Legal status in Iran

Per-substance legal status for Iran, 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.

87 confirmed substances1 not individually verifiedLast updated October 8, 2026

Confirmed legal status

1P-LSD

Legal status: 1P-LSD has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Lysergide is entry 11 of Schedule 1 and is named in Article 8, but 1P-LSD is the 1 propionyl derivative and not that molecule, and neither instrument carries a derivative or analogue clause for its psychotropic entries. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, consolidated with the 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments and the 1403/03/30 fine revision · davoudabadi.ir · Act adding Article 45, 1396/07/12 · davoudabadi.ir · Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16 · davoudabadi.ir · Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13 adopting the four updated psychotropic schedules, replacing those attached to decision 15372/T30726 of 1383/04/28 · davoudabadi.ir · solh.ir · Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 · davoudabadi.ir · Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09 · davoudabadi.ir · Cabinet narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, Article 5 as amended 1352/12/28 · davoudabadi.ir · Updated September 21, 2026

1P-LSD in Iran, full detail →

2-FDCK

Legal status: 2-FDCK has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Its parent ketamine has no entry either: the Persian کتامین returns no hit in any of the four instruments, and the only near miss is ketazolam at entry 31 of Schedule 4. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

2-FDCK in Iran, full detail →

25I-NBOMe

Legal status: 25I-NBOMe has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The schedules carry no N benzyl phenethylamine entry at all, and the closest relative present is 2C-B at entry 3 of Schedule 2. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

25I-NBOMe in Iran, full detail →

2C-B

Legal status: 2C-B is placed at entry 3 of Schedule 2 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «2-سیب» beside the roman form 2CB. The schedule prints the roman form without its hyphen, as 2CB, which is why a search on the hyphenated spelling returns nothing against this list.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: 2C-B sits in Schedule 2, and the Anti-Narcotics Law does not reach it by name. Articles 4 and 8 extend beyond their named substances only to other narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics whose list Parliament approves, and all four of these schedules are headed the pharmaceutical list. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

2C-B in Iran, full detail →

2C-E

Legal status: 2C-E has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The one member of this family the schedules carry is 2C-B at entry 3 of Schedule 2, the 4 bromo compound. 2C-E is the 4 ethyl compound, a different substance, and the schedule enumerates single names with no family, series or ring substitution clause. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

2C-E in Iran, full detail →

2C-I

Legal status: 2C-I has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The one member of this family the schedules carry is 2C-B at entry 3 of Schedule 2, the 4 bromo compound. 2C-I is the 4 iodo compound. Swapping one halogen for another does not bring it inside an entry that names only the brominated substance. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

2C-I in Iran, full detail →

2C-T-7

Legal status: 2C-T-7 has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The one member of this family the schedules carry is 2C-B at entry 3 of Schedule 2, a 4 halogenated compound. 2C-T-7 is a 4 propylthio thioether instead, which is a further step away again, and no sulphur bearing phenethylamine appears anywhere in the four schedules. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

2C-T-7 in Iran, full detail →

3-MMC

Legal status: 3-MMC has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Cathinone is entry 2 and methcathinone entry 15 of Schedule 1, but the ring methylated cathinones are separate substances and the schedule carries no generic cathinone clause. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

3-MMC in Iran, full detail →

4-AcO-DMT

Legal status: 4-AcO-DMT has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Psilocin is entry 21 and psilocybin entry 22 of Schedule 1, and 4-AcO-DMT is the acetate ester of psilocin, but the psychotropic schedules carry no ester clause. The ester and salt language in Article 6 of the 1338 decree belongs to that decree’s narcotics and does not reach these schedules. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

4-AcO-DMT in Iran, full detail →

4-HO-MET

Legal status: 4-HO-MET has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Psilocin at entry 21 of Schedule 1 is the 4 hydroxy N,N dimethyl compound and 4-HO-MET is the N methyl N ethyl homologue, a different substance, and the schedule carries no homologue clause. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

4-HO-MET in Iran, full detail →

5-MeO-DMT (Bufo / Toad)

Legal status: 5-MeO-DMT has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. DMT is entry 6 of Schedule 1 and 5-MeO-DMT is its 5 methoxy derivative, a different substance, and the schedule carries no derivative clause. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

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

6-APB

Legal status: 6-APB has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The benzofuran ring compounds have no entry in any of the four schedules. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

6-APB in Iran, full detail →

7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH)

Legal status: 7-Hydroxymitragynine has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Neither it nor mitragynine nor the kratom leaf has an entry in any of the four instruments. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) in Iran, full detail →

Adderall

Legal status: Adderall is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس هروئین، مرفین، کوکائین و دیگر مشتقات شیمیایی مرفین و کوکائین و یا لیزرژیک اسید دی ‌اتیل آمید (ال.اس.دی)، متیلن دی اکسی‌ مت ‌آمفتامین (ام.دی.ام.آ. یا آکستاسی)، گاما هیدروکسی بوتیریک اسید (جی.اچ.بی)، فلونیترازپام، آمفتامین، مت آمفتامین (شیشه)». Adderall is a brand of mixed amphetamine salts, so the row is placed on its ingredients rather than on the brand: amphetamine is named in Article 8, and dexamfetamine is entry 4 of Schedule 2 of the 1384/09/13 schedules. Reading the brand onto those two entries is this cell’s own composition reading, taken from the manufacturer’s own label, not an Iranian ruling on the brand.
Consequences if caught: Adderall sits inside the Article 8 regime, and Article 8 covers import, manufacture, production, distribution, export, sending, purchase, sale, offering for sale, possession, concealment and transport alike. Its own bands run from 20 to 50 lashes with a fine of 50 to 115 million rials up to 5 centigrams, through two to five years above 1 gram, five to eight years above 4 grams and ten to fifteen years above 15 grams. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: A prescription does not remove Article 8. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and that permission is the thing to establish, not the prescription. The INCB assessed requirements Iran published for 2026 put amfetamine at 500 g, dexamfetamine at 2,500 g and methylphenidate at 800,000 g, which is the scale of the lawful channel and not a traveller allowance. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Adderall is reached through the Article 8 opening rather than through any schedule. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Adderall in Iran, full detail →

Alcohol

Legal status: Alcohol is placed outside the drug statutes entirely, in the Islamic Penal Code. Article 264 covers consuming an intoxicant by drinking, injection or smoking, in a small quantity or a large one, solid or liquid, whether or not it intoxicates on the occasion, pure or mixed so long as the mixture does not stop it being an intoxicant. Article 265 sets the hadd at 80 lashes. Article 702 of Book Five covers making, buying, selling, offering, carrying, keeping or supplying alcoholic drink.
Consequences if caught: Alcohol carries a capital route of its own, and it is not the drug one. Article 136 of the Penal Code provides execution on the fourth commission of the same hadd offence where the hadd was carried out on each of the previous three occasions. The ordinary penalty is 80 lashes under Article 265, and Article 266 limits the consumption hadd for non Muslims to open manifestation. Article 702 of Book Five adds six months to one year in prison with up to 74 lashes for making, buying, selling, offering, carrying, keeping or supplying, and the fine there is a separate cumulative item set at five times the customary commercial value of the drink. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a medicine. Articles 264 and 265 of the Penal Code reach a Muslim who drinks, and Article 266 limits the consumption hadd for non Muslims to open manifestation, so recognised religious minorities are treated differently on consumption and not on trade. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Alcohol is one of two rows in this batch whose exposure comes from the Penal Code rather than the drug statutes. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Islamic Penal Code, Articles 136, 264, 265 and 266 · davoudabadi.ir · Islamic Penal Code Book Five, Article 702 · davoudabadi.ir · Updated September 21, 2026

Alcohol in Iran, full detail →

Amanita muscaria

Legal status: Amanita muscaria has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Neither the mushroom nor muscimol nor ibotenic acid has an entry. The hallucinogenic mushrooms the Kahnuj judicial meeting of 1400/08/12 dealt with were reached through psilocin and psilocybin at entries 21 and 22 of Schedule 1, which this species does not contain. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Amanita muscaria in Iran, full detail →

