzodiazepine cells, names one molecule, flunitrazepam, and reaches others only as its «derivatives». Two points cut against the reading and are stated so the answer can be weighed: item 2 sits in a list introduced as the preparations, derivatives and alkaloids of the khat plant, which 3-MMC is not, and the Act lists some cathinones separately, cathinone at Part 2 item 18, methcathinone at item 20, and MDPV and alpha-PVP at Fifth Schedule P and X, which a class reading would make surplus. No decision applying item 2 to a synthetic cathinone was found in a web search of ghalii.org, judy.legal, lawsghana.com and dennislawgh.com on 3 October 2026. This country's mephedrone cell rests on the same item 2, reasoning from mephedrone as a derivative of methcathinone. The Green List, 36th edition 2025, also carries 3-MMC in Schedule II of the 1971 Convention as PM 032, «3-MMC 3-Methylmethcathinone»; the earlier statement that it does not appear in the Green List was wrong. UNODC records that the decision adding «3-methylmethcathinone» to Schedule II entered into force on 13 November 2023, after the Food and Drugs Authority guideline took effect, so whether that guideline's definition also reaches 3-MMC is not settled; the placement above does not depend on it. Read in the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation read on 3 October 2026 records as the Act's only amendment, «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023) on 2 August 2023». The Bill for that Act, read the same day, is «composed of a single clause» and was introduced «to substitute section 43»; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, list ninety six regulations and five Schedules of their own on the table of contents read on 3 October 2026 and revise no Schedule of the Act, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 1019 prints no sentence of death. Its Second Schedule, read in the text layer of the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes a purchase «for personal use», a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription or medical route for 3-MMC was found. Its Schedule II listing dates from 13 November 2023, after the Food and Drugs Authority guideline issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) took effect on 1 January 2021, so whether that guideline's supply rule, «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order», reaches it is not settled.
Documentation: Section 36(1) of Act 1019 requires a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import a narcotic drug. No traveller allowance was found in Act 1019.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/content on 3 October 2026, Seventh Schedule Part 1 item 2 and Part 2 items 18 and 20, Fifth Schedule P, S and X, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule, definitions, section 112 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 113, 118, 122, 123, 126, 129 and 148 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, section 2 and appendix 9.2 · INCB Green List, 36th edition 2025, read at https://www.incb.org/incb/uploads/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2026/2510307E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · L.I. 2475 table of contents, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · UNODC announcement, Commission on Narcotic Drugs decision entering into force 13 November 2023, https://www.unodc.org/LSS/Announcement/Details/1bed4cda-749e-4410-beb8-2b9cab02bcb2 · Updated October 3, 2026

3-MMC in Ghana, full detail →

4-AcO-DMT

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), as an ester of psilocin. Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 10 names «Psilocin», and the Seventh Schedule closes with «The esters and ethers of the drugs in this Schedule whenever the existence of the esters or ethers is possible». 4-AcO-DMT is O-acetylpsilocin, the acetic acid ester of psilocin's 4-hydroxy group, a chemical fact brought from outside the text. It is not named in the Act. Read in the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 1019 prints no sentence of death. Its Second Schedule, read from the page images, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes purchase for personal use, a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription or medical route for 4-AcO-DMT was found. Sections 37 and 38 apply «without lawful authority», and no authority for this substance was found.
Documentation: Section 36(1) requires a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import a narcotic drug. No traveller allowance was found in Act 1019.

4-AcO-DMT in Ghana, full detail →

4-HO-MET

Legal status: 4-HO-MET is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for 4-HO-MET, metocin and hydroxy-N-methyl-N-ethyltryptamine returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 10, «Psilocin», and item 5, «N,N-Dicthyltryptamine (DET)», as printed; 4-HO-MET differs from psilocin by a carbon atom and is neither its isomer nor its ester or ether, a chemical fact from outside the text. It is not on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating 4-HO-MET as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. 4-HO-MET is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription or medical route for 4-HO-MET was found. Act 851 section 118(1) forbids selling or supplying an unregistered drug.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

4-HO-MET in Ghana, full detail →

5-MeO-DMT (Bufo / Toad)

Legal status: 5-MeO-DMT is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for 5-MeO-DMT, methoxy-dimethyltryptamine and bufotenine returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 6, «N,N - Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)», as printed; 5-MeO-DMT carries a methoxy group DMT lacks and is not its isomer, ester, ether or salt, a chemical fact from outside the text. It is not on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Toad secretion containing it is animal matter and outside the narcotic plant definition on its words. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating 5-MeO-DMT as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. 5-MeO-DMT is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription or medical route for 5-MeO-DMT was found. Act 851 section 118(1) forbids selling or supplying an unregistered drug.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

5-MeO-DMT (Bufo / Toad) in Ghana, full detail →

Adderall

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). Adderall is a brand of mixed amphetamine salts, a product fact brought from outside the Act. Fifth Schedule R names «Amphetamines, their salts, derivatives, isomers and analogues and salts of derivatives, isomers and analogues» and R.1 names «amphetamine», so the amphetamine salts in the product fall within the entry on its own words. Read in the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 1019 prints no sentence of death. Its Second Schedule, read from the page images, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes purchase for personal use, a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence.
If prescribed / medical: Sections 37 and 38 apply to possession and supply «without lawful authority», and section 36(1) requires a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import a narcotic drug. The FDA controlled substances guideline defines a psychotropic substance as one listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention, and the Green List 2024 carries amfetamine in Schedule II. Whether any Adderall product is registered in Ghana was not checked, and no prescription route for it was found.
Documentation: Section 36(1) makes it an offence to import a narcotic drug without a licence issued by the Minister responsible for Health, «In accordance with section 126 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851)». No traveller allowance was found in Act 1019.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Fifth Schedule R and R.1, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule, section 112 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · INCB Green List, 35th edition 2024, read at https://www.incb.org/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2025/2412193E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Updated October 3, 2026

Adderall in Ghana, full detail →

Alcohol

Legal status: Legal for adults and regulated by licence. The Liquor Licensing Act, 1970 (Act 331) says in section 5(1) that a person «shall not sell spirits on any premises or in the open» except under one of six spirit licences, and in section 12(1) that a person «shall not sell wine or beer» except under a spirit licence, an off-licence or an on-licence. Section 15(1) says a licence holder «shall not allow a person under the apparent age of eighteen years to be in the bar of the licensed premises during permitted hours», and section 15(4) bars sale «to a drunken person». No provision read sets an age for buying or drinking alcohol away from a bar. Alcohol is not named in the Fifth to Eighth Schedules of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), and the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) mentions «harmful use of alcohol» only in its health provisions. Act 331 was read in the Parliament repository's Revised Edition, as printed in that edition on 3 October 2026; its later amendments, if any, were not traced. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 331 prints no sentence of death. Selling spirits without a licence contrary to section 5(1) draws a fine of not more than fifty penalty units under section 11(1); selling wine or beer without a licence contrary to section 12(1) draws the same under section 14(1). A licensee who lets a person under eighteen into the bar, and anyone who causes or procures that, is liable under section 15(2) to a fine of not more than twenty five penalty units and in default not more than one month's imprisonment. Buying or drinking alcohol as an adult is not an offence under any provision read.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription rule applies to alcohol.
Documentation: No traveller allowance for alcohol was read; customs duty rules were not checked.

Liquor Licensing Act, 1970 (Act 331), Revised Edition, read from the page images at https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/47801fff-dc76-413a-9499-465ad29bce6c/content on 3 October 2026, sections 5, 11, 12, 14, 15 and 22 · Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Fifth to Eighth Schedules · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, searched for alcohol · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Updated October 3, 2026

Alcohol in Ghana, full detail →

Amphetamine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Fifth Schedule R.1 names «amphetamine». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule R.1 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for amphetamine.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for amphetamine.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule R.1, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Amphetamine in Ghana, full detail →

Amyl Nitrite

Legal status: Amyl nitrite is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for amyl nitrite, isoamyl nitrite, alkyl nitrite and nitrite returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Fifth Schedule T, «4-hydroxybutanoic acid (GHB)», a different depressant; Act 1019 has no provision on inhalants or solvents. It is not on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating amyl nitrite as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Amyl nitrite is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 section 118(1) forbids selling or supplying a drug that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered. Whether amyl nitrite is registered as a medicine in Ghana was not checked.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Amyl Nitrite in Ghana, full detail →

Ayahuasca

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) through its DMT. Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 6 names «N,N - Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)» and item 8 names «Harmaline», and the Act defines a psychotropic substance as «any substance specified in the Seventh Schedule or anything that contains a substance specified in that Schedule». That ayahuasca is a brew whose DMT comes from Psychotria viridis or a similar leaf and whose harmala alkaloids come from Banisteriopsis caapi is a botanical fact brought from outside the text; harmine itself is not named. The plants are also within the definition «"narcotic plant" means vegetation that has psychotropic qualities», which sections 39 to 42 use. Read in the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 1019 prints no sentence of death. Its Second Schedule, read from the page images, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes purchase for personal use, a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence. Cultivating a plant from which a narcotic drug can be extracted is a separate offence under section 39, with a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than five and not more than ten years, and two to five years in default.
If prescribed / medical: No religious, ceremonial or medical exemption for ayahuasca or DMT was found in Act 1019.
Documentation: Sections 36(1) and 40(1) require a licence to import a narcotic drug or a narcotic plant. No traveller allowance was found in Act 1019.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Seventh Schedule Part 2 items 6, 8 and 9, the definitions of psychotropic substance and narcotic plant, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Updated October 3, 2026

Ayahuasca in Ghana, full detail →

Barbiturates

Legal status: Barbiturates in medical use are controlled substances for medical supply in Ghana, and no barbiturate is named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), list «PENTOBARBITAL» under «Substances in Schedule III (1971 Convention)» and «BARBITAL» and «PHENOBARBITAL» under «Substances in Schedule IV (1971 Convention)», and define a psychotropic substance as one «listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention»; the Green List 2024 carries secobarbital in Schedule II, amobarbital, butalbital, cyclobarbital and pentobarbital in Schedule III, and barbital, phenobarbital and others in Schedule IV. Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». In Act 1019 the search for barbital, barbituric and each of those names returned no entry. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating any barbiturate as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. No barbiturate is named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, effective 1 January 2021, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 1, 2, 3.1, 5 and appendices 9.2.3 and 9.2.4 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 118, 122, 126, 129 and 148 · Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules, definition of narcotic drug, section 112 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · INCB Green List, 35th edition 2024, read at https://www.incb.org/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2025/2412193E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Updated October 3, 2026

