Legal status in Kenya

Per-substance legal status for Kenya, 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 2, 2026

Confirmed legal status

1P-LSD

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "LSD, LSD-25" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "LSD, LSD-25", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. 1P-LSD is 1-propionyl-lysergic acid diethylamide, which carries an added propionyl group on the indole nitrogen and is a different compound from the one that entry names. The Second Schedule closes each of its tables by extending them to the salts of the substances listed and to nothing else, so an added acyl group is outside it. The Fourth Schedule names Lysergic acid, which is a precursor chemical under section 4A and again a different substance. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245 (No. 4 of 1994), text as at 31 December 2022 revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), incorporating the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), commenced 21 March 2022 · ss. 2, 3, 4, 4A, 4B, 5, 6, 13, 16, 87 and the First to Fourth Schedules · new.kenyalaw.org · Updated October 2, 2026

1P-LSD in Kenya, full detail →

2-FDCK

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "KETAMINE" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "KETAMINE", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. 2-FDCK is 2-fluorodeschloroketamine, in which the ring chlorine of ketamine is replaced by fluorine, so it is a different compound from the one that entry names. The Second Schedule extends only to the salts of the substances it lists, and a ring substitution is not a salt. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

2-FDCK in Kenya, full detail →

25I-NBOMe

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "BROLAMFETAMINE" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "BROLAMFETAMINE", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. That entry, whose trivial name the schedule gives as DOB, is the closest ring-substituted phenethylamine printed. 25I-NBOMe carries an N-(2-methoxybenzyl) group on the nitrogen and an iodine at the 4 position, and neither it nor any other N-benzyl phenethylamine is printed. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

25I-NBOMe in Kenya, full detail →

2C-B

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "BROLAMFETAMINE" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "BROLAMFETAMINE", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. Its trivial name is given as DOB and its chemical name as 4-bromo-2, 5-dimethoxy-alpha-methylphenethylamine, an amphetamine carrying an alpha-methyl group. 2C-B is 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine, which has no alpha-methyl group, so the printed entry does not name it. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

2C-B in Kenya, full detail →

2C-E

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "DOET" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "DOET", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. That entry's chemical name is printed as 4-ethyl-2, 5-dimethoxy-alpha-phenethylamine and it is the alpha-methylated amphetamine. 2C-E is 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylphenethylamine, without that alpha-methyl group, so the printed entry names a different substance. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

2C-E in Kenya, full detail →

2C-I

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "BROLAMFETAMINE" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "BROLAMFETAMINE", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. The nearest printed text is the bromo compound the schedule calls BROLAMFETAMINE, trivial name DOB, which is both an amphetamine rather than a phenethylamine and bromine rather than iodine substituted. No iodinated 2,5-dimethoxy compound of any kind is printed. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

2C-I in Kenya, full detail →

2C-T-7

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "STP, DOM" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "STP, DOM", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. That entry's chemical name is printed as 2, 5-dimethoxy-alpha, 4-dimethylphenethylamine. 2C-T-7 carries a 4-propylthio group and no alpha-methyl group, so it is a different substance and no sulphur-substituted phenethylamine is printed. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

2C-T-7 in Kenya, full detail →

3-MMC

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "CATHINONE" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "CATHINONE", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. 3-MMC is 3-methylmethcathinone, carrying both an N-methyl group and a ring methyl group that the parent does not have, so the printed entry names a different substance. The Second Schedule extends only to the salts of the substances it lists and carries no analogue or generic clause for substituted cathinones. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

3-MMC in Kenya, full detail →

4-AcO-DMT

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "psilocine, psilotsin" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "psilocine, psilotsin", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. 4-AcO-DMT is the O-acetyl ester of the compound that entry names. The First Schedule extends to the esters and ethers of the drugs it lists, and the Second Schedule, which is the one carrying this entry, extends only to the salts, so an ester of a Second Schedule substance is outside the words printed. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

4-AcO-DMT in Kenya, full detail →

4-HO-MET

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "psilocine, psilotsin" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "psilocine, psilotsin", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. 4-HO-MET is 4-hydroxy-N-methyl-N-ethyltryptamine, which replaces one of the two N-methyl groups of the compound that entry names with an N-ethyl group, so it is a different substance and the Second Schedule extends only to salts. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