Amphetamine

Legal status: Amphetamine is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس هروئین، مرفین، کوکائین و دیگر مشتقات شیمیایی مرفین و کوکائین و یا لیزرژیک اسید دی ‌اتیل آمید (ال.اس.دی)، متیلن دی اکسی‌ مت ‌آمفتامین (ام.دی.ام.آ. یا آکستاسی)، گاما هیدروکسی بوتیریک اسید (جی.اچ.بی)، فلونیترازپام، آمفتامین، مت آمفتامین (شیشه)». The Persian entry is آمفتامین. It is also entry 1 of Schedule 2 of the 1384/09/13 schedules.
Consequences if caught: Amphetamine sits inside the Article 8 regime, and Article 8 covers import, manufacture, production, distribution, export, sending, purchase, sale, offering for sale, possession, concealment and transport alike. Its own bands run from 20 to 50 lashes with a fine of 50 to 115 million rials up to 5 centigrams, through two to five years above 1 gram, five to eight years above 4 grams and ten to fifteen years above 15 grams. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: A prescription does not remove Article 8. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and that permission is the thing to establish, not the prescription. The INCB assessed requirements Iran published for 2026 put amfetamine at 500 g, dexamfetamine at 2,500 g and methylphenidate at 800,000 g, which is the scale of the lawful channel and not a traveller allowance. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Amphetamine is reached through the Article 8 opening rather than through any schedule. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Amphetamine in Iran, full detail →

Amyl Nitrite

Legal status: Amyl nitrite has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The alkyl nitrites have no entry in any of the four instruments, and their trade status as a product rather than a drug was not established. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Amyl Nitrite in Iran, full detail →

Ayahuasca

Legal status: Controlled through its constituent dimethyltryptamine, which is placed at entry 6 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «دی.ام.تی» beside the roman form DMT. Ayahuasca itself is not named in the four psychotropic schedules, in the Anti-Narcotics Law or in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The brew is prepared from plants, and no Iranian instrument recovered here names the plants or the brew. A laboratory finding of DMT in the material is what would engage the entry. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedule 1. Article 3 gives life imprisonment for manufacture, three to fifteen years for sale or offering for sale, life for unauthorised import above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less, and three to fifteen years for unauthorised possession or transport above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less. The weight is read on the whole mixture where the mixture is consumable as it stands, under the note to Article 3. Note 6 to Article 19 of the Islamic Penal Code, added 1399/02/23, converts every non hadd life sentence prescribed by law into grade one imprisonment, so the two life terms above are read through that note. The weight question is the sharp one for a plant material: the note to Article 3 reads the whole mixture as pure where it is consumable as it stands, so a bulky plant preparation is not weighed as its active content. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: This row is placed on a constituent, so the answer is only as good as what a laboratory finds in the material. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13 adopting the four updated psychotropic schedules, replacing those attached to decision 15372/T30726 of 1383/04/28 · davoudabadi.ir · solh.ir · Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 · davoudabadi.ir · Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09 · davoudabadi.ir · Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, consolidated with the 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments and the 1403/03/30 fine revision · davoudabadi.ir · Act adding Article 45, 1396/07/12 · davoudabadi.ir · Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16 · davoudabadi.ir · Updated September 21, 2026

Ayahuasca in Iran, full detail →

Barbiturates

Legal status: Twelve barbiturates are placed in Iran's schedules by name, and a barbiturate outside those twelve has no entry of its own. The barbiturates are placed as individual entries spread across three of the four schedules adopted 1384/09/13, not as a class. Secobarbital is entry 16 of Schedule 2. Amobarbital, butalbital, cyclobarbital and pentobarbital are entries 1, 3, 5 and 9 of Schedule 3. Allobarbital, barbital, butobarbital, methylphenobarbital, phenobarbital, secbutabarbital and vinylbital are entries 1, 5, 8, 41, 51, 57 and 61 of Schedule 4. The schedules carry no class clause.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. The three schedules carry the same range here, so the band does not turn on which of the three a given barbiturate sits in. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: This row is a class and the instrument is an enumeration, so the twelve entries are set out rather than summarised. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Barbiturates in Iran, full detail →

Benzodiazepines

Legal status: Controlled, and the class splits across two regimes. Flunitrazepam is named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which is the capital article, and it is also entry 6 of Schedule 3 of the four psychotropic schedules. About twenty other members sit in Schedule 4 instead, among them alprazolam at entry 2, bromazepam at 7, chlordiazepoxide at 11, clobazam at 12, clonazepam at 13, diazepam at 18, lorazepam at 34, midazolam at 43, nimetazepam at 44, nitrazepam at 45, oxazepam at 47, temazepam at 58 and triazolam at 60. The class as a class is not named in either instrument, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: The two regimes are not close to each other, so the class cannot take one answer. Flunitrazepam sits inside Article 8 and its bands run from 20 to 50 lashes with a fine of 50 to 115 million rials up to 5 centigrams to ten to fifteen years above 15 grams. The Schedule 4 members sit under the Psychotropics Law instead, where Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supply otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 gives up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those Psychotropics Law articles. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. That exemption covers the Schedule 4 members. It does not cover flunitrazepam, which Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law reaches directly. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: A single class answer would be wrong here in both directions. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Benzodiazepines in Iran, full detail →

Buprenorphine

Legal status: Buprenorphine is placed at entry 2 of Schedule 3 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «یوپرنورفین» beside the roman form Buprenorphine. Iran’s Schedule 3 placement mirrors the 1971 Convention, where buprenorphine is a Schedule III substance, a lighter tier than methadone takes, and it is used for opioid substitution in Iran. The Kahnuj judicial meeting of 1400/08/12 resolved a buprenorphine query by pointing to exactly that second row of schedule 3 of the 1384/09/13 lists.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Buprenorphine sits in Schedule 3, and the Anti-Narcotics Law does not reach it by name. Articles 4 and 8 extend beyond their named substances only to other narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics whose list Parliament approves, and all four of these schedules are headed the pharmaceutical list. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Buprenorphine in Iran, full detail →

Caffeine

Legal status: Caffeine has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. No stimulant of the xanthine family appears anywhere in the four schedules, and no Iranian product rule for caffeinated drinks or energy drinks was established for this cell. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Caffeine in Iran, full detail →

Cannabinol

Legal status: Cannabinol has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Entry 27 of Schedule 1 reaches tetrahydrocannabinol and its isomers, and cannabinol is the fully aromatised oxidation product with two hydrogens fewer, so it is not an isomer of the named substance. That last step is this cell’s own reading of the word isomer and not a separate Iranian ruling. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Cannabinol in Iran, full detail →

Cannabis / THC

Legal status: Cannabis is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 4 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس بنگ، چرس، گراس، تریاک، شیره، سوخته، تفاله تریاک». Three of the named forms are cannabis forms: بنگ for the flowering tops, چرس for the resin and گراس for herbal material. The decree of 1338/05/02 defines the same three in its first group. Cultivation of the plant for drug production is a separate offence under Article 2, whose fourth occurrence carries death.
Consequences if caught: Cannabis sits inside the Article 4 and Article 5 regime. Article 4 covers import, export, sending, production, manufacture, distribution, sale and offering for sale, and Article 5 covers purchase, possession, concealment and transport. The Article 4 bands run from a fine of up to 200 million rials and up to 50 lashes at 50 grams or less, through 200 to 500 million rials with 20 to 74 lashes and up to three years above 50 grams, to 500 million to 2 billion rials with 50 to 74 lashes and three to fifteen years above 500 grams. The Article 5 bands are separate and lower, opening at a fine of up to 165 million rials with up to 50 lashes at 50 grams or less. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Cannabis is reached through the Article 4 opening. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Cannabis / THC in Iran, full detail →

Cathinone

Legal status: Cathinone is placed at entry 2 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «کاتیون» beside the roman form Cathinon. Methcathinone is a separate entry at number 15 of the same schedule, and cathine, which is norpseudoephedrine, is entry 4 of Schedule 3.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedule 1. Article 3 gives life imprisonment for manufacture, three to fifteen years for sale or offering for sale, life for unauthorised import above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less, and three to fifteen years for unauthorised possession or transport above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less. The weight is read on the whole mixture where the mixture is consumable as it stands, under the note to Article 3. Note 6 to Article 19 of the Islamic Penal Code, added 1399/02/23, converts every non hadd life sentence prescribed by law into grade one imprisonment, so the two life terms above are read through that note. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Schedule 1 substances may be supplied under Article 2 of the Psychotropics Law only to approved state research and medical bodies in limited amounts, which is not a traveller route. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Cathinone sits in Schedule 1, the schedule the Psychotropics Law treats most severely. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Cathinone in Iran, full detail →