Barbiturates in Ghana, full detail →

Benzodiazepines

Legal status: Controlled, under two different instruments. One benzodiazepine is a narcotic drug: Fifth Schedule S of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) names «Flunitrazeparn (5-(o-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-ni-tro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one) and any of its salts or derivatives», as printed, so flunitrazepam carries the Act 1019 offences. The others found are not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule and are controlled substances for medical supply under the Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), which list alprazolam, bromazepam, chlordiazepoxide, clorazepate, diazepam, flurazepam, lorazepam, midazolam, nitrazepam, pinazepam, temazepam and triazolam under «Substances in Schedule IV (1971 Convention)» and define a psychotropic substance as one «listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention», which on the Green List 2024 takes in clonazepam, etizolam, nimetazepam and bromazolam too. Whether the «derivatives» limb of item S reaches any other benzodiazepine is not settled by any instrument or decision found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. For flunitrazepam the Act 1019 Second Schedule applies: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, and possession for trafficking, importation or prohibited business under sections 36 to 38, a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years; section 50 adds life imprisonment on a qualifying third conviction. For the guideline benzodiazepines, section 118(1) of Act 851 forbids importing, distributing, selling or supplying an unregistered drug, and section 129 punishes that by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read makes possession of a guideline benzodiazepine by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read. For flunitrazepam, section 36(1) of Act 1019 requires a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import it.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Fifth Schedule S, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules searched, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule, section 112 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, effective 1 January 2021, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 1, 2, 3.1, 5 and appendices 9.2.3 and 9.2.4 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 118, 122, 126, 129 and 148 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · INCB Green List, 35th edition 2024, read at https://www.incb.org/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2025/2412193E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Updated October 3, 2026

Benzodiazepines in Ghana, full detail →

Buprenorphine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Fifth Schedule I.1 names «Buprenorphine». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule I.1 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for buprenorphine.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for buprenorphine.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule I.1, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Buprenorphine in Ghana, full detail →

Caffeine

Legal status: Caffeine is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for caffeine, guarana and methylxanthine returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 19, «Fenetyllinedihydro», as printed, the theophylline-amphetamine compound fenetylline, which is not caffeine. It is not on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating caffeine as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Caffeine is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 regulates food and drugs, and a caffeine medicine would need registration under section 118(1); no rule on caffeine in food or drink was read.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Caffeine in Ghana, full detail →

Cannabinol

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Sixth Schedule item 4 names «Cannabinol». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Sixth Schedule item 4 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for cannabinol.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for cannabinol.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Sixth Schedule item 4, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Cannabinol in Ghana, full detail →

Cannabis / THC

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for cannabis is Sixth Schedule items 1 to 9, which names «Cannabis, its preparations, derivatives and similar synthetic preparations». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Sixth Schedule items 1 to 9 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for cannabis.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for cannabis. Carried forward from the previous cell, not re-read in this pass: that cell, citing Act 1019 sections 37, 41 and 45, recorded that possession for personal use is depenalised rather than decriminalised, drawing a fine of 200 to 500 penalty units (about GHS 2,400 to 6,000) with non-payment converting to roughly 15 months' imprisonment; that this replaced the prison terms of PNDCL 236 of 1990 and personal use remains illegal; and that the Act defines no personal use quantity threshold. The previous cell also recorded that section 43, which provided for licensed cultivation of cannabis of 0.3% THC or less for industrial, medical and scientific use only, was struck down by the Supreme Court in May 2023, by five votes to four, on procedural grounds, and that Parliament then moved to re-pass it; the current position of that section was not re-read in this pass.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Sixth Schedule items 1 to 9, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), sections 37, 41, 43 and 45 · ir.parliament.gh · ghalii.org · idpc.net · Updated October 3, 2026

Cannabis / THC in Ghana, full detail →

Cathinone

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for cathinone is Seventh Schedule Part 1, which names «Cathinones and their derivatives». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Seventh Schedule Part 1 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for cathinone.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for cathinone.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Seventh Schedule Part 1, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Cathinone in Ghana, full detail →

CBD

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for CBD is Sixth Schedule item 3, which names «Cannabidiol». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Sixth Schedule item 3 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for CBD.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for CBD.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Sixth Schedule item 3, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

CBD in Ghana, full detail →

Clonazepam

Legal status: Clonazepam is a controlled substance for medical supply in Ghana, reached through the guideline's definition rather than its table. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances (FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, adopted 8 December 2020, effective 1 January 2021), issued «In pursuance of Section 126 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851)», define «"Controlled Substances" or "Controlled drug"» as «a Narcotic drug, Psychotropic substance or Precursor chemical» and a psychotropic substance as «those natural or synthetic substances or any natural material listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention». Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». The guideline's own Schedule IV table does not name clonazepam, and its appendix says its list «includes but not limited to» the Green List. The Green List, 36th edition 2025, carries clonazepam in Schedule IV as PC 005, «5-(o-chlorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-7-nitro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one». It has been in Schedule IV since a decision of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs adopted on 7 February 1984 and communicated on 29 March 1984, which placed thirty three benzodiazepines there, read in the Spanish transposing Order of 30 May 1984 in Boletín Oficial del Estado of 9 June 1984, where «Clonazepam» appears in the list. So it was listed long before the guideline was adopted, and its reach does not turn on whether the guideline's definition follows later additions. Under Act 1019 the answer is not settled. Clonazepam is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of Act 1019 as read on 3 October 2026. Fifth Schedule S of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) reads, as printed, «Flunitrazeparn (5-(o-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-ni-tro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one) and any of its salts or derivatives». The Act does not define «derivatives», and no instrument or decision applying item S to any benzodiazepine other than flunitrazepam was found in the instruments read or in the case law search described below. Clonazepam's printed name is flunitrazepam's with chlorine in place of the ortho fluorine and without the N1 methyl group; it keeps the 7-nitro group that defines item S's molecule. That is close enough that a court could read it as a derivative, and no Ghanaian text read says whether one would. So whether clonazepam is also a narcotic drug under Act 1019 through item S is open, and it is stated as open here rather than answered either way. The nearest text the earlier cell gave, «Amphetamines and their analogues», is that cell's paraphrase of Fifth Schedule R, which names amphetamines with their «derivatives, isomers and analogues», and it has no bearing on a benzodiazepine. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation read on 3 October 2026 records as the Act's only amendment, «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023) on 2 August 2023». The Bill for that Act, read the same day, is «composed of a single clause» and was introduced «to substitute section 43»; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, list ninety six regulations and five Schedules of their own on the table of contents read on 3 October 2026 and revise no Schedule of the Act, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Two regimes, and which one reaches clonazepam for a user is not settled. Under the medical supply regime: Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Authority has not registered, section 122(1) forbids importing a drug without a licence or permit under that Part, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. Breach of the guideline itself is sanctioned by section 148: subsection (1) says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice», subsection (4) makes a person who fails to comply liable to «an administrative penalty of not more than two thousand five hundred penalty units», and subsection (5) makes failure to pay that penalty an offence carrying imprisonment of not more than five years. Section 113(1) also makes it an offence to sell a drug «in contravention of Regulations or Guidelines made under this Part», punishable under section 129, but it sits under the heading «Deception of consumers», and whether it reaches a sale that breaks the guideline's prescription rule without deceiving anyone is not settled. Section 126 itself creates no offence. Section 123(1) reaches possession only of a «counterfeit drug». No provision of Act 851 read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence. If the «derivatives» limb of Fifth Schedule S were held to reach clonazepam, it would be a narcotic drug under Act 1019, and then every Act 1019 offence would attach, including possession for use and purchase for personal use. Its Second Schedule, read in the text layer of the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes a purchase «for personal use», a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence. A web search of ghalii.org, judy.legal, lawsghana.com and dennislawgh.com on 3 October 2026 found no decision applying that limb to clonazepam either way, which is not proof that none exists.
If prescribed / medical: The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read. If item S were held to reach clonazepam, section 36(1) of Act 1019 would also require a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import it.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/content on 3 October 2026, Fifth Schedule R and S, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules searched, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule, definitions, section 112 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 113, 118, 122, 123, 126, 129 and 148 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 1, 2, 3.1, 5 and appendices 9.2 and 9.2.4 · INCB Green List, 36th edition 2025, read at https://www.incb.org/incb/uploads/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2026/2510307E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · L.I. 2475 table of contents, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Orden de 30 de mayo de 1984, BOE 9 June 1984, https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1984/06/09/pdfs/A16674-16674.pdf · Updated October 3, 2026

Clonazepam in Ghana, full detail →

Cocaine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Fifth Schedule B.2 names «Cocaine». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule B.2 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for cocaine.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for cocaine. Carried forward from the previous cell, not re-read in this pass: that cell, citing Act 1019 sections 37, 41 and 45, recorded that possession for personal use is depenalised rather than decriminalised, drawing a fine of 200 to 500 penalty units (about GHS 2,400 to 6,000) with non-payment converting to roughly 15 months' imprisonment; that this replaced the prison terms of PNDCL 236 of 1990 and personal use remains illegal; and that the Act defines no personal use quantity threshold.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule B.2, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), sections 37, 41, 43 and 45 · ir.parliament.gh · ghalii.org · idpc.net · Updated October 3, 2026

Cocaine in Ghana, full detail →

Codeine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Fifth Schedule A.2 names «Codeine». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule A.2 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for codeine.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for codeine.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule A.2, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Codeine in Ghana, full detail →

Crack Cocaine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for crack cocaine is Fifth Schedule B.2, which names «Cocaine». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule B.2 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for crack cocaine.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for crack cocaine.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule B.2, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Crack Cocaine in Ghana, full detail →

Delta-8-THC

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). Sixth Schedule A names «Cannabis, its preparations, derivatives and similar synthetic preparations, including», and item 7 is «Tetrahydrocannabinol», whose printed chemical name gives no locant for the ring double bond. Delta-8-THC is a tetrahydrocannabinol and a positional isomer of delta-9-THC, a chemical fact brought from outside the text, and the Schedule closes with «The isomers, unless specifically excepted, of the drugs in this Schedule whenever the existence of the isomers is possible within the specific substance designation». Read in the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 1019 prints no sentence of death. Its Second Schedule, read from the page images, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes purchase for personal use, a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence.
If prescribed / medical: Section 43, as substituted by the 2023 amendment, lets the Minister license cultivation of cannabis with «not more than 0.3% THC content on a dry weight basis» for industrial or medicinal purposes, and says such a licence «shall not be for the cultivation of cannabis for recreational use». No route to lawful possession of delta-8-THC by an individual was found.
Documentation: Section 36(1) requires a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import a narcotic drug. No traveller allowance was found in Act 1019.