4-HO-MET in Kenya, full detail →

5-MeO-DMT (Bufo / Toad)

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "DMT" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "DMT", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. That entry's chemical name is printed as 3-[2-(dimethylamino) ethyl] indole. 5-MeO-DMT carries a methoxy group at the 5 position of the indole ring, which the printed designation does not, so it is a different substance and the Second Schedule extends only to salts. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

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

6-APB

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "TENAMFETAMINE" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "TENAMFETAMINE", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. That entry, trivial name MDA, is the nearest ring-fused amphetamine printed, and its chemical name is a 3,4-methylenedioxy phenethylamine. 6-APB is a benzofuran, a different ring system, and no benzofuran is printed in any of the four schedules. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

6-APB in Kenya, full detail →

7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH)

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. This is the oxidised minor alkaloid and active metabolite rather than the leaf, and neither it nor the parent alkaloid mitragynine is printed. The First Schedule's opioid entries are morphinans, phenylpiperidines, methadone analogues and fentanyl analogues, and no indole alkaloid of this family appears among them, so an opioid receptor action does not by itself put a compound inside that schedule. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

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

Adderall

Legal status: Controlled in part under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245: the amfetamine salts that make up the product are named, since the schedule prints AMFETAMINE and DEXAMFETAMINE as separate entries and closes each table with a clause extending it to the salts of the substances listed, while the brand name itself is not named in any of the four schedules, as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The nearest text read is the entry "AMFETAMINE" in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, and this row is a class or a mixture rather than a single scheduled name. The amfetamine salts that make up the product are named, since the schedule prints AMFETAMINE and DEXAMFETAMINE as separate entries and closes each table with a clause extending it to the salts of the substances listed, while the brand name itself is not named in any of the four schedules. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "AMFETAMINE", and this row is a mixture or a class rather than a single scheduled name, so the cell says which part is named and which is not. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Adderall in Kenya, full detail →

Alcohol

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. No form of ethanol or fermented or distilled drink is printed in any of the four schedules, and the Third Schedule list of prohibited plants runs to four entries, none of them a fermentable crop. Kenya's alcoholic drinks licensing legislation is a different instrument and was not read for this cell. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Alcohol in Kenya, full detail →

Amanita muscaria

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Neither the mushroom nor its active compounds muscimol and ibotenic acid is printed in any of the four schedules, and the Third Schedule list of prohibited plants runs to four flowering plants and names no fungus. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Amanita muscaria in Kenya, full detail →

Amphetamine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "AMFETAMINE", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "AMFETAMINE", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The schedule prints the international non-proprietary spelling with an f, against the chemical name (+/-)-2-amino-1-phenylpropane, and prints DEXAMFETAMINE and LEVAMFETAMINE as separate entries. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "AMFETAMINE". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Amphetamine in Kenya, full detail →

Amyl Nitrite

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. No nitrite of any kind is printed in any of the four schedules, and the Fourth Schedule list of precursor chemicals runs to twelve named chemicals, none of them a nitrite. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Amyl Nitrite in Kenya, full detail →

Ayahuasca

Legal status: Controlled in part under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245: the brew's characteristic alkaloid is named, and section 2 defines a psychotropic substance as any substance specified in the Second Schedule or anything that contains any substance specified in that Schedule, while the vine Banisteriopsis caapi is not named in any of the four schedules, nor is the leaf Psychotria viridis, nor are the beta-carboline alkaloids harmine and harmaline, and the Third Schedule runs to four plants only, as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The nearest text read is the entry "DMT" in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, and this row is a class or a mixture rather than a single scheduled name. The brew's characteristic alkaloid is named, and section 2 defines a psychotropic substance as any substance specified in the Second Schedule or anything that contains any substance specified in that Schedule, while the vine Banisteriopsis caapi is not named in any of the four schedules, nor is the leaf Psychotria viridis, nor are the beta-carboline alkaloids harmine and harmaline, and the Third Schedule runs to four plants only. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "DMT", and this row is a mixture or a class rather than a single scheduled name, so the cell says which part is named and which is not. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Ayahuasca in Kenya, full detail →

