Is Heroin legal in Japan?

Also known as: diacetylmorphine, smack

Legal status

Heroin is a 麻薬, a narcotic, and inside that regime one of the ジアセチルモルヒネ等 in Japan. The entry is 「ジアセチルモルヒネ（別名ヘロイン）その他モルヒネのエステル及びその塩類」 at 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法別表第一第十六号, which is diacetylmorphine, otherwise called heroin, the other esters of morphine, and their salts. 第十二条第一項 then singles it out: 「ジアセチルモルヒネ、その塩類又はこれらのいずれかを含有する麻薬（以下「ジアセチルモルヒネ等」という。）は、何人も、輸入し、輸出し、製造し、製剤し、小分けし、譲り渡し、譲り受け、交付し、施用し、所持し、又は廃棄してはならない。」 The only exception is licensed research with the Minister's permission. This is the position on the narcotics tables status 6 September 2026, with the psychotropics tables status 3 October 2025 and the designated substances list status 6 September 2026 read for the other lanes, and the e-Gov text as at 2 October 2026.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. No Japanese drug statute provides a death sentence: 死刑 appears in the main provisions of none of the 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法 (the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act), the 覚醒剤取締法 (the Stimulants Control Act), the あへん法 (the Opium Act), the 大麻草の栽培の規制に関する法律 (the Cannabis Plant Cultivation Act), the pharmaceuticals Act (the PMD Act) or the 麻薬特例法 (the Narcotics Special Provisions Act), each read on e-Gov on 2 October 2026. Japan has not abolished capital punishment: 刑法第九条 lists it among the principal punishments, 「死刑、拘禁刑、罰金、拘留及び科料を主刑とし、没収を付加刑とする。」, and 第百九十九条 provides it for murder. Every penalty below reads 拘禁刑, the single form of imprisonment that replaced 懲役 and 禁錮 on the day described in the ministerial ordinance's own words as 「刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行の日（令和七年六月一日）」, 1 June 2025; under 刑法第十二条第一項 「有期拘禁刑は、一月以上二十年以下とする。」, so an open ended fixed term such as one year or more runs to twenty years, and 第十四条第二項 allows an aggravated fixed term to rise to thirty. The drug statutes took the new term from 令和四年法律第六十八号. Life imprisonment appears in the drug statutes in three places only: 麻薬及び向精神薬取締法第六十四条第二項 (heroin imported, exported or made for profit), 覚醒剤取締法第四十一条第二項 (stimulants imported, exported or made for profit) and 麻薬特例法第五条 (dealing in any 規制薬物 as a business). Heroin is one of the ジアセチルモルヒネ等, so it takes the heaviest track in the Act. Importing, exporting or manufacturing it is 第六十四条第一項, 「ジアセチルモルヒネ等を、みだりに、本邦若しくは外国に輸入し、本邦若しくは外国から輸出し、又は製造した者は、一年以上の有期拘禁刑に処する。」 For profit 第六十四条第二項 gives 「営利の目的で前項の罪を犯したときは、当該罪を犯した者は、無期若しくは三年以上の拘禁刑に処し、又は情状により無期若しくは三年以上の拘禁刑及び千万円以下の罰金に処する。」, life or at least three years, with a fine of up to ten million yen added where the circumstances warrant. Preparing, subdividing, transferring, receiving, handing over or possessing it is 第六十四条の二第一項, 「ジアセチルモルヒネ等を、みだりに、製剤し、小分けし、譲り渡し、譲り受け、交付し、又は所持した者は、十年以下の拘禁刑に処する。」 Using it, or receiving it by administration, is 第六十四条の三第一項, 「第十二条第一項又は第四項の規定に違反して、ジアセチルモルヒネ等を施用し、廃棄し、又はその施用を受けた者は、十年以下の拘禁刑に処する。」 The profit forms of both, 第六十四条の二第二項 and 第六十四条の三第二項, are at least one year with a fine of up to five million yen where the circumstances warrant, and attempts are punished throughout. Simple possession of heroin therefore carries up to ten years, not the seven of an ordinary narcotic. Making a business of it is lifted further by 麻薬特例法第五条, whose 第一号 reaches the import, export, manufacture and transfer offences in 第六十四条 and 第六十四条の二 (possession excluded), and whose penalty is 「無期又は五年以上の拘禁刑及び千万円以下の罰金に処する。」 That is life or at least five years and, cumulatively, a fine of up to ten million yen.

If prescribed or medical

There is no medical route for heroin in Japan. 第十二条第一項 forbids every person to import, export, manufacture, prepare, subdivide, transfer, receive, hand over, administer, possess or dispose of it, with no exception for a doctor or a patient, and 第十二条第四項 forbids anyone to receive it by administration. A prescription from any country creates no Japanese authority, and the traveller permission in 第十三条第一項 is not available because that article excludes the ジアセチルモルヒネ等 from its scope: 「麻薬輸入業者でなければ、麻薬（ジアセチルモルヒネ等及び前条第二項に規定する麻薬を除く。以下第十九条の二までにおいて同じ。）を輸入してはならない。」 The proviso that follows, 「ただし、本邦に入国する者が、厚生労働大臣の許可を受けて、自己の疾病の治療の目的で携帯して輸入する場合は、この限りでない。」, is a proviso to that sentence, so it never reaches heroin.

Documentation

A foreign prescription does not make heroin importable, and an individual traveller cannot bring it into Japan at all, with or without a prescription and with or without an application. The Narcotics Control Department's traveller page says «No individual travelers can import/export medicines including the following substances, even if they are prescribed medicines in yourcountry;» and heroin is the first substance it names; its controlled substances list marks heroin with the tick against which it says «No persons shall import/export substances that have a» tick. No permission is issued for it. A preparation containing heroin is a 麻薬 under 別表第一第七十八号, 「前各号に掲げる物又は大麻のいずれかを含有する物であつて、あへん以外のもの。」 and its ニ, 「麻薬原料植物又は大麻草以外の植物（その一部分を含む。）」, does not help because heroin is not a plant. Placement relied on: the MHLW designation tables, narcotics tables status 6 September 2026 (麻薬の指定状況 令和８年９月６日現在: the Act's 別表第一 with 76 substances and the Cabinet Order's 第一条 with 171, counts that match the e-Gov text read on 2 October 2026).

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