Delta-8-THC in Ghana, full detail →

Diazepam

Legal status: Diazepam is a controlled substance for medical supply in Ghana. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances (FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, adopted 8 December 2020, effective 1 January 2021), issued «In pursuance of Section 126 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851)», define «"Controlled Substances" or "Controlled drug"» as «a Narcotic drug, Psychotropic substance or Precursor chemical» and a psychotropic substance as «those natural or synthetic substances or any natural material listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention». Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». The guideline's own table «Substances in Schedule IV (1971 Convention)» names «DIAZEPAM», and the Green List, 36th edition 2025, carries it in Schedule IV as PD 006, «7-chloro-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-5-phenyl-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one». It has been in Schedule IV since a decision of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs adopted on 7 February 1984 and communicated on 29 March 1984, which placed thirty three benzodiazepines there, read in the Spanish transposing Order of 30 May 1984 in Boletín Oficial del Estado of 9 June 1984, where «Diazepam» appears in the list. So it was listed long before the guideline was adopted, and its reach does not turn on whether the guideline's definition follows later additions. Under Act 1019 the answer is not settled. Diazepam is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of Act 1019 as read on 3 October 2026. Fifth Schedule S of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) reads, as printed, «Flunitrazeparn (5-(o-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-ni-tro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one) and any of its salts or derivatives». The Act does not define «derivatives», and no instrument or decision applying item S to any benzodiazepine other than flunitrazepam was found in the instruments read or in the case law search described below. Set beside the chemical name printed in item S, diazepam's differs in two places: chlorine at position 7 where flunitrazepam has a nitro group, and no fluorine on the phenyl ring. The 1,3-dihydro core, the N1 methyl and the 2-one are shared. Whether that is a «derivative» in the Act's sense is a question of construction that no text read settles. So whether diazepam is also a narcotic drug under Act 1019 through item S is open, and it is stated as open here rather than answered either way. The nearest text the earlier cell gave, «Amphetamines and their analogues», is that cell's paraphrase of Fifth Schedule R, which names amphetamines with their «derivatives, isomers and analogues», and it has no bearing on a benzodiazepine. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation read on 3 October 2026 records as the Act's only amendment, «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023) on 2 August 2023». The Bill for that Act, read the same day, is «composed of a single clause» and was introduced «to substitute section 43»; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, list ninety six regulations and five Schedules of their own on the table of contents read on 3 October 2026 and revise no Schedule of the Act, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Two regimes, and which one reaches diazepam for a user is not settled. Under the medical supply regime: Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Authority has not registered, section 122(1) forbids importing a drug without a licence or permit under that Part, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. Breach of the guideline itself is sanctioned by section 148: subsection (1) says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice», subsection (4) makes a person who fails to comply liable to «an administrative penalty of not more than two thousand five hundred penalty units», and subsection (5) makes failure to pay that penalty an offence carrying imprisonment of not more than five years. Section 113(1) also makes it an offence to sell a drug «in contravention of Regulations or Guidelines made under this Part», punishable under section 129, but it sits under the heading «Deception of consumers», and whether it reaches a sale that breaks the guideline's prescription rule without deceiving anyone is not settled. Section 126 itself creates no offence. Section 123(1) reaches possession only of a «counterfeit drug». No provision of Act 851 read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence. If the «derivatives» limb of Fifth Schedule S were held to reach diazepam, it would be a narcotic drug under Act 1019, and then every Act 1019 offence would attach, including possession for use and purchase for personal use. Its Second Schedule, read in the text layer of the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes a purchase «for personal use», a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence. A web search of ghalii.org, judy.legal, lawsghana.com and dennislawgh.com on 3 October 2026 found no decision applying that limb to diazepam either way, which is not proof that none exists.
If prescribed / medical: The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read. If item S were held to reach diazepam, section 36(1) of Act 1019 would also require a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import it.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/content on 3 October 2026, Fifth Schedule R and S, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules searched, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule, definitions, section 112 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 113, 118, 122, 123, 126, 129 and 148 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 1, 2, 3.1, 5 and appendix 9.2.4 · INCB Green List, 36th edition 2025, read at https://www.incb.org/incb/uploads/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2026/2510307E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · L.I. 2475 table of contents, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Orden de 30 de mayo de 1984, BOE 9 June 1984, https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1984/06/09/pdfs/A16674-16674.pdf · Updated October 3, 2026

Diazepam in Ghana, full detail →

DMT

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for DMT is Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 6, which names «N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 6 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for DMT.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for DMT.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 6, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

DMT in Ghana, full detail →

DOM

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for DOM is Fifth Schedule R.3, which names «4-methyl-2,5-dimethoxyamphetamine (STP)». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule R.3 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for DOM.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for DOM.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule R.3, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

DOM in Ghana, full detail →

Ephedrine

Legal status: Controlled as a Class A precursor under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), not as a narcotic drug. The Eighth Schedule, headed «CHEMICAL PRECURSORS», lists under Part 1, «CLASS A PRECURSORS», item 4, «Ephedrine (erythro-2-(methylamino)-l-phenylpropan-l-ol), its salts and any plant containing ephedrine or any of its salts», and the Act says «"precursor" includes any substance specified in the Eighth Schedule whether natural or synthetic». The FDA controlled substances guideline also lists «EPHEDRINE» among «Substances included in Table I (1988 Convention)». Read on 3 October 2026. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 1019 prints no sentence of death. Ephedrine is a precursor under the Act, not a narcotic drug, so the possession and trafficking offences in sections 37 and 38(1) to (3) do not attach to it through this listing. Section 34(2) requires anyone who deals in precursors to hold a licence from the Commission to import and export them, and section 34(6) makes it an offence for a person who «is unable to account for precursors in the possession of the person» or who deals with unauthorised persons in their sale or distribution. The Second Schedule row for section 34 sets a fine of not less than five hundred and not more than two thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than five and not more than ten years or both, with three years in default. Section 38(4) separately forbids importing or exporting «the chemicals listed in the Seventh Schedule» with intent to divert them, and section 36(5) speaks of «a precursor as specified in the Fifth Schedule»; both cross references are quoted as printed, although the precursors are listed in the Eighth Schedule.
If prescribed / medical: Ephedrine medicines fall under the FDA guideline, which says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription» and defines a controlled substance to include a precursor chemical. Whether a given ephedrine product is registered in Ghana was not checked.
Documentation: Section 34(2) requires a licence from the Commission to import or export precursors and a permit for the clearance of imports, and section 36(5) requires joint approval by the Food and Drugs Authority and the Commission for a licence covering a precursor. No traveller allowance was found.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Eighth Schedule Part 1 item 4, definition of precursor, sections 34, 36(5) and 38(4), Second Schedule · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, effective 1 January 2021, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, section 2 glossary and appendix 9.3.1 · Updated October 3, 2026

Ephedrine in Ghana, full detail →

Etizolam

Legal status: Etizolam is a controlled substance for medical supply in Ghana, reached through the guideline's definition rather than its table. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances (FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, adopted 8 December 2020, effective 1 January 2021), issued «In pursuance of Section 126 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851)», define «"Controlled Substances" or "Controlled drug"» as «a Narcotic drug, Psychotropic substance or Precursor chemical» and a psychotropic substance as «those natural or synthetic substances or any natural material listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention». Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». The guideline's own Schedule IV table does not name etizolam, and its appendix says its list «includes but not limited to» the Green List. The Green List, 36th edition 2025, carries etizolam in Schedule IV as PE 009, «4-(2-Chlorophenyl)-2-ethyl-9-methyl-6H-thieno[3,2-f][1,2,4]triazolo[4,3a][1,4]diazepine». UNODC's announcement records that the Commission on Narcotic Drugs decision placing «Flualprazolam and Etizolam» in Schedule IV, taken at its 63rd session in March 2020, entered into force on 3 November 2020. That is before the guideline was adopted on 8 December 2020, so etizolam was already listed when the guideline was adopted, and its reach does not turn on whether the definition follows later additions. Under Act 1019 the answer is not settled. Etizolam is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of Act 1019 as read on 3 October 2026. Fifth Schedule S of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) reads, as printed, «Flunitrazeparn (5-(o-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-ni-tro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one) and any of its salts or derivatives». The Act does not define «derivatives», and no instrument or decision applying item S to any benzodiazepine other than flunitrazepam was found in the instruments read or in the case law search described below. Etizolam is a thienodiazepine: on its printed name the benzene ring of a benzodiazepine is replaced by a thiophene ring, a triazole ring is fused on, and it carries no nitro group. It is further from the item S molecule than any 1,4-benzodiazepine in this set, which makes a derivative reading weaker, not excluded. So whether etizolam is also a narcotic drug under Act 1019 through item S is open, and it is stated as open here rather than answered either way. The nearest text the earlier cell gave was «Flunitrazepam derivatives», which is a paraphrase of item S and not its printed wording; item S is quoted above as printed. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation read on 3 October 2026 records as the Act's only amendment, «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023) on 2 August 2023». The Bill for that Act, read the same day, is «composed of a single clause» and was introduced «to substitute section 43»; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, list ninety six regulations and five Schedules of their own on the table of contents read on 3 October 2026 and revise no Schedule of the Act, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Two regimes, and which one reaches etizolam for a user is not settled. Under the medical supply regime: Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Authority has not registered, section 122(1) forbids importing a drug without a licence or permit under that Part, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. Breach of the guideline itself is sanctioned by section 148: subsection (1) says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice», subsection (4) makes a person who fails to comply liable to «an administrative penalty of not more than two thousand five hundred penalty units», and subsection (5) makes failure to pay that penalty an offence carrying imprisonment of not more than five years. Section 113(1) also makes it an offence to sell a drug «in contravention of Regulations or Guidelines made under this Part», punishable under section 129, but it sits under the heading «Deception of consumers», and whether it reaches a sale that breaks the guideline's prescription rule without deceiving anyone is not settled. Section 126 itself creates no offence. Section 123(1) reaches possession only of a «counterfeit drug». No provision of Act 851 read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence. If the «derivatives» limb of Fifth Schedule S were held to reach etizolam, it would be a narcotic drug under Act 1019, and then every Act 1019 offence would attach, including possession for use and purchase for personal use. Its Second Schedule, read in the text layer of the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes a purchase «for personal use», a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence. A web search of ghalii.org, judy.legal, lawsghana.com and dennislawgh.com on 3 October 2026 found no decision applying that limb to etizolam either way, which is not proof that none exists.
If prescribed / medical: The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read. If item S were held to reach etizolam, section 36(1) of Act 1019 would also require a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import it.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/content on 3 October 2026, Fifth Schedule R and S, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules searched, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule, definitions, section 112 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 113, 118, 122, 123, 126, 129 and 148 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 1, 2, 3.1, 5 and appendices 9.2 and 9.2.4 · INCB Green List, 36th edition 2025, read at https://www.incb.org/incb/uploads/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2026/2510307E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · L.I. 2475 table of contents, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · UNODC announcement, Commission on Narcotic Drugs decision entering into force 3 November 2020, https://www.unodc.org/LSS/Announcement/Details/3297afad-f16e-4a4f-89c6-6d3b371ec737 · Updated October 3, 2026