Barbiturates

Legal status: Controlled in part under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245: eleven barbiturate entries are named, since the schedule prints ALLOBARBITAL and AMOBARBITAL, then BARBITAL and BUTALBITAL, then BUTOBARBITAL and CYCLOBARBITAL, then PENTOBARBITAL and SECBUTABARBITAL, then SECOBARBITAL and VINYLBITAL, and separately the entry it sets as METHYLPHENOBARBITAL, while the class word barbiturates is not named in any of the four schedules and there is no generic clause reaching barbituric acid derivatives at large, as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The nearest text read is the entry "PHENOBARBITAL" in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, and this row is a class or a mixture rather than a single scheduled name. Eleven barbiturate entries are named, since the schedule prints ALLOBARBITAL and AMOBARBITAL, then BARBITAL and BUTALBITAL, then BUTOBARBITAL and CYCLOBARBITAL, then PENTOBARBITAL and SECBUTABARBITAL, then SECOBARBITAL and VINYLBITAL, and separately the entry it sets as METHYLPHENOBARBITAL, while the class word barbiturates is not named in any of the four schedules and there is no generic clause reaching barbituric acid derivatives at large. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "PHENOBARBITAL", and this row is a mixture or a class rather than a single scheduled name, so the cell says which part is named and which is not. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Barbiturates in Kenya, full detail →

Benzodiazepines

Legal status: Controlled in part under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245: about thirty individual benzodiazepine entries are named, among them ALPRAZOLAM and BROMAZEPAM, CHLORDIAZEPOXIDE and CLONAZEPAM, FLUNITRAZEPAM and LORAZEPAM, MIDAZOLAM and NITRAZEPAM, OXAZEPAM and TEMAZEPAM, while the class word benzodiazepines is not named in any of the four schedules and there is no generic clause reaching the ring system at large, as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The nearest text read is the entry "DIAZEPAM" in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, and this row is a class or a mixture rather than a single scheduled name. About thirty individual benzodiazepine entries are named, among them ALPRAZOLAM and BROMAZEPAM, CHLORDIAZEPOXIDE and CLONAZEPAM, FLUNITRAZEPAM and LORAZEPAM, MIDAZOLAM and NITRAZEPAM, OXAZEPAM and TEMAZEPAM, while the class word benzodiazepines is not named in any of the four schedules and there is no generic clause reaching the ring system at large. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "DIAZEPAM", and this row is a mixture or a class rather than a single scheduled name, so the cell says which part is named and which is not. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Benzodiazepines in Kenya, full detail →

Buprenorphine

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "AMOBARBITAL" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "AMOBARBITAL", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. The stronger evidence is where the name would sit rather than what it resembles. The second table of the Second Schedule is printed in alphabetical order and runs AMOBARBITAL, then BUTALBITAL and CATHINE, then CYCLOBARBITAL and GLUTETHIMIDE, then PENTAZOCINE and PENTOBARBITAL, then SECOBARBITAL, so the alphabetical slot between the first two entries, where this name belongs, is empty on the page. In the First Schedule the nearest compounds in kind are Acetorphine and Etorphine, the two oripavine derivatives printed there, and this one is not among the hundred or so opioid entries that schedule carries. Both schedules were read entry by entry rather than searched for a string, because a search for one spelling is the commonest way a listed substance is missed. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one. The First Schedule was read entry by entry for this row rather than searched for a string, because a zero returned by a search for one spelling is the commonest way a listed substance is missed.

Buprenorphine in Kenya, full detail →

Caffeine

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Caffeine is not printed in any of the four schedules, and the Second Schedule's stimulant entries are the amfetamines, METHYLPHENIDATE, PHENTERMINE and their kin rather than the xanthines. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Caffeine in Kenya, full detail →

Cannabinol

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "tetrahydrocannabinol," in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "tetrahydrocannabinol,", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. Cannabinol is a different compound from the one that headword names. The seven chemical designations the schedule prints under it are all tetrahydro forms carrying a 3-pentyl side chain, and cannabinol is the fully aromatic compound, so it is not one of the isomers or stereo-chemical variants listed. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one. This row turns on a structural reading of a chemical designation rather than on a printed name, and it is labelled as such rather than presented as a name match.