Clonazepam

Legal status: Clonazepam is placed at entry 13 of Schedule 4 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «کلونازپام» beside the roman form Clonazepam.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Clonazepam sits in Schedule 4, and the Anti-Narcotics Law does not reach it by name. Articles 4 and 8 extend beyond their named substances only to other narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics whose list Parliament approves, and all four of these schedules are headed the pharmaceutical list. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Clonazepam in Iran, full detail →

Cocaine

Legal status: Cocaine is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس هروئین، مرفین، کوکائین و دیگر مشتقات شیمیایی مرفین و کوکائین و یا لیزرژیک اسید دی ‌اتیل آمید (ال.اس.دی)، متیلن دی اکسی‌ مت ‌آمفتامین (ام.دی.ام.آ. یا آکستاسی)، گاما هیدروکسی بوتیریک اسید (جی.اچ.بی)، فلونیترازپام، آمفتامین، مت آمفتامین (شیشه)». The Persian entry is کوکائین, and the 1338 decree carries cocaine and its salts in group 1.
Consequences if caught: Cocaine sits inside the Article 8 regime, and Article 8 covers import, manufacture, production, distribution, export, sending, purchase, sale, offering for sale, possession, concealment and transport alike. Its own bands run from 20 to 50 lashes with a fine of 50 to 115 million rials up to 5 centigrams, through two to five years above 1 gram, five to eight years above 4 grams and ten to fifteen years above 15 grams. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: A prescription does not remove Article 8. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and that permission is the thing to establish, not the prescription. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Cocaine is reached through the Article 8 opening rather than through any schedule. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Cocaine in Iran, full detail →

Codeine

Legal status: Codeine is placed by name twice over. It is item 1 of group 2 of the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, printed as «کدئین (متیل مرفین)», where group 2 controls the raw form and the salts and leaves the preparations out. Article 40 of the Anti-Narcotics Law then names it expressly, «کدئین و متادون», and routes the conduct to the Article 5 penalties.
Consequences if caught: Codeine is reached through Article 40, which sends import, purchase, sale, manufacture, consumption, possession and export of codeine to the penalties in Article 5 rather than to Article 8. The Article 5 bands open at a fine of up to 165 million rials with up to 50 lashes at 50 grams or less and reach two to five years above 500 grams. Group 2 of the 1338 decree is the narrower group: the raw substance and its salts are narcotics, and the decree does not carry its preparations across. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Codeine preparations sit differently from raw codeine under group 2 of the 1338 decree, but Article 40 names codeine without qualifying it. Carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Codeine is one of only two substances the Anti-Narcotics Law names outside Articles 4 and 8. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Codeine in Iran, full detail →

Crack Cocaine

Legal status: Crack cocaine is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس هروئین، مرفین، کوکائین و دیگر مشتقات شیمیایی مرفین و کوکائین و یا لیزرژیک اسید دی ‌اتیل آمید (ال.اس.دی)، متیلن دی اکسی‌ مت ‌آمفتامین (ام.دی.ام.آ. یا آکستاسی)، گاما هیدروکسی بوتیریک اسید (جی.اچ.بی)، فلونیترازپام، آمفتامین، مت آمفتامین (شیشه)». Article 8 names cocaine and the other chemical derivatives of morphine and cocaine. Crack is cocaine in its free base form rather than a different substance, so the entry reaches it on its face. That last step is this cell’s own chemical reading of the entry and not a separate Iranian ruling.
Consequences if caught: Crack cocaine sits inside the Article 8 regime, and Article 8 covers import, manufacture, production, distribution, export, sending, purchase, sale, offering for sale, possession, concealment and transport alike. Its own bands run from 20 to 50 lashes with a fine of 50 to 115 million rials up to 5 centigrams, through two to five years above 1 gram, five to eight years above 4 grams and ten to fifteen years above 15 grams. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: A prescription does not remove Article 8. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and that permission is the thing to establish, not the prescription. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Crack cocaine is reached through the Article 8 opening rather than through any schedule. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Crack Cocaine in Iran, full detail →

Delta-8-THC

Legal status: Delta 8 tetrahydrocannabinol is placed at entry 27 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «تتراهیدروکانابینول و تمام ایزومرهای آن» beside the roman form Tetrahydrocannabinol and thir strochemical variants. The Persian reads tetrahydrocannabinol and all its isomers. Delta 8 THC has the same molecular formula as delta 9 THC and differs only in the position of the double bond, so it is an isomer of the named substance and the entry reaches it on its face. That last step is this cell’s own reading of the word isomer and not a separate Iranian ruling. The Karaj judicial meeting of 1402/03/01 treated the same entry 27 as live.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedule 1. Article 3 gives life imprisonment for manufacture, three to fifteen years for sale or offering for sale, life for unauthorised import above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less, and three to fifteen years for unauthorised possession or transport above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less. The weight is read on the whole mixture where the mixture is consumable as it stands, under the note to Article 3. Note 6 to Article 19 of the Islamic Penal Code, added 1399/02/23, converts every non hadd life sentence prescribed by law into grade one imprisonment, so the two life terms above are read through that note. The entry also has a second life: Article 4 of the Anti-Narcotics Law names cannabis forms directly, and a cannabis product is reached there rather than here. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Dronabinol, which is delta 9 THC, is a separate entry at number 5 of Schedule 2 and takes the lighter Schedule 2 range. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The isomer clause is doing the work on this row. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Delta-8-THC in Iran, full detail →

Diazepam

Legal status: Diazepam is placed at entry 18 of Schedule 4 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «دیازپام» beside the roman form Diazepam.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Diazepam sits in Schedule 4, and the Anti-Narcotics Law does not reach it by name. Articles 4 and 8 extend beyond their named substances only to other narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics whose list Parliament approves, and all four of these schedules are headed the pharmaceutical list. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Diazepam in Iran, full detail →

DMT

Legal status: Dimethyltryptamine is placed at entry 6 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «دی.ام.تی» beside the roman form DMT.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedule 1. Article 3 gives life imprisonment for manufacture, three to fifteen years for sale or offering for sale, life for unauthorised import above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less, and three to fifteen years for unauthorised possession or transport above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less. The weight is read on the whole mixture where the mixture is consumable as it stands, under the note to Article 3. Note 6 to Article 19 of the Islamic Penal Code, added 1399/02/23, converts every non hadd life sentence prescribed by law into grade one imprisonment, so the two life terms above are read through that note. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Schedule 1 substances may be supplied under Article 2 of the Psychotropics Law only to approved state research and medical bodies in limited amounts, which is not a traveller route. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Dimethyltryptamine sits in Schedule 1, the schedule the Psychotropics Law treats most severely. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

DMT in Iran, full detail →

DOM

Legal status: DOM is placed at entry 24 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «اس.تی.پی و دی.ا.ام» beside the roman form STP,DOM. The entry prints STP and DOM together as one line.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedule 1. Article 3 gives life imprisonment for manufacture, three to fifteen years for sale or offering for sale, life for unauthorised import above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less, and three to fifteen years for unauthorised possession or transport above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less. The weight is read on the whole mixture where the mixture is consumable as it stands, under the note to Article 3. Note 6 to Article 19 of the Islamic Penal Code, added 1399/02/23, converts every non hadd life sentence prescribed by law into grade one imprisonment, so the two life terms above are read through that note. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Schedule 1 substances may be supplied under Article 2 of the Psychotropics Law only to approved state research and medical bodies in limited amounts, which is not a traveller route. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: DOM sits in Schedule 1, the schedule the Psychotropics Law treats most severely. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

DOM in Iran, full detail →

DXM

Legal status: Dextromethorphan has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The 1338 decree carries dextromoramide, a different substance whose name merely begins the same way, and neither dextromethorphan nor its metabolite has an entry. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