Etizolam in Ghana, full detail →

Fentanyl

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Fifth Schedule N.5 names «Fentanyl». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule N.5 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for fentanyl.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for fentanyl.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule N.5, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Fentanyl in Ghana, full detail →

Gabapentin

Legal status: Gabapentin is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for gabapentin, Neurontin and gaba returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 32, «4-hydroxybutanoic acid (GHB)», a different compound. It is not on the Green List 2024, so the guideline's definition of a psychotropic substance does not reach it. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating gabapentin as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Gabapentin is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 regulates gabapentin as a drug: section 118(1) requires registration before it is sold or supplied. Its prescription classification in Ghana was not read, and whether a given product is registered was not checked.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Gabapentin in Ghana, full detail →

GBL

Legal status: Controlled as a Class A precursor under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), not as a narcotic drug. The Eighth Schedule lists under Part 1, «CLASS A PRECURSORS», item 18, «Gamma-butyrolactone (dihydro-2(3H)-furanone)», beside item 19, «1,4-butanediol», and the Act says «"precursor" includes any substance specified in the Eighth Schedule whether natural or synthetic». GHB itself is a narcotic drug at Fifth Schedule T and Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 32. That GBL converts to GHB in the body is a pharmacological fact from outside the text, and the Act does not treat GBL as GHB. Read on 3 October 2026. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 1019 prints no sentence of death. GBL is a precursor under the Act, not a narcotic drug, so the possession and trafficking offences in sections 37 and 38(1) to (3) do not attach to it through this listing. Section 34(2) requires anyone who deals in precursors to hold a licence from the Commission to import and export them, and section 34(6) makes it an offence for a person who «is unable to account for precursors in the possession of the person» or who deals with unauthorised persons in their sale or distribution. The Second Schedule row for section 34 sets a fine of not less than five hundred and not more than two thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than five and not more than ten years or both, with three years in default. Section 38(4) separately forbids importing or exporting «the chemicals listed in the Seventh Schedule» with intent to divert them, and section 36(5) speaks of «a precursor as specified in the Fifth Schedule»; both cross references are quoted as printed, although the precursors are listed in the Eighth Schedule.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription or medical route for GBL was found.
Documentation: Section 34(2) requires a licence from the Commission to import or export precursors and a permit for the clearance of imports. No traveller allowance was found.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Eighth Schedule Part 1 items 18 and 19, Fifth Schedule T, Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 32, definition of precursor, sections 34, 36(5) and 38(4), Second Schedule · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Updated October 3, 2026

GBL in Ghana, full detail →

GHB

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for GHB is Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 32, which names «4-hydroxybutanoic acid (GHB)». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 32 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for GHB.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for GHB.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 32, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

GHB in Ghana, full detail →

Heroin

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for heroin is Fifth Schedule A.10, which names «Diacetylmorphine (heroin)». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule A.10 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for heroin.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for heroin. Carried forward from the previous cell, not re-read in this pass: that cell, citing Act 1019 sections 37, 41 and 45, recorded that possession for personal use is depenalised rather than decriminalised, drawing a fine of 200 to 500 penalty units (about GHS 2,400 to 6,000) with non-payment converting to roughly 15 months' imprisonment; that this replaced the prison terms of PNDCL 236 of 1990 and personal use remains illegal; and that the Act defines no personal use quantity threshold.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule A.10, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), sections 37, 41, 43 and 45 · ir.parliament.gh · ghalii.org · idpc.net · Updated October 3, 2026

Heroin in Ghana, full detail →

Hydrocodone

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Fifth Schedule A.15 names «Hydrocodone». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule A.15 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for hydrocodone.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for hydrocodone.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule A.15, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Hydrocodone in Ghana, full detail →

Ketamine

Legal status: Ketamine is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for ketamine, Ketalar and cyclohexanone returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Fifth Schedule Z, «Methoxetamine( MXE )», as printed, and Seventh Schedule Part 2 items 12 to 15, none of which is ketamine. It is not on the Green List 2024, which carries the related 2-fluorodeschloroketamine but not ketamine. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating ketamine as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Ketamine is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 regulates ketamine as a drug: section 118(1) requires registration before it is sold or supplied. Its prescription classification in Ghana was not read, and whether a given product is registered was not checked. The Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, which this cell's previous text named, was not read for this cell.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Ketamine in Ghana, full detail →

Khat

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for khat is Seventh Schedule Part 1, which names «Catha edulis Forsk. its preparations, derivatives, alkaloids and salts». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Seventh Schedule Part 1 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for khat.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for khat.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Seventh Schedule Part 1, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Khat in Ghana, full detail →

Lorazepam

Legal status: Lorazepam is a controlled substance for medical supply in Ghana. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances (FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, adopted 8 December 2020, effective 1 January 2021), issued «In pursuance of Section 126 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851)», define «"Controlled Substances" or "Controlled drug"» as «a Narcotic drug, Psychotropic substance or Precursor chemical» and a psychotropic substance as «those natural or synthetic substances or any natural material listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention». Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». The guideline's own table «Substances in Schedule IV (1971 Convention)» names «LORAZEPAM», and the Green List, 36th edition 2025, carries it in Schedule IV as PL 004, «7-chloro-5-(o-chlorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-3-hydroxy-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one». It has been in Schedule IV since a decision of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs adopted on 7 February 1984 and communicated on 29 March 1984, which placed thirty three benzodiazepines there, read in the Spanish transposing Order of 30 May 1984 in Boletín Oficial del Estado of 9 June 1984, where «Lorazepam» appears in the list. So it was listed long before the guideline was adopted, and its reach does not turn on whether the guideline's definition follows later additions. Under Act 1019 the answer is not settled. Lorazepam is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of Act 1019 as read on 3 October 2026. Fifth Schedule S of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) reads, as printed, «Flunitrazeparn (5-(o-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-ni-tro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one) and any of its salts or derivatives». The Act does not define «derivatives», and no instrument or decision applying item S to any benzodiazepine other than flunitrazepam was found in the instruments read or in the case law search described below. Lorazepam's printed name keeps the ortho-halogenated phenyl ring of flunitrazepam but with chlorine for fluorine, puts chlorine at position 7 in place of the nitro group, adds a 3-hydroxy group and lacks the N1 methyl. Four differences from the item S molecule is not a reason it falls outside a «derivatives» limb, and nor is it a reason it falls inside one. So whether lorazepam is also a narcotic drug under Act 1019 through item S is open, and it is stated as open here rather than answered either way. The nearest text the earlier cell gave, «Amphetamines and their analogues», is that cell's paraphrase of Fifth Schedule R, which names amphetamines with their «derivatives, isomers and analogues», and it has no bearing on a benzodiazepine. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation read on 3 October 2026 records as the Act's only amendment, «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023) on 2 August 2023». The Bill for that Act, read the same day, is «composed of a single clause» and was introduced «to substitute section 43»; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, list ninety six regulations and five Schedules of their own on the table of contents read on 3 October 2026 and revise no Schedule of the Act, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Two regimes, and which one reaches lorazepam for a user is not settled. Under the medical supply regime: Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Authority has not registered, section 122(1) forbids importing a drug without a licence or permit under that Part, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. Breach of the guideline itself is sanctioned by section 148: subsection (1) says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice», subsection (4) makes a person who fails to comply liable to «an administrative penalty of not more than two thousand five hundred penalty units», and subsection (5) makes failure to pay that penalty an offence carrying imprisonment of not more than five years. Section 113(1) also makes it an offence to sell a drug «in contravention of Regulations or Guidelines made under this Part», punishable under section 129, but it sits under the heading «Deception of consumers», and whether it reaches a sale that breaks the guideline's prescription rule without deceiving anyone is not settled. Section 126 itself creates no offence. Section 123(1) reaches possession only of a «counterfeit drug». No provision of Act 851 read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence. If the «derivatives» limb of Fifth Schedule S were held to reach lorazepam, it would be a narcotic drug under Act 1019, and then every Act 1019 offence would attach, including possession for use and purchase for personal use. Its Second Schedule, read in the text layer of the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes a purchase «for personal use», a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence. A web search of ghalii.org, judy.legal, lawsghana.com and dennislawgh.com on 3 October 2026 found no decision applying that limb to lorazepam either way, which is not proof that none exists.
If prescribed / medical: The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read. If item S were held to reach lorazepam, section 36(1) of Act 1019 would also require a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import it.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/content on 3 October 2026, Fifth Schedule R and S, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules searched, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule, definitions, section 112 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 113, 118, 122, 123, 126, 129 and 148 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 1, 2, 3.1, 5 and appendix 9.2.4 · INCB Green List, 36th edition 2025, read at https://www.incb.org/incb/uploads/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2026/2510307E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · L.I. 2475 table of contents, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Orden de 30 de mayo de 1984, BOE 9 June 1984, https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1984/06/09/pdfs/A16674-16674.pdf · Updated October 3, 2026