Cannabinol in Kenya, full detail →

Cannabis / THC

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, which prints the entry "Cannabis (Indian Hemp) and Cannabis resin (Resin of Indian Hemp)", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs prints the entry "Cannabis (Indian Hemp) and Cannabis resin (Resin of Indian Hemp)", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The Third Schedule also prints the plant, as the first of its four prohibited plants, and section 2 defines cannabis as the flowering or fruiting tops from which the resin has not been extracted, excluding the seeds and leaves when not accompanied by tops. For cannabis the possession paragraph is section 3(2)(a), which applies where the accused satisfies the court that the cannabis was intended solely for his own consumption and sets imprisonment of not more than 5 years or a fine of not more than 100,000 shillings. Section 6 reaches cultivation of a prohibited plant separately, with a fine of 250,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, or imprisonment not exceeding 20 years, or both. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Cannabis (Indian Hemp) and Cannabis resin (Resin of Indian Hemp)". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Cannabis / THC in Kenya, full detail →

Cathinone

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "CATHINONE", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "CATHINONE", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry heads the first table of the Second Schedule against a chemical name that reads as (S)-2-aminopropiophenone, and CATHINE stands as a separate entry in the second table. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "CATHINONE". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Cathinone in Kenya, full detail →

CBD

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "tetrahydrocannabinol," in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "tetrahydrocannabinol,", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. Cannabidiol is not printed in any of the four schedules and is not one of the seven tetrahydro designations listed under that headword. Section 2 separately defines cannabis oil as any liquid containing any quantity however small of tetrahydro-cannabinol, so a preparation that carries tetrahydrocannabinol raises a different question from the one this row asks. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

CBD in Kenya, full detail →

Clonazepam

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "CLONAZEPAM", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "CLONAZEPAM", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry stands against the chemical name 5-(o-chlorophenyl)-1, 3-dihydro-7-nitro-2H-1, 4-benzodiazepin-2-one. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "CLONAZEPAM". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Clonazepam in Kenya, full detail →

Cocaine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, which prints the entry "Cocaine (methyl ester of benzoylecgonine)", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs prints the entry "Cocaine (methyl ester of benzoylecgonine)", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The same schedule separately prints Coca Leaf and an entry reading Ecgonine, its esters and derivatives which are convertible to ecgonine and cocaine, and the Third Schedule prints Coca bush as a prohibited plant. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Cocaine (methyl ester of benzoylecgonine)". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Cocaine in Kenya, full detail →

Codeine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, which prints the entry "Codeine (3-methylmorphine)", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs prints the entry "Codeine (3-methylmorphine)", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. It stands in the closing group of the First Schedule alongside Acetyldihydrocodeine, Dihydrocodeine, Nicocodine, Nicodicodine, Norcodeine and Pholcodine, a group that carries its own isomer and salts clauses. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Codeine (3-methylmorphine)". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Codeine in Kenya, full detail →

Crack Cocaine

Legal status: Controlled in part under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245: the drug itself is named, and the schedule closes with clauses extending it to the isomers, the esters and ethers and the salts of the drugs it lists, while the base or smokable form is not named in any of the four schedules as a thing apart, and neither the word crack nor the word freebase appears in them, as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The nearest text read is the entry "Cocaine (methyl ester of benzoylecgonine)" in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, and this row is a class or a mixture rather than a single scheduled name. The drug itself is named, and the schedule closes with clauses extending it to the isomers, the esters and ethers and the salts of the drugs it lists, while the base or smokable form is not named in any of the four schedules as a thing apart, and neither the word crack nor the word freebase appears in them. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Cocaine (methyl ester of benzoylecgonine)", and this row is a mixture or a class rather than a single scheduled name, so the cell says which part is named and which is not. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Crack Cocaine in Kenya, full detail →

Delta-8-THC

Legal status: Controlled in part under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245: the schedule prints that headword and then seven chemical designations described as the following isomers and their stereo-chemical variants, one of which reads (6aR, 10aR)-6a, 7, 10, 10a-tetrahydro-6, 6, 9-trimethyl-3-pentyl-6H-dibenzo[b,d,] pyran-1-ol and is the delta-8 isomer on a reading of the chemical designation, while the name delta-8 is not named in any of the four schedules, as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The nearest text read is the entry "tetrahydrocannabinol," in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, and this row is a class or a mixture rather than a single scheduled name. The schedule prints that headword and then seven chemical designations described as the following isomers and their stereo-chemical variants, one of which reads (6aR, 10aR)-6a, 7, 10, 10a-tetrahydro-6, 6, 9-trimethyl-3-pentyl-6H-dibenzo[b,d,] pyran-1-ol and is the delta-8 isomer on a reading of the chemical designation, while the name delta-8 is not named in any of the four schedules. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "tetrahydrocannabinol,", and this row is a mixture or a class rather than a single scheduled name, so the cell says which part is named and which is not. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one. This row turns on a structural reading of a chemical designation rather than on a printed name, and it is labelled as such rather than presented as a name match.