DXM in Iran, full detail →

Ephedrine

Legal status: Ephedrine is placed as a precursor rather than as a drug. Article 40 of the Anti-Narcotics Law reaches the substances in Tables I and II annexed to Article 12 of the 1988 trafficking convention and its later amendments, and the INCB Red List, 23rd edition, prints Ephedrine under the heading Substances included in Table I, with the chemical name given as alpha [1 (methylamino)ethyl] benzenemethanol.
Consequences if caught: Ephedrine carries a conduct and intent condition that no other row here carries. Article 40 reaches manufacture, purchase, sale, possession, transport, import, export and supply only where they are done knowingly and deliberately with the purpose of converting or producing narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics. Where that purpose is made out the conduct takes the Article 5 penalties, which open at a fine of up to 165 million rials with up to 50 lashes at 50 grams or less. Ordinary possession of a decongestant with no such purpose is not what Article 40 describes. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Ephedrine is a pharmacy medicine in many countries and a Table I precursor in Iran. Carry the original packaging and the prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Ephedrine is the only row in this batch placed through the precursor route. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Ephedrine in Iran, full detail →

Etizolam

Legal status: Etizolam has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. About twenty benzodiazepines sit in Schedule 4 and flunitrazepam is named in Article 8, but etizolam is a thienotriazolodiazepine and is not among them, and the schedule is an enumeration with no class clause. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Etizolam in Iran, full detail →

Fentanyl

Legal status: Fentanyl has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Article 8 names heroin, morphine, cocaine and the other chemical derivatives of morphine and cocaine, and fentanyl is an anilidopiperidine rather than a derivative of either. The 1338 decree predates it and its group 1 list ends without a catch all. The fentanyl precursor 4 anilino N phenethylpiperidine is in Table I of the 1988 convention and so is reachable through Article 40, but that is the precursor and not the drug. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Fentanyl in Iran, full detail →

Gabapentin

Legal status: Gabapentin has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. It is a cyclohexane ring carrying a GABA side chain, and no gabapentinoid appears anywhere in the four schedules. The nearest sedatives the schedules do carry are meprobamate at entry 39 and methyprylon at entry 42 of Schedule 4, neither of which is of this class. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Gabapentin in Iran, full detail →

GBL

Legal status: GBL has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. GHB is named in Article 8 and is entry 28 of Schedule 4, but gamma butyrolactone is its precursor rather than the substance itself, and it is not in Table I or Table II of the 1988 convention as the INCB Red List, 23rd edition, prints them, so Article 40 does not reach it either. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

GBL in Iran, full detail →

GHB

Legal status: GHB is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس هروئین، مرفین، کوکائین و دیگر مشتقات شیمیایی مرفین و کوکائین و یا لیزرژیک اسید دی ‌اتیل آمید (ال.اس.دی)، متیلن دی اکسی‌ مت ‌آمفتامین (ام.دی.ام.آ. یا آکستاسی)، گاما هیدروکسی بوتیریک اسید (جی.اچ.بی)، فلونیترازپام، آمفتامین، مت آمفتامین (شیشه)». The entry is gamma hydroxybutyric acid, printed with the roman abbreviation. It is also entry 28 of Schedule 4 of the 1384/09/13 schedules, and Article 8 is the heavier route.
Consequences if caught: GHB sits inside the Article 8 regime, and Article 8 covers import, manufacture, production, distribution, export, sending, purchase, sale, offering for sale, possession, concealment and transport alike. Its own bands run from 20 to 50 lashes with a fine of 50 to 115 million rials up to 5 centigrams, through two to five years above 1 gram, five to eight years above 4 grams and ten to fifteen years above 15 grams. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: A prescription does not remove Article 8. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and that permission is the thing to establish, not the prescription. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: GHB is reached through the Article 8 opening rather than through any schedule. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

GHB in Iran, full detail →

Heroin

Legal status: Heroin is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس هروئین، مرفین، کوکائین و دیگر مشتقات شیمیایی مرفین و کوکائین و یا لیزرژیک اسید دی ‌اتیل آمید (ال.اس.دی)، متیلن دی اکسی‌ مت ‌آمفتامین (ام.دی.ام.آ. یا آکستاسی)، گاما هیدروکسی بوتیریک اسید (جی.اچ.بی)، فلونیترازپام، آمفتامین، مت آمفتامین (شیشه)». The Persian entry is هروئین, and the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02 also carries diacetylmorphine in its group 1.
Consequences if caught: Heroin sits inside the Article 8 regime, and Article 8 covers import, manufacture, production, distribution, export, sending, purchase, sale, offering for sale, possession, concealment and transport alike. Its own bands run from 20 to 50 lashes with a fine of 50 to 115 million rials up to 5 centigrams, through two to five years above 1 gram, five to eight years above 4 grams and ten to fifteen years above 15 grams. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: A prescription does not remove Article 8. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and that permission is the thing to establish, not the prescription. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Heroin is reached through the Article 8 opening rather than through any schedule. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Heroin in Iran, full detail →

HHC

Legal status: HHC has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Entry 27 of Schedule 1 reaches tetrahydrocannabinol and its isomers, and hexahydrocannabinol carries two hydrogens more than the named substance, so it is not an isomer of it. That last step is this cell’s own reading of the word isomer and not a separate Iranian ruling. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

HHC in Iran, full detail →

Hydrocodone

Legal status: Hydrocodone is placed by name in group 1 of the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, printed as «ئیدروکدن (دی ئیدروکدئینون)», and that decree is what Article 1 note 1 of the Anti-Narcotics Law incorporates when it defines narcotics as the substances enumerated in the 1338 list and its later amendments. Group 1 treats the raw substance, its salts and its preparations as one, and the entry carries the esters expressly.
Consequences if caught: Hydrocodone is a narcotic under the 1338 decree, so the Anti-Narcotics Law reaches it, but which penalty article reaches it is the part that was not established. Article 4 and Article 5 open on the named cannabis and opium forms and then on substances whose list Parliament approves, and that list was not recovered. Article 8 opens on heroin, morphine, cocaine and their chemical derivatives, and Hydrocodone is a semi synthetic derivative of the opium alkaloids rather than of morphine or cocaine on its face. Article 40 resolves this question expressly for codeine and methadone and says nothing about this row. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Article 41 exempts authorised medical activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and a foreign prescription is not that permission. Carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Placement is established and the penalty article is not. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Cabinet narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, Article 5 as amended 1352/12/28 · davoudabadi.ir · Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, consolidated with the 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments and the 1403/03/30 fine revision · davoudabadi.ir · Act adding Article 45, 1396/07/12 · davoudabadi.ir · Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16 · davoudabadi.ir · Updated September 21, 2026

Hydrocodone in Iran, full detail →

Ketamine

Legal status: Ketamine has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The Persian کتامین returns no hit in any of the four instruments, and the only near miss is ketazolam at entry 31 of Schedule 4. Two arylcyclohexylamines are scheduled, phencyclidine at entry 14 of Schedule 2 and eticyclidine at entry 8 of Schedule 1, and ketamine is neither of them. Its status as a registered anaesthetic medicine in Iran was not established for this cell. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Ketamine also sits outside the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules, so no INCB estimate or assessment establishes a licit national supply figure for it, and the INCB narcotic drugs estimates for 2026 do not carry it. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Ketamine in Iran, full detail →

Khat

Legal status: Controlled through its constituent cathinone and cathine, which is placed at entry 2 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «کاتیون» beside the roman form Cathinon. Khat itself is not named in the four psychotropic schedules, in the Anti-Narcotics Law or in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Cathine, which is norpseudoephedrine, is entry 4 of Schedule 3 instead, so the two active constituents of the leaf sit in two different schedules with two different ranges. The leaf itself has no entry. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedule 1. Article 3 gives life imprisonment for manufacture, three to fifteen years for sale or offering for sale, life for unauthorised import above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less, and three to fifteen years for unauthorised possession or transport above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less. The weight is read on the whole mixture where the mixture is consumable as it stands, under the note to Article 3. Note 6 to Article 19 of the Islamic Penal Code, added 1399/02/23, converts every non hadd life sentence prescribed by law into grade one imprisonment, so the two life terms above are read through that note. The weight question is the sharp one for a plant material: the note to Article 3 reads the whole mixture as pure where it is consumable as it stands, so a bulky plant preparation is not weighed as its active content. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: This row is placed on a constituent, so the answer is only as good as what a laboratory finds in the material. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Khat in Iran, full detail →

Kratom

Legal status: Kratom has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Neither the leaf nor mitragynine nor 7 hydroxymitragynine has an entry in any of the four instruments. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Kratom in Iran, full detail →