Lorazepam in Ghana, full detail →

LSD

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for LSD is Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 4, which names «Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 4 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for LSD.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for LSD.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 4, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

LSD in Ghana, full detail →

MDA

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for MDA is Fifth Schedule R.4, which names «3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA)». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule R.4 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for MDA.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for MDA.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule R.4, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

MDA in Ghana, full detail →

MDMA

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for MDMA is Fifth Schedule R.8, which names «N-methyl-3,4-methylenedioxy-amphetamine». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule R.8 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for MDMA.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for MDMA. Carried forward from the previous cell, not re-read in this pass: that cell, citing Act 1019 sections 37, 41 and 45, recorded that possession for personal use is depenalised rather than decriminalised, drawing a fine of 200 to 500 penalty units (about GHS 2,400 to 6,000) with non-payment converting to roughly 15 months' imprisonment; that this replaced the prison terms of PNDCL 236 of 1990 and personal use remains illegal; and that the Act defines no personal use quantity threshold.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule R.8, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), sections 37, 41, 43 and 45 · ir.parliament.gh · ghalii.org · idpc.net · Updated October 3, 2026

MDMA in Ghana, full detail →

MDPV

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for MDPV is Fifth Schedule P, which names «Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV)». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule P entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for MDPV.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for MDPV.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule P, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

MDPV in Ghana, full detail →

Memantine

Legal status: Memantine is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for memantine, Namenda and adamantan returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Seventh Schedule Part 2 items 12 to 15, the phencyclidine analogues, none of which is memantine. It is not on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating memantine as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Memantine is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 regulates memantine as a drug: section 118(1) requires registration before it is sold or supplied. Its prescription classification in Ghana was not read, and whether a given product is registered was not checked.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Memantine in Ghana, full detail →

Mephedrone (4-MMC)

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), as a cathinone derivative. Seventh Schedule Part 1, headed «Psychotropic Substances of natural origin», names «Catha edulis Forsk. its preparations, derivatives, alkaloids and salts, including:» and its item 2 is «Cathinones and their derivatives». Part 2 also names «Calhinone» at item 18, as printed, and «2-Metliylamino-I-phenyl-I-propanone», which is methcathinone, at item 20, as printed. The Act's definition of narcotic drug reaches a listed substance «whether in a natural or synthetic form». Mephedrone is 4-methylmethcathinone, a ring-methylated derivative of methcathinone and so of cathinone, a chemical fact brought from outside the text; the Act does not name it. No decision applying item 2 to a synthetic cathinone was found. Read in the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 1019 prints no sentence of death. Its Second Schedule, read from the page images, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes purchase for personal use, a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription or medical route for mephedrone was found. The Green List 2024 carries mephedrone in Schedule II of the 1971 Convention, which brings it within the FDA guideline's definition of a psychotropic substance for medical supply.
Documentation: Section 36(1) requires a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import a narcotic drug. No traveller allowance was found in Act 1019.

Mephedrone (4-MMC) in Ghana, full detail →

Mescaline

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 16 names «Mescaline». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 16 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for mescaline.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for mescaline.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 16, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Mescaline in Ghana, full detail →

Methadone

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Fifth Schedule D.4 names «Methadone». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule D.4 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for methadone.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for methadone.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule D.4, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Methadone in Ghana, full detail →

Methamphetamine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Fifth Schedule Q names «Methamphetamine». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule Q entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for methamphetamine.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for methamphetamine. Carried forward from the previous cell, not re-read in this pass: that cell, citing Act 1019 sections 37, 41 and 45, recorded that possession for personal use is depenalised rather than decriminalised, drawing a fine of 200 to 500 penalty units (about GHS 2,400 to 6,000) with non-payment converting to roughly 15 months' imprisonment; that this replaced the prison terms of PNDCL 236 of 1990 and personal use remains illegal; and that the Act defines no personal use quantity threshold.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule Q, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), sections 37, 41, 43 and 45 · ir.parliament.gh · ghalii.org · idpc.net · Updated October 3, 2026

Methamphetamine in Ghana, full detail →

Methaqualone (Quaaludes)

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 2 names «Methaqualone». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 2 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for methaqualone.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for methaqualone.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 2, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Methaqualone (Quaaludes) in Ghana, full detail →

Methylone

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), as a cathinone derivative. Seventh Schedule Part 1, headed «Psychotropic Substances of natural origin», names «Catha edulis Forsk. its preparations, derivatives, alkaloids and salts, including:» and its item 2 is «Cathinones and their derivatives». Part 2 also names «Calhinone» at item 18, as printed, and «2-Metliylamino-I-phenyl-I-propanone», which is methcathinone, at item 20, as printed. The Act's definition of narcotic drug reaches a listed substance «whether in a natural or synthetic form». Methylone is 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylcathinone, a derivative of methcathinone and so of cathinone, a chemical fact brought from outside the text; the Act does not name it, and it is not the MDMA entry at Fifth Schedule R.8. No decision applying item 2 to a synthetic cathinone was found. Read in the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 1019 prints no sentence of death. Its Second Schedule, read from the page images, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes purchase for personal use, a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription or medical route for methylone was found. The Green List 2024 carries methylone in Schedule II of the 1971 Convention.
Documentation: Section 36(1) requires a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import a narcotic drug. No traveller allowance was found in Act 1019.

Methylone in Ghana, full detail →

Methylphenidate

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 1 names «Methylphenidate». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 1 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for methylphenidate.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for methylphenidate.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 1, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Methylphenidate in Ghana, full detail →

Modafinil

Legal status: Modafinil is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for modafinil, armodafinil and diphenylmethylsulfinyl returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Fifth Schedule R, «Amphetamines», whose «analogues» limb was read and does not name it. It is not on the Green List 2024, so the guideline's definition of a psychotropic substance does not reach it. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating modafinil as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Modafinil is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 regulates modafinil as a drug: section 118(1) requires registration before it is sold or supplied. Its prescription classification in Ghana was not read, and whether a given product is registered was not checked.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Modafinil in Ghana, full detail →

Morphine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Fifth Schedule A.3 names «Morphine». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule A.3 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for morphine.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for morphine.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule A.3, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Morphine in Ghana, full detail →

MXE

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The entry relied on for MXE is Fifth Schedule Z, which names «Methoxetamine (MXE)». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule Z entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for MXE.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for MXE.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule Z, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

MXE in Ghana, full detail →

Nicotine

Legal status: Nicotine is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is in no entry of the Fifth to Eighth Schedules as read on 3 October 2026. It is regulated as a constituent of tobacco under Part Six of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), which defines «"tobacco product" means a product entirely or partly made of tobacco leaf as raw material» and «"constituents" means nicotine, tar and any other component of a tobacco product or of tobacco smoke which the Minister may by an executive instrument declare to be a constituent». For nicotine products without tobacco leaf the Food and Drugs Authority's published answers, read on 3 October 2026, state that «The sale and advertisement of Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS), vapes» and what it calls non nicotine products «are prohibited in Ghana», and rest that on Part Six, sections 61(2) and 62(1) of Act 851, and Regulation 16 of the Tobacco Control Regulations, 2016 (L.I. 2247). Section 61(2) forbids selling, supplying or advertising «a non-tobacco product» that carries matter «commonly identified or associated with» a tobacco product, and section 62(1) forbids offering for sale «a product that looks like or is likely to be identified or associated with tobacco or a tobacco product». Regulation 16(1) of L.I. 2247, read in the regulations themselves, concerns «an illicit tobacco or tobacco product», and L.I. 2247 contains no provision naming electronic nicotine devices, so the prohibition is the Authority's reading of those sections and not a provision that names vapes. Case law on that reading was not searched for. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation read on 3 October 2026 records as the Act's only amendment, «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023) on 2 August 2023». The Bill for that Act, read the same day, is «composed of a single clause» and was introduced «to substitute section 43»; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, list ninety six regulations and five Schedules of their own on the table of contents read on 3 October 2026 and revise no Schedule of the Act, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Section 77(1) of Act 851 names promoting or offering for sale «tobacco or a tobacco product» contrary to sections 61 and 62 in its paragraphs (d) and (e), and a vape is not a tobacco product on the section 78 definition, so a vape seller's breach of section 61(2) or 62(1) falls under paragraph (j), a person who «contravenes any other provision of this Part». That is an offence liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than seven hundred and fifty penalty units or imprisonment of not more than three years or both, and for a continuing offence a further fine of ten penalty units for each day. The Authority's published answers name that section as the sanction for selling or advertising vapes, with an «Administrative fine of GHS 25,000.00» whose source instrument was not found. Section 65 sets the minimum age rules for tobacco products. Section 50 of Act 1019 and its Second Schedule bands do not reach nicotine, because it is in no entry of the Schedules they attach to. No provision read makes possession or use of a nicotine product by an adult an offence; press reports that the Authority also treats recreational use as prohibited were not traced to an instrument.
If prescribed / medical: Nicotine replacement therapy is a drug under Act 851 and needs registration under section 118(1); its classification was not read.
Documentation: No traveller allowance for nicotine products was found. Importing a vape for sale falls within the Authority's stated prohibition; section 118 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) requires registration or a personal import permit for a drug, which reaches nicotine replacement medicines. Sections 36(1) and 40(1) of Act 1019 require a licence to import a narcotic drug or plant. Neither applies to nicotine, which is not a narcotic drug.

Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, Part Six, sections 61, 62, 65, 77 and 78, and section 118 · Food and Drugs Authority, Frequently Asked Questions, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/newsroom/news/frequently-asked-questions/ on 3 October 2026 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, section 2 and appendix 9, which do not list nicotine · Tobacco Control Regulations, 2016 (L.I. 2247), read at https://assets.tobaccocontrollaws.org/uploads/legislation/Ghana/Ghana-TC-Regs-2016-native.pdf on 3 October 2026, regulation 16 · Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/content on 3 October 2026, Fifth to Eighth Schedules, sections 36, 40 and 112 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · L.I. 2475 table of contents, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Updated October 3, 2026

Nicotine in Ghana, full detail →

Nimetazepam

Legal status: Nimetazepam is a controlled substance for medical supply in Ghana, reached through the guideline's definition rather than its table. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances (FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, adopted 8 December 2020, effective 1 January 2021), issued «In pursuance of Section 126 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851)», define «"Controlled Substances" or "Controlled drug"» as «a Narcotic drug, Psychotropic substance or Precursor chemical» and a psychotropic substance as «those natural or synthetic substances or any natural material listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention». Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». The guideline's own Schedule IV table does not name nimetazepam, and its appendix says its list «includes but not limited to» the Green List. The Green List, 36th edition 2025, carries nimetazepam in Schedule IV as PN 001, «1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-nitro-5-phenyl-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one». It has been in Schedule IV since a decision of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs adopted on 7 February 1984 and communicated on 29 March 1984, which placed thirty three benzodiazepines there, read in the Spanish transposing Order of 30 May 1984 in Boletín Oficial del Estado of 9 June 1984, where «Nimetazepam» appears in the list. So it was listed long before the guideline was adopted, and its reach does not turn on whether the guideline's definition follows later additions. Under Act 1019 the answer is not settled. Nimetazepam is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of Act 1019 as read on 3 October 2026. Fifth Schedule S of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) reads, as printed, «Flunitrazeparn (5-(o-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-ni-tro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one) and any of its salts or derivatives». The Act does not define «derivatives», and no instrument or decision applying item S to any benzodiazepine other than flunitrazepam was found in the instruments read or in the case law search described below. Nimetazepam is one change away from item S. Its printed name is flunitrazepam's printed name with the o-fluoro on the phenyl ring removed and nothing else changed: the same N1 methyl, 7-nitro and 2-one. Of the benzodiazepines in this batch it is the strongest case for the «derivatives» limb, and it is still not decided by any text read. So whether nimetazepam is also a narcotic drug under Act 1019 through item S is open, and it is stated as open here rather than answered either way. The nearest text the earlier cell gave, «Amphetamines and their analogues», is that cell's paraphrase of Fifth Schedule R, which names amphetamines with their «derivatives, isomers and analogues», and it has no bearing on a benzodiazepine. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation read on 3 October 2026 records as the Act's only amendment, «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023) on 2 August 2023». The Bill for that Act, read the same day, is «composed of a single clause» and was introduced «to substitute section 43»; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, list ninety six regulations and five Schedules of their own on the table of contents read on 3 October 2026 and revise no Schedule of the Act, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Two regimes, and which one reaches nimetazepam for a user is not settled. Under the medical supply regime: Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Authority has not registered, section 122(1) forbids importing a drug without a licence or permit under that Part, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. Breach of the guideline itself is sanctioned by section 148: subsection (1) says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice», subsection (4) makes a person who fails to comply liable to «an administrative penalty of not more than two thousand five hundred penalty units», and subsection (5) makes failure to pay that penalty an offence carrying imprisonment of not more than five years. Section 113(1) also makes it an offence to sell a drug «in contravention of Regulations or Guidelines made under this Part», punishable under section 129, but it sits under the heading «Deception of consumers», and whether it reaches a sale that breaks the guideline's prescription rule without deceiving anyone is not settled. Section 126 itself creates no offence. Section 123(1) reaches possession only of a «counterfeit drug». No provision of Act 851 read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence. If the «derivatives» limb of Fifth Schedule S were held to reach nimetazepam, it would be a narcotic drug under Act 1019, and then every Act 1019 offence would attach, including possession for use and purchase for personal use. Its Second Schedule, read in the text layer of the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes a purchase «for personal use», a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence. A web search of ghalii.org, judy.legal, lawsghana.com and dennislawgh.com on 3 October 2026 found no decision applying that limb to nimetazepam either way, which is not proof that none exists.
If prescribed / medical: The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read. If item S were held to reach nimetazepam, section 36(1) of Act 1019 would also require a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import it.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/content on 3 October 2026, Fifth Schedule R and S, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules searched, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule, definitions, section 112 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 113, 118, 122, 123, 126, 129 and 148 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 1, 2, 3.1, 5 and appendices 9.2 and 9.2.4 · INCB Green List, 36th edition 2025, read at https://www.incb.org/incb/uploads/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2026/2510307E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · L.I. 2475 table of contents, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Orden de 30 de mayo de 1984, BOE 9 June 1984, https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1984/06/09/pdfs/A16674-16674.pdf · Updated October 3, 2026

Nimetazepam in Ghana, full detail →

Nitrous Oxide

Legal status: Nitrous oxide is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for nitrous oxide, dinitrogen and laughing gas returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Fifth Schedule T, «4-hydroxybutanoic acid (GHB)», a different depressant; Act 1019 has no provision on inhalants or solvents. It is not on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating nitrous oxide as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Nitrous oxide is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: As a medical gas it would be a drug for Act 851 purposes; that classification was not read.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Nitrous Oxide in Ghana, full detail →

Opium

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Fifth Schedule A.1 names «Opium». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule A.1 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for opium.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for opium.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule A.1, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Opium in Ghana, full detail →

Oxycodone

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Fifth Schedule A.28 names «Oxycodone». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Fifth Schedule A.28 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for oxycodone.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for oxycodone.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Fifth Schedule A.28, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Oxycodone in Ghana, full detail →

PCP

Legal status: PCP is a controlled substance for medical supply in Ghana, reached through the guideline's definition, and it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) as read on 3 October 2026. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances (FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, adopted 8 December 2020, effective 1 January 2021), issued «In pursuance of Section 126 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851)», define «"Controlled Substances" or "Controlled drug"» as «a Narcotic drug, Psychotropic substance or Precursor chemical» and a psychotropic substance as «those natural or synthetic substances or any natural material listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention». Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». The guideline's own tables do not name phencyclidine, and its appendix says its list «includes but not limited to» the Green List. The Green List, 36th edition 2025, carries it in Schedule II as PP 005, «PHENCYCLIDINE PCP 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine», and the same edition's article 13 table records Iceland's import prohibition of «Phencyclidine» notified on «28 November 1979», in a table the Green List describes as notifications concerning «specific substances in Schedules II, III and IV of the 1971 Convention», so PCP was listed long before the guideline was adopted. The earlier cell relied on Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 21, which is printed «1-[ 1-(Phenylmethyl)cyc1ohexyl] piperidine and any salt thereof». That is the benzyl analogue: phenylmethyl is a benzyl group, so item 21 carries one carbon more than phencyclidine and is neither PCP nor an isomer of it, and that sentence is withdrawn on the text of the entry. The neighbouring arylcyclohexylamine entries were read and are other substances: item 12 «N-( l-phenylcyclohexyl)ethylamine (PCE)», item 13 «1-[l-(2-Thienyl) cyclohexyljpiperidine (TCP)», item 14 «l-Phenyl-N-propylcyc1ohexanamine», item 15 «Rolicyc1idine (l-(l-phenylcyc1ohexyl) pyrrolidine)» and item 22 «1-[1-(4-Methylphenyl) cyc1ohexyl]piperidine», each as printed. None is an isomer, ester, ether or salt of PCP. Fifth Schedule C names «Phenylpiperidines, their intermediates, salts, derivatives and analogues», and its listed members, beginning with «Allylprodine», are 4-phenylpiperidine opioids and their intermediates; PCP carries its phenyl ring on the cyclohexane ring and not on the piperidine, so on its printed chemical name it is not a phenylpiperidine. Whether the undefined «analogues» limb of item C stretches to an arylcyclohexylamine is a question of construction that no text read answers, and no instrument or decision applying item C to PCP was found. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating PCP as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation read on 3 October 2026 records as the Act's only amendment, «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023) on 2 August 2023». The Bill for that Act, read the same day, is «composed of a single clause» and was introduced «to substitute section 43»; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, list ninety six regulations and five Schedules of their own on the table of contents read on 3 October 2026 and revise no Schedule of the Act, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. PCP is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. If the «analogues» limb of Fifth Schedule C were held to reach PCP, it would be a narcotic drug and every Act 1019 offence would attach. Its Second Schedule, read in the text layer of the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes a purchase «for personal use», a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence. Under the medical supply regime: Act 851's offences attach to a «drug», which section 149 defines to include a substance referred to in a publication named in its Fourth Schedule, which was not read, and a substance «prepared, sold or represented for use» in treating disease or in modifying organic functions, so whether a street sale of PCP is a sale of a drug in that sense is not settled. If it is: Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Authority has not registered, section 122(1) forbids importing a drug without a licence or permit under that Part, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. Breach of the guideline itself is sanctioned by section 148: subsection (1) says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice», subsection (4) makes a person who fails to comply liable to «an administrative penalty of not more than two thousand five hundred penalty units», and subsection (5) makes failure to pay that penalty an offence carrying imprisonment of not more than five years. Section 113(1) also makes it an offence to sell a drug «in contravention of Regulations or Guidelines made under this Part», punishable under section 129, but it sits under the heading «Deception of consumers», and whether it reaches a sale that breaks the guideline's prescription rule without deceiving anyone is not settled. Section 126 itself creates no offence. Section 123(1) reaches possession only of a «counterfeit drug». No provision of Act 851 read for this cell makes possession by a user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription or medical route for PCP was found, and no registration of it was searched for. The guideline restricts supply of every controlled substance to licensed wholesalers, hospitals and registered pharmacies, and pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order».
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read. No import permit procedure specific to PCP was found.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/content on 3 October 2026, Seventh Schedule Part 2 items 12 to 15, 21 and 22, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules searched, definition of narcotic drug, section 112 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 113, 118, 122, 123, 126, 129 and 148 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 1, 2, 3.1, 5 and appendix 9.2 · INCB Green List, 36th edition 2025, read at https://www.incb.org/incb/uploads/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2026/2510307E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · L.I. 2475 table of contents, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Updated October 3, 2026