Delta-8-THC in Kenya, full detail →

Diazepam

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "DIAZEPAM", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "DIAZEPAM", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry stands against the chemical name 7-chloro-1, 3-dihydro-1-methyl-5-phenyl-2H-1, 4-benzodiazepin-2-one, and FLUDIAZEPAM is a separate entry. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "DIAZEPAM". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Diazepam in Kenya, full detail →

DMT

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "DMT", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "DMT", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry sits in the trivial-name column against the chemical name 3-[2-(dimethylamino) ethyl] indole, and DET stands as a separate entry. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "DMT". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

DMT in Kenya, full detail →

DOM

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "STP, DOM", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "STP, DOM", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry sits in the trivial-name column against the chemical name 2, 5-dimethoxy-alpha, 4-dimethylphenethylamine. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "STP, DOM". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

DOM in Kenya, full detail →

Ephedrine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, as a precursor chemical named in the Fourth Schedule and reached by section 4A rather than by the narcotic drug and psychotropic substance definitions, as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Fourth Schedule list of precursor chemicals prints the entry "Ephedrine", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. Pseudoephedrine is printed as a separate entry in the same schedule, and the Fourth Schedule is reached by section 4A rather than by the possession and trafficking sections, which is a different offence with different figures. Section 4A(1) sets imprisonment of not less than 20 years for manufacturing or possessing a Fourth Schedule substance for the purpose of producing a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance, or for transporting or supplying it knowing or having reasonable grounds to suspect that use. The quantity bands sit in section 4(b) rather than section 4A, at 50 mg or more and at 50 mg or less. The fines are not less than 50,000,000 shillings under section 4A(1), which is imposed in addition to the imprisonment rather than as an alternative to it, not less than 20,000,000 shillings under section 4(b)(i), and not less than 10,000,000 shillings under section 4(b)(ii). Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears at section 4(b)(i) and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play. Kenya's country-wide recital also sets, for a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance, a term of 30 years and a fine of not less than 30,000,000 shillings between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and a term of 50 years and a fine of not less than 50,000,000 shillings above 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii), alongside imprisonment of not less than 5 years and a fine of not less than 5,000,000 shillings for possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b). Those figures are carried here because the recital is country wide, and this row is placed outside that regime, being a precursor chemical in the Fourth Schedule rather than a narcotic drug or a psychotropic substance, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Fourth Schedule list of precursor chemicals of Cap. 245 prints "Ephedrine". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Ephedrine in Kenya, full detail →

Etizolam

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "CLOTIAZEPAM" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "CLOTIAZEPAM", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. That entry is the thieno-diazepine the schedule prints, and its chemical name reads 5-(o-chlorophenyl)-7-ethyl-1, 3-dihydro-1-methyl-2H-thieno [2, 3-e]-1, 4-diazepin-2-one. Etizolam is a thieno-triazolo-diazepine, carrying a fused triazole ring that the printed designation does not, so it is a different substance. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Etizolam in Kenya, full detail →

Fentanyl

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, which prints the entry "Fentanyl (I-phenethyl-4-N-propionylanilinopiperidine)", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs prints the entry "Fentanyl (I-phenethyl-4-N-propionylanilinopiperidine)", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. Eight further fentanyl analogues are printed as separate entries, among them Alpha-methylfentanyl, 3-methylfentanyl, Para-fluorofentanyl, Sufentanil and Alfentanil. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Fentanyl (I-phenethyl-4-N-propionylanilinopiperidine)". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Fentanyl in Kenya, full detail →

Gabapentin

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Gabapentin is not printed in any of the four schedules, and no gabapentinoid of any kind appears among the Second Schedule's entries. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Gabapentin in Kenya, full detail →