Lorazepam

Legal status: Lorazepam is placed at entry 34 of Schedule 4 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «لورازپام» beside the roman form Lorazepam. Delorazepam is a different entry at number 17 of the same schedule.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Lorazepam sits in Schedule 4, and the Anti-Narcotics Law does not reach it by name. Articles 4 and 8 extend beyond their named substances only to other narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics whose list Parliament approves, and all four of these schedules are headed the pharmaceutical list. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Lorazepam in Iran, full detail →

LSA (Morning Glory)

Legal status: LSA has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Lysergide is entry 11 of Schedule 1 and lysergic acid is in Table I of the 1988 convention as the INCB Red List, 23rd edition, prints it, but ergine is neither of those two substances and the seeds that carry it have no entry. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

LSA (Morning Glory) in Iran, full detail →

LSD

Legal status: LSD is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس هروئین، مرفین، کوکائین و دیگر مشتقات شیمیایی مرفین و کوکائین و یا لیزرژیک اسید دی ‌اتیل آمید (ال.اس.دی)، متیلن دی اکسی‌ مت ‌آمفتامین (ام.دی.ام.آ. یا آکستاسی)، گاما هیدروکسی بوتیریک اسید (جی.اچ.بی)، فلونیترازپام، آمفتامین، مت آمفتامین (شیشه)». The entry is lysergic acid diethylamide, printed with the roman abbreviation in brackets. It is also entry 11 of Schedule 1 of the 1384/09/13 psychotropic schedules, so both routes reach it and Article 8 is the heavier one.
Consequences if caught: LSD sits inside the Article 8 regime, and Article 8 covers import, manufacture, production, distribution, export, sending, purchase, sale, offering for sale, possession, concealment and transport alike. Its own bands run from 20 to 50 lashes with a fine of 50 to 115 million rials up to 5 centigrams, through two to five years above 1 gram, five to eight years above 4 grams and ten to fifteen years above 15 grams. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: A prescription does not remove Article 8. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and that permission is the thing to establish, not the prescription. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: LSD is reached through the Article 8 opening rather than through any schedule. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

LSD in Iran, full detail →

MDA

Legal status: MDA is placed at entry 25 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «تنامفتامین (ام.دی.ا)» beside the roman form Tenamfetamine(MDA). The entry prints the international name tenamfetamine with MDA in brackets.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedule 1. Article 3 gives life imprisonment for manufacture, three to fifteen years for sale or offering for sale, life for unauthorised import above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less, and three to fifteen years for unauthorised possession or transport above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less. The weight is read on the whole mixture where the mixture is consumable as it stands, under the note to Article 3. Note 6 to Article 19 of the Islamic Penal Code, added 1399/02/23, converts every non hadd life sentence prescribed by law into grade one imprisonment, so the two life terms above are read through that note. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Schedule 1 substances may be supplied under Article 2 of the Psychotropics Law only to approved state research and medical bodies in limited amounts, which is not a traveller route. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: MDA sits in Schedule 1, the schedule the Psychotropics Law treats most severely. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

MDA in Iran, full detail →

MDMA

Legal status: MDMA is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس هروئین، مرفین، کوکائین و دیگر مشتقات شیمیایی مرفین و کوکائین و یا لیزرژیک اسید دی ‌اتیل آمید (ال.اس.دی)، متیلن دی اکسی‌ مت ‌آمفتامین (ام.دی.ام.آ. یا آکستاسی)، گاما هیدروکسی بوتیریک اسید (جی.اچ.بی)، فلونیترازپام، آمفتامین، مت آمفتامین (شیشه)». The entry is methylenedioxymethamphetamine, printed with ecstasy as an alternative name. It is also entry 13 of Schedule 1 of the 1384/09/13 schedules.
Consequences if caught: MDMA sits inside the Article 8 regime, and Article 8 covers import, manufacture, production, distribution, export, sending, purchase, sale, offering for sale, possession, concealment and transport alike. Its own bands run from 20 to 50 lashes with a fine of 50 to 115 million rials up to 5 centigrams, through two to five years above 1 gram, five to eight years above 4 grams and ten to fifteen years above 15 grams. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: A prescription does not remove Article 8. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and that permission is the thing to establish, not the prescription. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: MDMA is reached through the Article 8 opening rather than through any schedule. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

MDMA in Iran, full detail →

MDPV

Legal status: MDPV has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Pyrovalerone is entry 56 of Schedule 4, and MDPV is the methylenedioxy compound rather than pyrovalerone itself, which the schedule does not carry across. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

MDPV in Iran, full detail →

Memantine

Legal status: Memantine has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. It is an adamantane NMDA receptor antagonist, and the only NMDA antagonists the schedules carry are the arylcyclohexylamines, phencyclidine at entry 14 of Schedule 2 and eticyclidine and tenocyclidine at entries 8 and 26 of Schedule 1. Memantine is none of those and shares no ring system with them. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Memantine in Iran, full detail →

Mephedrone (4-MMC)

Legal status: Mephedrone has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Cathinone is entry 2 and methcathinone entry 15 of Schedule 1, and mephedrone is 4 methylmethcathinone, a separate substance the schedule does not carry. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

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

Mescaline

Legal status: Mescaline is placed at entry 14 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «مسکالین» beside the roman form Mescaline.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedule 1. Article 3 gives life imprisonment for manufacture, three to fifteen years for sale or offering for sale, life for unauthorised import above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less, and three to fifteen years for unauthorised possession or transport above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less. The weight is read on the whole mixture where the mixture is consumable as it stands, under the note to Article 3. Note 6 to Article 19 of the Islamic Penal Code, added 1399/02/23, converts every non hadd life sentence prescribed by law into grade one imprisonment, so the two life terms above are read through that note. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Schedule 1 substances may be supplied under Article 2 of the Psychotropics Law only to approved state research and medical bodies in limited amounts, which is not a traveller route. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Mescaline sits in Schedule 1, the schedule the Psychotropics Law treats most severely. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Mescaline in Iran, full detail →

Methadone

Legal status: Methadone is placed by name twice over. It is in group 1 of the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, printed as «متادون», where group 1 treats the raw form, the salts and the preparations alike. Article 40 of the Anti-Narcotics Law then names it expressly, «کدئین و متادون», and routes the conduct to the Article 5 penalties.
Consequences if caught: Methadone is reached through Article 40, which sends import, purchase, sale, manufacture, consumption, possession and export of methadone to the penalties in Article 5. The Article 5 bands open at a fine of up to 165 million rials with up to 50 lashes at 50 grams or less, run to 264 million to 1 billion rials with 40 to 74 lashes and two to five years above 500 grams, and to five to ten years above 5 kilograms. Group 1 of the 1338 decree is the wider group, treating the raw substance, its salts and its preparations as one. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Methadone maintenance is provided inside Iran through the treatment programme Article 15 recognises, but that is a domestic programme and not a traveller import permission. Carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran runs a large methadone maintenance programme and methadone is dispensed inside it on Ministry of Health authorisation. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Methadone is the second of the two substances the Anti-Narcotics Law names outside Articles 4 and 8. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Methadone in Iran, full detail →

Methamphetamine

Legal status: Methamphetamine is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس هروئین، مرفین، کوکائین و دیگر مشتقات شیمیایی مرفین و کوکائین و یا لیزرژیک اسید دی ‌اتیل آمید (ال.اس.دی)، متیلن دی اکسی‌ مت ‌آمفتامین (ام.دی.ام.آ. یا آکستاسی)، گاما هیدروکسی بوتیریک اسید (جی.اچ.بی)، فلونیترازپام، آمفتامین، مت آمفتامین (شیشه)». The Persian entry is مت آمفتامین with the street name شیشه printed beside it. It is also entries 10 and 11 of Schedule 2.
Consequences if caught: Methamphetamine sits inside the Article 8 regime, and Article 8 covers import, manufacture, production, distribution, export, sending, purchase, sale, offering for sale, possession, concealment and transport alike. Its own bands run from 20 to 50 lashes with a fine of 50 to 115 million rials up to 5 centigrams, through two to five years above 1 gram, five to eight years above 4 grams and ten to fifteen years above 15 grams. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: A prescription does not remove Article 8. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and that permission is the thing to establish, not the prescription. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Methamphetamine is reached through the Article 8 opening rather than through any schedule. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Methamphetamine in Iran, full detail →

Methaqualone (Quaaludes)