PCP in Ghana, full detail →

Phenibut

Legal status: Phenibut is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for phenibut, fenibut and phenyl-GABA returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 32, «4-hydroxybutanoic acid (GHB)», a different compound. It is not on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating phenibut as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Phenibut is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 section 118(1) forbids selling or supplying any drug the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered. Whether phenibut is registered in Ghana was not checked.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Phenibut in Ghana, full detail →

Pink Cocaine / Tusi

Legal status: Controlled through its constituents. Pink cocaine is a market label for a coloured powder that is usually a mixture, most often of ketamine and MDMA and sometimes with 2C-B, a market fact brought from outside the Act, so the answer follows what a sample contains. In the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), MDMA is Fifth Schedule R.8, «N-methyl-3,4-methylenedioxy-amphetamine», and 2C-B is Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 23, «4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxybenzeneethanamine and any salt, isomer or salt of isomer thereof»; a mixture containing 2C-B is a psychotropic substance because the Act defines that term to include «anything that contains a substance specified in that Schedule». Ketamine is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule, so a powder that is ketamine alone is not reached through a listing. Read on 3 October 2026. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 1019 prints no sentence of death. Its Second Schedule, read from the page images, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes purchase for personal use, a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence. Those bands attach through the MDMA or 2C-B in a sample, not through the label.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription route applies to a street mixture. Ketamine is a medicine regulated under the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), and medical supply of it is not supply of this mixture.
Documentation: Section 36(1) requires a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import a narcotic drug. No traveller allowance was found in Act 1019.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Fifth Schedule R.8, Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 23, definition of psychotropic substance, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · searched for ketamine and cyclohexanone with no entry · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Updated October 3, 2026

Pink Cocaine / Tusi in Ghana, full detail →

Poppers

Legal status: Poppers is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for poppers, amyl nitrite, isobutyl nitrite, isopropyl nitrite, alkyl nitrite and nitrite returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Fifth Schedule T, «4-hydroxybutanoic acid (GHB)», a different depressant; Act 1019 has no provision on inhalants or solvents. Poppers is a market label for liquid alkyl nitrites, a market fact from outside the text, and none of them is on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating poppers as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Poppers is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 section 118(1) forbids selling or supplying a drug that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered. Whether any alkyl nitrite is registered in Ghana, or whether a product sold as a room odouriser counts as a drug, was not checked.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Poppers in Ghana, full detail →

Pregabalin

Legal status: Pregabalin is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for pregabalin, Lyrica and gaba returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 32, «4-hydroxybutanoic acid (GHB)», a different compound. It is not on the Green List 2024, so the guideline's definition of a psychotropic substance does not reach it. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating pregabalin as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Pregabalin is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 regulates pregabalin as a drug: section 118(1) requires registration before it is sold or supplied. Its prescription classification in Ghana was not read, and whether a given product is registered was not checked.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Pregabalin in Ghana, full detail →

Psilocybin

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 11 names «Psilocybin». That entry was read in the official parliamentary text of the Act on 20 September 2026. The offences are in sections 36 to 45 and repeat convictions in section 50.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. The record this cell rests on states no death penalty in Act 1019 and no drug quantity that triggers life imprisonment. The fine and imprisonment band for an offence under sections 36 to 45 is the one the Second Schedule to the Act sets for that offence; the band figures are not reproduced in this source record. Section 50 says the court shall impose life imprisonment on a third qualifying trafficking-type conviction.
If prescribed / medical: The source this cell rests on, the Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 11 entry and sections 36 to 50 of Act 1019, does not state a prescription or medical route for psilocybin.
Documentation: The source this cell rests on does not state an import permit or traveller documentation rule for psilocybin.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 11, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule · repository.parliament.gh · Updated October 3, 2026

Psilocybin in Ghana, full detail →

Quetiapine

Legal status: Quetiapine is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for quetiapine, Seroquel and dibenzothiazepine returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 2, «Methaqualone», a different sedative. It is not on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating quetiapine as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Quetiapine is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 regulates quetiapine as a drug: section 118(1) requires registration before it is sold or supplied. Its prescription classification in Ghana was not read, and whether a given product is registered was not checked.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Quetiapine in Ghana, full detail →

Scopolamine (Devil's Breath)

Legal status: Scopolamine is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for scopolamine, hyoscine, tropane and Datura returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Fifth Schedule B, the coca alkaloids, which are different tropanes. It is not on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Plants that contain it, such as Datura, may fall within «"narcotic plant" means vegetation that has psychotropic qualities», which sections 39 to 42 use; that question is about the plant and is not answered here. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating scopolamine as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Scopolamine is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 regulates scopolamine, also called hyoscine, as a drug: section 118(1) requires registration before it is sold or supplied. Its prescription classification in Ghana was not read, and whether a given product is registered was not checked.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Scopolamine (Devil's Breath) in Ghana, full detail →

Tobacco

Legal status: Legal for adults and regulated by Part Six of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), «TOBACCO CONTROL MEASURES». Section 65(1) says a person shall not «sell or offer for sale tobacco or a tobacco product to a child», and section 78 defines «"child" means a person below the age of eighteen years». Section 58(1) forbids smoking «in an enclosed or indoor area of a work place, or in any other public place except in a designated area», and section 68 forbids sale in health institutions including pharmacies, in schools other than tertiary institutions, in amusement parks, cinemas and stadiums, by vending machine, and «through the post, the internet or any other medium of communication». The Tobacco Control Regulations, 2016 (L.I. 2247) add packaging and health warning rules. Tobacco is not named in the Fifth to Eighth Schedules of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). Act 851 was read as printed in the Ministry of Health copy on 3 October 2026; later amendments, if any, were not traced. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Act 851 prints no sentence of death. Section 77(1) makes it an offence to smoke in a public place contrary to section 58, to sell tobacco to a child contrary to section 65, to sell in a place barred by section 68, or to contravene any other provision of Part Six, punishable on summary conviction by a fine of not more than seven hundred and fifty penalty units or imprisonment of not more than three years or both, and ten penalty units a day for a continuing offence. Under section 65(4) it is no defence that the buyer did not appear to be under eighteen.
If prescribed / medical: No prescription rule applies to tobacco. Section 67(2) allows treatment of tobacco addiction to use «a non-tobacco product packaged as a tobacco or tobacco product».
Documentation: No traveller allowance for tobacco was read; customs duty rules were not checked.

Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, Part Six, sections 58, 65, 67, 68, 77 and 78 · Tobacco Control Regulations, 2016 (L.I. 2247), read at https://assets.tobaccocontrollaws.org/uploads/legislation/Ghana/Ghana-TC-Regs-2016-native.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Fifth to Eighth Schedules · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Updated October 3, 2026

Tobacco in Ghana, full detail →

Tramadol

Legal status: Tramadol is a controlled substance for medical supply in Ghana and is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued «In pursuance of Section 126 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851)», print «***Tramadol» as the last row of the table headed «SCHEDULE 1» under «Drugs Included in Schedule I of the 1961 Convention», with no chemical name and no note on the page explaining the asterisks. Section 4 applies its strictest requirements to «the Schedule 1 drugs of the 1961 convention (as listed in the Appendix), methylphenidate and all other exceptions made by the FDA»: safe custody in a locked metal cabinet, a controlled drugs register, and no refills. Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». In Act 1019 the search for tramadol returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was the Fifth Schedule C group of phenylpiperidines, which does not name it. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating tramadol as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Tramadol is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence. Press reports from 2017 and 2018 of Food and Drugs Authority restrictions on tramadol strengths were found but are not an instrument and are not relied on.
If prescribed / medical: The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read. Section 6 of the guideline says «The refilling of a prescription for a controlled substance listed in Schedule I or exceptions defined from other schedules by the Authority is strictly prohibited».
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, effective 1 January 2021, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 1, 2, 3.1, 4, 4.1 to 4.3, 5, 6 and appendix 9.1.1, read from the page image · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 118, 122, 126, 129 and 148 · Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules, definition of narcotic drug, section 112 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Updated October 3, 2026

Tramadol in Ghana, full detail →

Xanax (Alprazolam)