GBL

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Gamma-butyrolactone is not printed in any of the four schedules. The Fourth Schedule list of precursor chemicals runs to twelve named chemicals, being ephedrine, ergometrine, ergotamine, lysergic acid, phenyl-2-propanone, pseudoephedrine, acetic anhydride, acetone, anthranilic acid, ethyl ether, phenylacetic acid and piperidine, and this is not among them. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

GBL in Kenya, full detail →

GHB

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid is not printed in any of the four schedules under that name, under the name sodium oxybate, or as a chemical designation, and no hydroxybutyrate appears among the entries. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

GHB in Kenya, full detail →

Heroin

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, which prints the entry "Heroin (diacetylmorphine)", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs prints the entry "Heroin (diacetylmorphine)", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The schedule prints it under its trivial name with the chemical name in brackets, rather than under the name diamorphine. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Heroin (diacetylmorphine)". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Heroin in Kenya, full detail →

HHC

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "tetrahydrocannabinol," in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "tetrahydrocannabinol,", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. Hexahydrocannabinol is not one of the seven designations printed under that headword. Each of those seven is a tetrahydro form; hexahydrocannabinol is hydrogenated further, at the 9,10 positions, and so is neither an isomer nor a stereo-chemical variant of them. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one. This row turns on a structural reading of a chemical designation rather than on a printed name, and it is labelled as such rather than presented as a name match.

HHC in Kenya, full detail →

Hydrocodone

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, which prints the entry "Hydrocodone (dihydrocodeinone)", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs prints the entry "Hydrocodone (dihydrocodeinone)", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. Codoxime and Thebacon are printed separately and carry the same dihydrocodeinone core in their bracketed chemical names. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Hydrocodone (dihydrocodeinone)". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Hydrocodone in Kenya, full detail →

Ketamine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "KETAMINE", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "KETAMINE", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. It was put there by section 16 of the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022, whose words are that the principal Act is amended by inserting the word ketamine in the Second Schedule, and the pre-2022 text of the Act carries no such entry. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "KETAMINE". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one. This row and the tramadol row are the two the 2022 amendment added, and both were checked against the pre-2022 text of the Act, which carries neither name.

Ketamine in Kenya, full detail →

Khat

Legal status: Controlled in part under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245: both of khat's characteristic alkaloids are named, CATHINONE in the first table and CATHINE in the second, and section 2 defines a psychotropic substance as any substance specified in the Second Schedule or anything that contains any substance specified in that Schedule, while the plant Catha edulis is not named in any of the four schedules and the Third Schedule list of prohibited plants runs to cannabis, coca bush, Papaver somniferum and Papaver setigerum only, and miraa is at the same time grown and traded in Kenya as a scheduled crop under separate agricultural legislation that was not read for this cell, so the two regimes point in opposite directions and this cell does not resolve them, as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The nearest text read is the entry "CATHINONE" in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, and this row is a class or a mixture rather than a single scheduled name. Both of khat's characteristic alkaloids are named, CATHINONE in the first table and CATHINE in the second, and section 2 defines a psychotropic substance as any substance specified in the Second Schedule or anything that contains any substance specified in that Schedule, while the plant Catha edulis is not named in any of the four schedules and the Third Schedule list of prohibited plants runs to cannabis, coca bush, Papaver somniferum and Papaver setigerum only, and miraa is at the same time grown and traded in Kenya as a scheduled crop under separate agricultural legislation that was not read for this cell, so the two regimes point in opposite directions and this cell does not resolve them. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "CATHINONE", and this row is a mixture or a class rather than a single scheduled name, so the cell says which part is named and which is not. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one. Two instruments point in opposite directions on this row and this cell does not resolve them. Cap. 245 names both alkaloids, while miraa is grown and traded in Kenya as a scheduled crop under separate agricultural legislation, which was not read for this cell and is not cited here. A Senate bill to delist cathinone and cathine was still before Parliament and contested in May 2026, which is itself evidence that neither has been delisted. The live cell this replaces asserted that the 2022 amendment exempts cathinone and cathine when contained in khat, and no such exemption appears anywhere in the text read.