Legal status: Methaqualone is placed at entry 12 of Schedule 2 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «متاکالون» beside the roman form Methaqualone. Mecloqualone is a separate entry at number 9 of the same schedule.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Methaqualone sits in Schedule 2, and the Anti-Narcotics Law does not reach it by name. Articles 4 and 8 extend beyond their named substances only to other narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics whose list Parliament approves, and all four of these schedules are headed the pharmaceutical list. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Methaqualone (Quaaludes) in Iran, full detail →

Methylone

Legal status: Methylone has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Methcathinone is entry 15 of Schedule 1, and methylone is the methylenedioxy compound, a separate substance the schedule does not carry. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Methylone in Iran, full detail →

Methylphenidate

Legal status: Methylphenidate is placed at entry 13 of Schedule 2 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «متیل فنیدیت» beside the roman form Methylphendiate. The roman form is printed with a transposition, Methylphendiate, and the Persian spells the ordinary name.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. The INCB assessed requirements Iran published for 2026 put amfetamine at 500 g, dexamfetamine at 2,500 g and methylphenidate at 800,000 g, which is the scale of the lawful channel and not a traveller allowance. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Methylphenidate sits in Schedule 2, and the Anti-Narcotics Law does not reach it by name. Articles 4 and 8 extend beyond their named substances only to other narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics whose list Parliament approves, and all four of these schedules are headed the pharmaceutical list. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Methylphenidate in Iran, full detail →

Mitragynine

Legal status: Mitragynine has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Neither it nor 7 hydroxymitragynine nor the kratom leaf has an entry in any of the four instruments. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Mitragynine in Iran, full detail →

Modafinil

Legal status: Modafinil has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. It has no entry in any of the four instruments, and several other wakefulness and appetite agents do, among them mazindol at entry 36 and pemoline at entry 49 of Schedule 4. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Modafinil in Iran, full detail →

Morphine

Legal status: Morphine is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس هروئین، مرفین، کوکائین و دیگر مشتقات شیمیایی مرفین و کوکائین و یا لیزرژیک اسید دی ‌اتیل آمید (ال.اس.دی)، متیلن دی اکسی‌ مت ‌آمفتامین (ام.دی.ام.آ. یا آکستاسی)، گاما هیدروکسی بوتیریک اسید (جی.اچ.بی)، فلونیترازپام، آمفتامین، مت آمفتامین (شیشه)». The Persian entry is مرفین, and the 1338 decree carries morphine, its salts and its esters in group 1.
Consequences if caught: Morphine sits inside the Article 8 regime, and Article 8 covers import, manufacture, production, distribution, export, sending, purchase, sale, offering for sale, possession, concealment and transport alike. Its own bands run from 20 to 50 lashes with a fine of 50 to 115 million rials up to 5 centigrams, through two to five years above 1 gram, five to eight years above 4 grams and ten to fifteen years above 15 grams. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: A prescription does not remove Article 8. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and that permission is the thing to establish, not the prescription. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Morphine is reached through the Article 8 opening rather than through any schedule. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Morphine in Iran, full detail →

MXE

Legal status: MXE has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Eticyclidine is entry 8 and tenocyclidine entry 26 of Schedule 1 and phencyclidine is entry 14 of Schedule 2, but methoxetamine is a ketamine analogue rather than any of those three, and ketamine itself has no entry. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

MXE in Iran, full detail →

Nicotine

Legal status: Controlled as a constituent of tobacco product rather than under its own name. The Comprehensive National Tobacco Control Law of 1385/06/15 regulates tobacco product, and it is not named in that Law, in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02 or in the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1. Nicotine outside a tobacco product, in a pouch or a vaping liquid, therefore has no entry this cell could find, and the product classification of those items in Iran was not established.
Consequences if caught: Nicotine takes the tobacco regime, which is a fine regime and not a prison one. Article 13 sets a fine of 2.9 to 4.2 million rials for smoking inside the public bodies it lists, and its first note sets 2.1 to 4.2 million rials for public places and public transport, at the values as revised on 1403/03/30. Article 4 reserves import permits for tobacco product to the state, and Article 14 sends smuggled tobacco product to the goods smuggling rules. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Nicotine replacement therapy was not separately traced in the Iranian product registers, so treat a patch, gum or pouch as an unclassified item and confirm with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: This row is placed on the product and not on the molecule. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Comprehensive National Tobacco Control Law of 1385/06/15, amended 1390/04/08 · davoudabadi.ir · Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13 adopting the four updated psychotropic schedules, replacing those attached to decision 15372/T30726 of 1383/04/28 · davoudabadi.ir · solh.ir · Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 · davoudabadi.ir · Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09 · davoudabadi.ir · Updated September 21, 2026

Nicotine in Iran, full detail →

Nimetazepam

Legal status: Nimetazepam is placed at entry 44 of Schedule 4 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «نیمتازپام» beside the roman form Nimetazepam.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Nimetazepam sits in Schedule 4, and the Anti-Narcotics Law does not reach it by name. Articles 4 and 8 extend beyond their named substances only to other narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics whose list Parliament approves, and all four of these schedules are headed the pharmaceutical list. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Nimetazepam in Iran, full detail →

Nitrous Oxide

Legal status: Nitrous oxide has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. It has no entry in any of the four instruments, and its status as a medical gas and as a food additive in Iran was not established for this cell. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Nitrous Oxide in Iran, full detail →

Opium

Legal status: Opium is placed by name. Named in the opening of Article 4 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which reads «هر کس بنگ، چرس، گراس، تریاک، شیره، سوخته، تفاله تریاک». Four of the named forms are opium forms: تریاک for opium itself, شیره for the juice, سوخته for the burnt residue and تفاله تریاک for the dross. Poppy cultivation is a separate offence under Article 2, whose fourth occurrence carries death.
Consequences if caught: Opium sits inside the Article 4 and Article 5 regime. Article 4 covers import, export, sending, production, manufacture, distribution, sale and offering for sale, and Article 5 covers purchase, possession, concealment and transport. The Article 4 bands run from a fine of up to 200 million rials and up to 50 lashes at 50 grams or less, through 200 to 500 million rials with 20 to 74 lashes and up to three years above 50 grams, to 500 million to 2 billion rials with 50 to 74 lashes and three to fifteen years above 500 grams. The Article 5 bands are separate and lower, opening at a fine of up to 165 million rials with up to 50 lashes at 50 grams or less. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Article 41 exempts authorised medical, research and industrial activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Opium is reached through the Article 4 opening. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Opium in Iran, full detail →

Oxycodone

Legal status: Oxycodone is placed by name in group 1 of the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, printed as «اکسی کدون», and that decree is what Article 1 note 1 of the Anti-Narcotics Law incorporates when it defines narcotics as the substances enumerated in the 1338 list and its later amendments. Group 1 treats the raw substance, its salts and its preparations as one, and the entry carries the esters expressly.
Consequences if caught: Oxycodone is a narcotic under the 1338 decree, so the Anti-Narcotics Law reaches it, but which penalty article reaches it is the part that was not established. Article 4 and Article 5 open on the named cannabis and opium forms and then on substances whose list Parliament approves, and that list was not recovered. Article 8 opens on heroin, morphine, cocaine and their chemical derivatives, and Oxycodone is a semi synthetic derivative of the opium alkaloids rather than of morphine or cocaine on its face. Article 40 resolves this question expressly for codeine and methadone and says nothing about this row. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Article 41 exempts authorised medical activity carried on with Ministry of Health permission, and a foreign prescription is not that permission. Carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Placement is established and the penalty article is not. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Oxycodone in Iran, full detail →

PCP

Legal status: Phencyclidine is placed at entry 14 of Schedule 2 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «فن سیکلدین (پی.سی.پی)» beside the roman form Phencyclidine(PCP). Two related arylcyclohexylamines sit in Schedule 1 instead: eticyclidine at entry 8 and tenocyclidine at entry 26.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Phencyclidine sits in Schedule 2, and the Anti-Narcotics Law does not reach it by name. Articles 4 and 8 extend beyond their named substances only to other narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics whose list Parliament approves, and all four of these schedules are headed the pharmaceutical list. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