Legal status: Alprazolam is a controlled substance for medical supply in Ghana. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances (FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, adopted 8 December 2020, effective 1 January 2021), issued «In pursuance of Section 126 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851)», define «"Controlled Substances" or "Controlled drug"» as «a Narcotic drug, Psychotropic substance or Precursor chemical» and a psychotropic substance as «those natural or synthetic substances or any natural material listed in the four Schedules of the 1971 Convention». Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». The guideline's own table «Substances in Schedule IV (1971 Convention)» names «ALPRAZOLAM», and the Green List, 36th edition 2025, carries it in Schedule IV as PA 004, «8-chloro-1-methyl-6-phenyl-4H-s-triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepine». It has been in Schedule IV since a decision of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs adopted on 7 February 1984 and communicated on 29 March 1984, which placed thirty three benzodiazepines there, read in the Spanish transposing Order of 30 May 1984 in Boletín Oficial del Estado of 9 June 1984, where «Alprazolam» appears in the list. So it was listed long before the guideline was adopted, and its reach does not turn on whether the guideline's definition follows later additions. Under Act 1019 the answer is not settled. Alprazolam is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of Act 1019 as read on 3 October 2026. Fifth Schedule S of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) reads, as printed, «Flunitrazeparn (5-(o-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-ni-tro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one) and any of its salts or derivatives». The Act does not define «derivatives», and no instrument or decision applying item S to any benzodiazepine other than flunitrazepam was found in the instruments read or in the case law search described below. On that chemical name alprazolam shares the 1,4-benzodiazepine skeleton with flunitrazepam, but a triazole ring is fused across the positions where flunitrazepam carries its N1 methyl and its 2-one carbonyl, so alprazolam's «1-methyl» sits on the triazole ring and it has no 2-one; it also carries chlorine where flunitrazepam carries its 7-nitro group, and no fluorine on the phenyl ring. That comparison is chemistry brought from outside the Act and is the reason the question is open, not an answer to it. So whether alprazolam is also a narcotic drug under Act 1019 through item S is open, and it is stated as open here rather than answered either way. The nearest text the earlier cell gave, «Amphetamines and their analogues», is that cell's paraphrase of Fifth Schedule R, which names amphetamines with their «derivatives, isomers and analogues», and it has no bearing on a benzodiazepine. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation read on 3 October 2026 records as the Act's only amendment, «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023) on 2 August 2023». The Bill for that Act, read the same day, is «composed of a single clause» and was introduced «to substitute section 43»; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, list ninety six regulations and five Schedules of their own on the table of contents read on 3 October 2026 and revise no Schedule of the Act, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Two regimes, and which one reaches alprazolam for a user is not settled. Under the medical supply regime: Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Authority has not registered, section 122(1) forbids importing a drug without a licence or permit under that Part, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. Breach of the guideline itself is sanctioned by section 148: subsection (1) says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice», subsection (4) makes a person who fails to comply liable to «an administrative penalty of not more than two thousand five hundred penalty units», and subsection (5) makes failure to pay that penalty an offence carrying imprisonment of not more than five years. Section 113(1) also makes it an offence to sell a drug «in contravention of Regulations or Guidelines made under this Part», punishable under section 129, but it sits under the heading «Deception of consumers», and whether it reaches a sale that breaks the guideline's prescription rule without deceiving anyone is not settled. Section 126 itself creates no offence. Section 123(1) reaches possession only of a «counterfeit drug». No provision of Act 851 read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence. If the «derivatives» limb of Fifth Schedule S were held to reach alprazolam, it would be a narcotic drug under Act 1019, and then every Act 1019 offence would attach, including possession for use and purchase for personal use. Its Second Schedule, read in the text layer of the official parliamentary text on 3 October 2026, sets these bands: possession for use under section 37(2)(a), a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred penalty units, with not more than fifteen months' imprisonment in default; possession for trafficking under section 37(2)(b), importation or exportation under section 36 and prohibited business under section 38, each a fine of not less than ten thousand and not more than twenty five thousand penalty units and imprisonment of not less than ten and not more than twenty five years, with three years in default; and purchase under section 45, which by section 45(2) includes a purchase «for personal use», a fine of not less than two thousand and not more than ten thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than four and not more than ten years. Possession for trafficking means a quantity «in excess of a quantity which can reasonably be used by an individual in a day». Section 50 requires life imprisonment where a person found guilty of a narcotic offence has been convicted «on more than one previous occasion» of an importation, exportation, processing, sale, manufacture, distribution, cultivation or supply offence. A web search of ghalii.org, judy.legal, lawsghana.com and dennislawgh.com on 3 October 2026 found no decision applying that limb to alprazolam either way, which is not proof that none exists.
If prescribed / medical: The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read. If item S were held to reach alprazolam, section 36(1) of Act 1019 would also require a licence from the Minister responsible for Health to import it.

Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/content on 3 October 2026, Fifth Schedule R and S, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules searched, sections 36 to 45 and 50, Second Schedule, definitions, section 112 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 113, 118, 122, 123, 126, 129 and 148 · Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 1, 2, 3.1, 5 and appendix 9.2.4 · INCB Green List, 36th edition 2025, read at https://www.incb.org/incb/uploads/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2026/2510307E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · L.I. 2475 table of contents, https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · Orden de 30 de mayo de 1984, BOE 9 June 1984, https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1984/06/09/pdfs/A16674-16674.pdf · Updated October 3, 2026

Xanax (Alprazolam) in Ghana, full detail →

Xylazine

Legal status: Xylazine is not a controlled drug under the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019): it is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule or the Eighth Schedule of precursors. The search, in English, for xylazine, Rompun and thiazine returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Fifth Schedule Z, «Methoxetamine( MXE )», as printed, a different compound. It is not on the Green List 2024. The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued under section 126 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), do not print it in their tables. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating xylazine as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Xylazine is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: Act 851 registers animal drugs as well as human drugs under section 128, and section 118(1) requires registration before a drug is sold or supplied. Whether a xylazine product is registered in Ghana was not checked.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Xylazine in Ghana, full detail →

Zolpidem

Legal status: Zolpidem is a controlled substance for medical supply in Ghana and is not named in the Fifth, Sixth or Seventh Schedule of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The Food and Drugs Authority's Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, issued «In pursuance of Section 126 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851)», list «ZOLPIDEM» in the table «Substances in Schedule IV (1971 Convention)». Section 148(1) of Act 851 says persons in the food and drugs industry «shall comply with the guidelines and codes of practice». The Green List 2024 carries it in Schedule IV of the 1971 Convention. In Act 1019 the search for zolpidem returned no entry, and the nearest text read and rejected was Seventh Schedule Part 2 item 2, «Methaqualone», a different hypnotic. Act 1019 says «"narcotic drug" includes any substance specified in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Schedules», so its list is not stated to be closed, and no instrument or decision treating zolpidem as a narcotic drug was found. This is stated as the Schedules stand after the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), which the judy.legal consolidation records as the Act's only amendment and whose Bill substitutes section 43 alone; the enacted text of Act 1100 was not itself read. The power to move the lists is in section 112: its subsection (1) gave a power to revise the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Schedules within twelve months of commencement, and its subsection (2)(b) gives a continuing power to make Regulations specifying «the classification of drugs and the appropriate penalties». The only Regulations found under the Act, L.I. 2475 of 2023 on cannabis cultivation, revise no Schedule on their table of contents, and this does not rule out a later instrument that was not found.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Neither Act 1019 nor the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) prints a sentence of death. Zolpidem is not named in Act 1019's Schedules, so the Second Schedule bands and section 50 do not attach through a listing. Section 118(1) of Act 851 says a person shall not «manufacture, prepare, import, export, distribute, sell, supply or exhibit for sale a drug» that the Food and Drugs Authority has not registered, and section 129 punishes a contravention of sections 111 to 124 on summary conviction by a fine of not less than seven thousand five hundred and not more than fifteen thousand penalty units or imprisonment of not less than fifteen and not more than twenty five years, or both. No provision read for this cell makes possession by a patient or user an offence.
If prescribed / medical: The guideline says «Controlled drugs should be dispensed only upon receipt of a valid prescription», defined by section 103 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857) as the guideline quotes it, and that pharmacies may supply «ONLY on receipt of a valid prescription or signed order». Act 857 itself was not read.
Documentation: Section 118(2) of Act 851 exempts from the registration rule «an import permit issued by the Authority for the importation of any of the articles mentioned in that subsection which is imported for personal use», and section 122(1) says a person without a licence or permit under that Part «shall not import a drug». The permit procedure for a traveller was not read.

Food and Drugs Authority, Guidelines for the Sale, Supply and Use of Controlled Substances, FDA/DRI/TSA/GL-SSCS/2020/07, version 01, effective 1 January 2021, read at https://fdaghana.gov.gh/final-guidelines-for-the-sale-supply-and-use-of-controlled-drugs-4 on 3 October 2026, sections 1, 2, 3.1, 5 and appendix 9.2.4 · Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), read at https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Public-Health-Act-851.pdf on 3 October 2026, sections 118, 122, 126, 129 and 148 · Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), official parliamentary text, read at https://repository.parliament.gh/bitstreams/2ae84af6-4f3f-49e5-aae1-b340fe350cb8/download on 3 October 2026, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules, definition of narcotic drug, section 112 · Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023, https://repository.parliament.gh/server/api/core/bitstreams/bddf7867-d1e8-4c0c-a44d-bc984aa53ec8/content · consolidation note «Amended by Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100 of 2023)», https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/2020/1019 · Narcotics Control Commission (Cultivation and Management of Cannabis) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475), https://www.judy.legal/legislation/akn/gh/act/li/2023/2475 · INCB Green List, 35th edition 2024, read at https://www.incb.org/documents/Psychotropics/forms/greenlist/2025/2412193E.pdf on 3 October 2026 · Updated October 3, 2026

Zolpidem in Ghana, full detail →

Not individually verified

16 substances are not individually verified for Ghana

For these the governing national drug law is cited, but we have not verified that the substance specifically is scheduled under it. Treat them as unanswered, not as legal. Confirm with Ghana’s drug authority or your embassy.

Substance	What we found
2-FDCK	Not confirmed. 2F-DCK was searched by name, INN and chemical name through the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Schedules of...
2C-E	Not confirmed. 2C-E is not named in Act 1019. The search, in English, for 2C-E, ethyl and dimethoxyphenethylamine...
2C-I	Not confirmed. 2C-I is not named in Act 1019. The search, in English, for 2C-I, iodo and dimethoxyphenethylamine...
2C-T-7	Not confirmed. 2C-T-7 is not named in Act 1019. The search, in English, for 2C-T-7, propylthio and...
6-APB	Not confirmed. 6-APB is not named in Act 1019. The search, in English, for 6-APB, benzofuran and aminopropyl...
7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH)	Not confirmed. 7-Hydroxymitragynine is not named in the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The...
Amanita muscaria	Not confirmed. Amanita muscaria is not named in the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), and neither...
DXM	Not confirmed. Dextromethorphan is not named in the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), and the Act...
HHC	Not confirmed. Hexahydrocannabinol is not named in the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The search...
Kratom	Not confirmed. Kratom, Mitragyna speciosa, is not named in the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), and...
LSA (Morning Glory)	Not confirmed. LSA, lysergic acid amide or ergine, is not named in the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act...
Mitragynine	Not confirmed. Mitragynine is not named in the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The search, in...
Peyote	Not confirmed. Peyote is expressly carved out of the mescaline entry and may still be reached as a plant. Seventh...
Salvia divinorum	Not confirmed. Salvia divinorum is not named in the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), and neither is...
Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice)	Not confirmed. Synthetic cannabinoids is a family label, not one substance. No synthetic cannabinoid receptor...
THC-P	Not confirmed. Tetrahydrocannabiphorol is not named in the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019). The...

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

Before you travel

Verify current rules with the destination country’s official drug authority and your own country’s embassy before traveling. Find the destination’s U.S. embassy & official country guidance →
Non-U.S. travelers: check your own government’s travel advisory and embassy.

If you’re detained or arrested abroad

Contact your own country’s embassy or consulate in the destination immediately, not the destination’s authorities. U.S. citizens: contact the nearest U.S. embassy/consulate and the U.S. State Department at +1-202-501-4444 (from abroad). If a U.S. citizen is arrested or detained abroad →

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