Khat in Kenya, full detail →

Kratom

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Neither the plant Mitragyna speciosa nor any of its alkaloids is printed in any of the four schedules, and the Third Schedule list of prohibited plants runs to cannabis, coca bush, Papaver somniferum and Papaver setigerum only. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Kratom in Kenya, full detail →

Lorazepam

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "LORAZEPAM", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "LORAZEPAM", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry stands against the chemical name 7-chloro-5-(o-chlorophenyl)-1, 3-dihydro-3-hydroxy-2H-1, 4-benzodiazepin-2-one, and the separate entry LORMETAZEPAM is its 1-methyl homologue. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "LORAZEPAM". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Lorazepam in Kenya, full detail →

LSA (Morning Glory)

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "Lysergic acid" in the Fourth Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "Lysergic acid", printed in the Fourth Schedule list of precursor chemicals. That entry is a precursor chemical reached by section 4A, and lysergic acid amide is a different substance from lysergic acid itself. The Second Schedule's nearest entry is the one whose trivial-name column reads LSD, LSD-25, which is the diethylamide and again a different compound, and neither the seeds of Argyreia nervosa nor those of Ipomoea are printed in the Third Schedule. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

LSA (Morning Glory) in Kenya, full detail →

LSD

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "LSD, LSD-25", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "LSD, LSD-25", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry sits in the trivial-name column against the chemical name 9, 10-didehydro-N,N-diethyl-6-methylergoline-8-carboxamide, and the international non-proprietary name in the left column is damaged in the published text, reading as a broken rendering of lysergide. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "LSD, LSD-25". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

LSD in Kenya, full detail →

MDA

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "TENAMFETAMINE", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "TENAMFETAMINE", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The trivial-name column against that entry prints MDA, and the chemical name reads as alpha-methyl-3, 4-(methylenedioxy) phenethylamine, while N-ethyl MDA and N-hydroxy MDA are separate entries. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "TENAMFETAMINE". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

MDA in Kenya, full detail →

MDMA

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "MDMA", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "MDMA", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry sits in the trivial-name column against the chemical name (+/-)-N, alpha-dimethyl-3, 4-(methylenedioxy) phenethylamine. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "MDMA". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

MDMA in Kenya, full detail →

MDPV

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "PYROVALERONE" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "PYROVALERONE", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. That entry's chemical name is printed as 4'-methyl-2-(1-pyrrolidinyl) valerophenone. MDPV carries a 3,4-methylenedioxy ring in place of that 4'-methyl group, so the printed entry names a different substance, and the Second Schedule extends only to salts. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

MDPV in Kenya, full detail →

Memantine

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Memantine is not printed in any of the four schedules, and no adamantane derivative appears among the entries. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Memantine in Kenya, full detail →

Mephedrone (4-MMC)

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "CATHINONE" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "CATHINONE", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. Mephedrone is 4-methylmethcathinone, carrying both an N-methyl group and a ring methyl group that the parent does not have, so the printed entry names a different substance. The Second Schedule extends only to salts and carries no analogue clause for substituted cathinones. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

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

Mescaline

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "mescaline", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "mescaline", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. It is printed in lower case in the trivial-name column, against the chemical name 3, 4, 5-trimethoxyphenethylamine, and is one of the few entries the schedule does not set in capitals. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "mescaline". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Mescaline in Kenya, full detail →

Methadone

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, which prints the entry "Methadone (6-dimethylamino-4,4-diphenyl-3-heptanone)", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs prints the entry "Methadone (6-dimethylamino-4,4-diphenyl-3-heptanone)", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. Methadone-Intermediate, Isomethadone and Normethadone are printed as separate entries. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Methadone (6-dimethylamino-4,4-diphenyl-3-heptanone)". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Methadone in Kenya, full detail →

Methamphetamine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "METHAMFETAMINE", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "METHAMFETAMINE", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The schedule prints the international non-proprietary spelling with an f, against the chemical name (+)-2-methylamino-1-phenylpropane, and prints levomethamphetamine separately in the trivial-name column. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "METHAMFETAMINE". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Methamphetamine in Kenya, full detail →

Methaqualone (Quaaludes)

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "METHAQUALONE", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "METHAQUALONE", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry stands against the chemical name 2-methyl-3-o-tolyl-4(3H)-quinazolinone, and MECLOQUALONE is a separate entry. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "METHAQUALONE". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Methaqualone (Quaaludes) in Kenya, full detail →