PCP in Iran, full detail →

Peyote

Legal status: Controlled through its constituent mescaline, which is placed at entry 14 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «مسکالین» beside the roman form Mescaline. Peyote itself is not named in the four psychotropic schedules, in the Anti-Narcotics Law or in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The cactus itself has no entry, and no Iranian instrument recovered here names a plant source for mescaline. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedule 1. Article 3 gives life imprisonment for manufacture, three to fifteen years for sale or offering for sale, life for unauthorised import above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less, and three to fifteen years for unauthorised possession or transport above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less. The weight is read on the whole mixture where the mixture is consumable as it stands, under the note to Article 3. Note 6 to Article 19 of the Islamic Penal Code, added 1399/02/23, converts every non hadd life sentence prescribed by law into grade one imprisonment, so the two life terms above are read through that note. The weight question is the sharp one for a plant material: the note to Article 3 reads the whole mixture as pure where it is consumable as it stands, so a bulky plant preparation is not weighed as its active content. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: This row is placed on a constituent, so the answer is only as good as what a laboratory finds in the material. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Peyote in Iran, full detail →

Phenibut

Legal status: Phenibut has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. It is beta phenyl GABA, sold widely as a supplement, and no GABA analogue of any kind appears in the four schedules. Its supplement status abroad has no bearing on Iranian import rules, which were not established for this cell. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Phenibut in Iran, full detail →

Pink Cocaine / Tusi

Legal status: Controlled through whichever constituent a sample turns out to carry, and the constituents sit in three different places. Cocaine and MDMA are named in the opening of Article 8 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, the capital article. 2C-B is entry 3 of Schedule 2 of the four psychotropic schedules, where the Psychotropics Law gives prison terms and no capital penalty. Ketamine, which the market label most often carries, is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02 or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026; the Persian کتامین returns no hit in any of them and the only near miss is ketazolam at entry 31 of Schedule 4. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Exposure follows the most severely placed constituent that is actually detected, and the gap between them is the whole risk. A sample carrying cocaine or MDMA sits inside Article 8, whose quantity limb for the supply conduct is more than 2 kilograms and for buying, keeping, concealing or transporting is more than 3 kilograms. A sample carrying only 2C-B sits under the Psychotropics Law instead, where Article 4 gives 61 days to three years and Article 8 gives up to six months for possession. No fine is stated in those Psychotropics Law articles, while the Article 8 bands of the Anti-Narcotics Law open at a fine of 50 to 115 million rials. Because the blend varies batch to batch, a buyer cannot know which of those two regimes applies at the moment of purchase. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: No lawful supply of the mixture. Ketamine is an anaesthetic used under supervision and MDMA has no accepted medical use in Iran. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The power that moves this list runs through Article 1 note 1 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, under which narcotics are the substances enumerated in the 1338 narcotics list decree and its later amendments or announced as narcotics by the Ministry of Health, and the additional parliamentary list contemplated by Article 8 was not recovered. No version of that list is established, so the finding above is anchored to the recovered instruments alone. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because they describe the offences that this row’s placement brings into play. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Pink Cocaine / Tusi in Iran, full detail →

Poppers

Legal status: Poppers has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The label covers several alkyl nitrites, and none of them has an entry in any of the four instruments. Because the product varies, a specific sample would have to be identified before any other Iranian rule could be applied to it. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Poppers in Iran, full detail →

Pregabalin

Legal status: Pregabalin has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. It is the S enantiomer of 3 isobutyl GABA, and like gabapentin it has no entry. The schedules do name single enantiomers elsewhere, levamfetamine at entry 7 and levomethamphetamine at entry 8 of Schedule 2, so the drafter used that device and did not use it here. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Pregabalin in Iran, full detail →

Psilocybin

Legal status: Psilocybin is placed at entry 22 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «پسیلوسایبین» beside the roman form psiloeybin, and psilocin is placed beside it at entry 21 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «پسیلوسین - پسیلوتسین» beside the roman form Psilocine,psilotsin. A judicial meeting held at Karaj on 1402/03/01 resolved a query about psilocin by pointing to exactly that row 21 of schedule 1 of the 1384/09/13 lists, and a judicial meeting at Kahnuj on 1400/08/12 held that hallucinogenic mushrooms containing psilocin and psilocybin fall to the Psychotropics Law and to the Revolutionary Court.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedule 1. Article 3 gives life imprisonment for manufacture, three to fifteen years for sale or offering for sale, life for unauthorised import above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less, and three to fifteen years for unauthorised possession or transport above 10 grams and two to ten years at 10 grams or less. The weight is read on the whole mixture where the mixture is consumable as it stands, under the note to Article 3. Note 6 to Article 19 of the Islamic Penal Code, added 1399/02/23, converts every non hadd life sentence prescribed by law into grade one imprisonment, so the two life terms above are read through that note. The Kahnuj meeting is also the record that settles jurisdiction for this row: the Revolutionary Court, not the general courts. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Psilocybin and psilocin are the two rows in this batch whose schedule entry a reported judicial meeting names by number. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Psilocybin in Iran, full detail →

Quetiapine

Legal status: Quetiapine has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The four schedules carry no antipsychotic entry of any kind, and the nearest sedatives they do carry are the benzodiazepines of Schedule 4. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Quetiapine in Iran, full detail →

Salvia divinorum

Legal status: Salvia divinorum has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Neither the plant nor salvinorin A has an entry in any of the four instruments. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Salvia divinorum in Iran, full detail →

Scopolamine (Devil's Breath)

Legal status: Scopolamine has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The only tropane alkaloids Iran enumerates are cocaine and ecgonine, both in group 1 of the 1338 decree, and the solanaceous tropanes are not with them. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

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

Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice)

Legal status: Synthetic cannabinoids has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Entry 27 of Schedule 1 reaches tetrahydrocannabinol and its isomers, and the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists sold under this label are not isomers of that molecule and are not otherwise enumerated. The label covers an open set, so a specific compound would have to be identified before the question could be put again. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice) in Iran, full detail →

THC-P

Legal status: THC-P has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. Entry 27 of Schedule 1 reaches tetrahydrocannabinol and its isomers, and THC-P carries a longer side chain and a different molecular formula, so it is a homologue rather than an isomer of the named substance. That last step is this cell’s own reading of the word isomer and not a separate Iranian ruling. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

THC-P in Iran, full detail →

Tobacco

Legal status: Tobacco is regulated under a licensing and public health statute, not a narcotics one. The statute is the Comprehensive National Tobacco Control Law of 1385/06/15, amended 1390/04/08, whose fines were revised on 1403/03/30. Article 3 bans advertising, sponsorship and inducement. Article 4 reserves import policy and import permits to the state. Article 5 requires pictorial health warnings covering at least fifty per cent of each side of the pack. Article 6 requires serial numbered packs and the words for sale in Iran only on imported packaging. Article 7 requires a sale licence from the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade.
Consequences if caught: Tobacco is a fine regime and not a prison one for a traveller. Article 13 bans smoking inside the public bodies it lists and sets a fine of 2.9 to 4.2 million rials for anyone who is not a member of their staff. Its first note sets a fine of 2.1 to 4.2 million rials for smoking in public places or on public transport, and its second note lets the Cabinet adjust those limits every three years for inflation. Article 16 sets 2.1 to 8.4 million rials for selling from an opened pack. Article 14 sends smuggled tobacco product to the goods smuggling rules instead. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Not a prescribed traveller medicine in this form. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Tobacco is the second of the two rows placed outside the drug statutes. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Comprehensive National Tobacco Control Law of 1385/06/15, amended 1390/04/08, fines revised 1403/03/30 · davoudabadi.ir · Updated October 8, 2026

Tobacco in Iran, full detail →

Tramadol

Legal status: Tramadol has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. The 1338 decree enumerates the opioid analgesics of its day and closes without a catch all, and tramadol, which was introduced long afterwards, is not among them and is not in any of the four schedules either. Its status as a controlled medicine in Iranian pharmacy practice was not established for this cell. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Dispensed as a controlled prescription medicine on Ministry of Health and Iran Food and Drug Administration authorisation, on the earlier record described in the documentation. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. This project’s earlier Iran record states that tramadol has been regulated by the Iran Food and Drug Administration since 2007 as a nationally controlled prescription medicine. That is carried forward here as an unverified claim: no route reached today produced an Iranian instrument naming it. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Tramadol in Iran, full detail →

Xanax (Alprazolam)

Legal status: Alprazolam is placed at entry 2 of Schedule 4 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «آلپرازولام» beside the roman form Alprazolam.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Alprazolam sits in Schedule 4, and the Anti-Narcotics Law does not reach it by name. Articles 4 and 8 extend beyond their named substances only to other narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics whose list Parliament approves, and all four of these schedules are headed the pharmaceutical list. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Xanax (Alprazolam) in Iran, full detail →

Xylazine

Legal status: Xylazine has no entry of its own in Iran’s recovered drug instruments: it is not named in the Anti-Narcotics Law, in the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, or in any of the four psychotropic schedules, taking the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026. It is a veterinary sedative, and the medicines law provides for an annual veterinary medicines list prepared jointly by the Ministry of Health and the Veterinary Organization. That list was not recovered, so the veterinary route is open and unread. The additional list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 leave to Parliament was not recovered, so this does not rule out a later parliamentary listing or a Ministry of Health designation under Article 1 note 1.
Consequences if caught: Nothing in this cell should be read as saying the substance is permitted. The recovered instruments place it nowhere, and two designation routes remain open that could not be read: the parliamentary list that Articles 4, 8 and 46 contemplate, and the Ministry of Health announcement power in Article 1 note 1. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established.
If prescribed / medical: Treat it as an unclassified item. Carry the original packaging and any prescription, keep the quantity to personal use, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: The end of each recovered list was read rather than sampled. The 1338 decree ends with its group 2 entries and its preparation rule, and the four schedules end at entry 62 of Schedule 4, zolpidem, with 28, 17, 9 and 62 entries and 116 in all. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Xylazine in Iran, full detail →

Zolpidem

Legal status: Zolpidem is placed at entry 62 of Schedule 4 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13, printed as «زولیپدوم» beside the roman form Zolpidem. It is the last entry in the last schedule.
Consequences if caught: The Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08 sets the penalties for its Schedules 2, 3 and 4, and they are prison terms rather than capital ones. Article 4 gives 61 days to three years plus seizure for unauthorised manufacture, import or export, Article 6 the same range for unlawful distribution, Article 7 gives 61 days to six months for supplying a consumer otherwise than by a pharmacy against a prescription, and Article 8 up to six months for unauthorised possession. No fine is stated in those articles, and no quantity threshold appears in them either. Article 9 extends the same rules to a medicinal product whose main ingredient contains a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure.
If prescribed / medical: The note to Article 9 of the Psychotropics Law exempts import, export, possession and transport of a Schedule 2, 3 or 4 substance from that Law where the amount is proportionate to personal therapeutic use: «وارد یا خارج کردن از کشور یا نگاهداری یا حمل مواد مذکور در ماده 4 این قانون در صورتی که به مقادیر متناسب یا مصارف درمانی شخصی باشد از شمول کلیه مقررات این قانون معاف خواهد بود». That is a statutory exemption and not a licence, so carry the original packaging and the prescription, and confirm the position with the Iranian embassy before travel. Iran’s own entry in the INCB Country Regulations for Travellers, 2025 sheet, admits only original and intact drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, carried with a prescription and in quantities covering the stay, and it says that beyond 6 months you must see a physician in Iran. The contact it gives is ICSA at fda.gov.ir.
Documentation: Zolpidem sits in Schedule 4, and the Anti-Narcotics Law does not reach it by name. Articles 4 and 8 extend beyond their named substances only to other narcotics or non medicinal industrial psychotropics whose list Parliament approves, and all four of these schedules are headed the pharmaceutical list. Iran keeps the death penalty for drug offences and uses it. Article 45, added by the Act of 1396/07/12, which is 4 October 2017, and approved by the Guardian Council on 1396/07/26, which is 18 October 2017, reaches only offences that already carry death or life imprisonment under this Law, and its paragraph (t) sets the quantity limb: «کلیه جرائم موضوع ماده (4) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از پنجاه کیلوگرم باشد و مواد موضوع ماده (8) این قانون مشروط بر اینکه بیش از دو کیلوگرم باشد و در خصوص سایر جرائم موضوع ماده (8) در صورتی‌که بیش از سه کیلوگرم باشد». The quantities are more than 50 kilograms for Article 4 offences, more than 2 kilograms for the Article 8 supply limb, and more than 3 kilograms for the other Article 8 offences of buying, keeping, concealing or transporting, which is how the Head of the Judiciary circular of 1396/10/16, meaning 6 January 2018, reads that paragraph at its own paragraph 7. Below those quantities the older capital wording does not lapse by itself, because Article 45 converts a former death case to grade one imprisonment of up to thirty years and a former life case to grade two imprisonment, with confiscation of drug proceeds in both. The money runs beside that conversion: a grade one fine up to twice its minimum for the former death case and a grade two fine for the former life case. Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 45 carry no quantity floor at all, and reach an offender who drew or carried a weapon, a ringleader, a financial backer or investor, an offender who used a person under eighteen or a person lacking capacity, and an offender with a final prior conviction under this Law for death, life or more than fifteen years. Advisory opinion 7/99/136 applies paragraph (c) to the transport of 80 grams of heroin and to the possession of 200 kilograms of opium, which is why a weight under two kilograms is not a safe limit. At least 503 drug related executions were recorded in 2024 and 471 in 2023, roughly half of all executions and carried out by hanging, which the US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor reports and Harm Reduction International and Amnesty International corroborate. A second figure of 485 for 2024 also sits in this project’s earlier Iran records, unattributed there, and the two were not reconciled, so both are printed rather than one being chosen. Those figures are set out here because this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Iran’s published drug penalties and not as this substance’s exposure. Version read for this cell: the Anti-Narcotics Law of 1367/08/03, which is 25 October 1988, as the publisher’s consolidation carries it, with its 1376, 1380, 1389, 1396 and 1399 amendments, meaning 1997, 2001, 2010, 2017 and 2020, and the fine revision of 1403/03/30, which is 19 June 2024, and the four psychotropic schedules as those schedules stand after the Cabinet decision of 1384/09/13, which is 4 December 2005, both read on 22 September 2026, together with the narcotics-list decree of 1338/05/02, which is July 1959, whose Article 5 carries an amendment of 1352/12/28, meaning 19 March 1974, and the Psychotropics Law of 1354/02/08, which is 28 April 1975. Item 419 of the health invalidation law of 1399/08/05, meaning 26 October 2020, names annexes 1 to 4 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law, and Judiciary advisory opinion 7/1400/434 of 1400/09/09, meaning 30 November 2021, reads that as reaching the 1354 Law’s own original annexes, which later Cabinet decisions had already displaced, so the 1384/09/13 schedules stand. Article 1 of the 1354 Psychotropics Law lets the Ministry revise these four schedules on a recommendation of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, but only with Cabinet approval, publication and a further fifteen days, so a change to the 1971 Psychotropic Substances Convention does not enter Iranian law by itself, and the 1961 and 1971 Convention schedules are not the Iranian list. Provenance of the placement: the schedule and entry number stated for this row was read in the instrument itself and was not taken from the project dossier, because no quoted extract in that dossier carries a schedule marker for any substance, measured across all 88 of its quotation cells on 22 September 2026. Older bands survive inside the same articles and are what Article 45 converts. Article 4 band 4 reads death and confiscation above 5 kilograms, with a note giving life imprisonment, 74 lashes and confiscation for a first offence of 20 kilograms or less that was not distributed or sold. Article 8 band 6 reads death and confiscation above 30 grams, with a note giving life imprisonment for a first offence of no more than 100 grams that was not distributed or sold. Before the 1396 Act, meaning before 2017, the reported capital thresholds were far lower, at more than 30 grams of heroin or cocaine and more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis. The Anti-Narcotics Law itself dates from 1988 and the substances it incorporates by definition come from the narcotics list decree of 1959. Article 41 excludes authorised medical, research and industrial activity: «ساخت، تولید، خرید، فروش، ارسال، نگهداری، ورود، صدور، مصرف و حمل مواد ممنوع حسب مورد برای مصارف پزشکی، تحقیقاتی و صنعتی با مجوز وزارت بهداشت، درمان و آموزش پزشکی از شمول این قانون مستثنی است», so a medicinal use or a trade name does not by itself establish that the Ministry of Health permission exists. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription, and confirm requirements with your embassy before travel.

Zolpidem in Iran, full detail →

Not individually verified

1 substance is not individually verified for Iran

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 Iran’s drug authority or your embassy.

Substance	What we found
CBD	Not confirmed. Entry 27 of Schedule 1 of the four psychotropic schedules adopted 1384/09/13 gives two different...

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