Methylone

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "MDMA" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "MDMA", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. Methylone is the beta-keto analogue of the compound that entry names, carrying a ketone at the side-chain beta position, so it is a different substance. CATHINONE is printed but names the unsubstituted parent, and the Second Schedule extends only to salts. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Methylone in Kenya, full detail →

Methylphenidate

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "METHYLPHENIDATE", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "METHYLPHENIDATE", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry stands against the chemical name 2-phenyl-2-(2-piperidyl) acetic acid, methyl ester. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "METHYLPHENIDATE". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Methylphenidate in Kenya, full detail →

Mitragynine

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Neither mitragynine nor the plant Mitragyna speciosa is printed in any of the four schedules, and the Third Schedule list of prohibited plants runs to four entries, none of them this tree. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Mitragynine in Kenya, full detail →

Modafinil

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Modafinil is not printed in any of the four schedules, and the Second Schedule's wakefulness and stimulant entries are the amfetamines, MAZINDOL and METHYLPHENIDATE and their kin, rather than this compound. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Modafinil in Kenya, full detail →

Morphine

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, which prints the entry "Morphine", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs prints the entry "Morphine", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. It is printed as a bare word with no bracketed chemical name, and the schedule separately prints Morphine-N-Oxide and an entry for Morphine Methobromide and other pentavalent nitrogen morphine derivatives. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Morphine". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Morphine in Kenya, full detail →

MXE

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "KETAMINE" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "KETAMINE", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. Methoxetamine replaces the 2-chloro group of ketamine with a 3-methoxy group and its N-methyl with an N-ethyl, so the printed entry names a different substance, and the Second Schedule extends only to salts. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

MXE in Kenya, full detail →

Nicotine

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Neither nicotine nor the plant Nicotiana tabacum is printed in any of the four schedules, and the Third Schedule list of prohibited plants runs to cannabis, coca bush, Papaver somniferum and Papaver setigerum only. Kenya's tobacco control legislation is a different instrument and was not read for this cell. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Nicotine in Kenya, full detail →

Nimetazepam

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "NIMETAZEPAM", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "NIMETAZEPAM", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry stands against the chemical name 1, 3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-nitro-5-phenyl-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "NIMETAZEPAM". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Nimetazepam in Kenya, full detail →

Nitrous Oxide

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Nitrous oxide is not printed in any of the four schedules, and no inhaled gas of any kind appears among the entries. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Nitrous Oxide in Kenya, full detail →

Opium

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, which prints the entry "Opium", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs prints the entry "Opium", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The schedule separately prints Concentrate of poppy straw, the Third Schedule prints Papaver somniferum (opium poppy) and Papaver setigerum as prohibited plants, and section 2 defines opium to include raw, powdered and prepared opium whatever its morphine content. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Section 6 reaches cultivation of a prohibited plant separately, with a fine of 250,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, or imprisonment not exceeding 20 years, or both, and section 5(1)(c) reaches premises used for preparing opium for smoking with a fine of not less than 20,000,000 shillings or imprisonment of not less than 10 years. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Opium". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Opium in Kenya, full detail →

Oxycodone

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, which prints the entry "Oxycodone (14-hydroxydihydrocodeinone)", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs prints the entry "Oxycodone (14-hydroxydihydrocodeinone)", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. Oxymorphone is printed as a separate entry immediately after it. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Oxycodone (14-hydroxydihydrocodeinone)". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Oxycodone in Kenya, full detail →

PCP

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "PHENCYCLIDINE", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "PHENCYCLIDINE", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The trivial-name column against that entry prints PCP, and the chemical name reads 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl) piperidine, while ROLICYCLIDINE, TENOCYCLIDINE and ETICYCLIDINE are separate entries. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "PHENCYCLIDINE". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

PCP in Kenya, full detail →

Peyote

Legal status: Controlled in part under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245: the cactus's characteristic alkaloid is named, and section 2 defines a psychotropic substance as any substance specified in the Second Schedule or anything that contains any substance specified in that Schedule, while the cactus Lophophora williamsii is not named in any of the four schedules and the Third Schedule list of prohibited plants runs to four entries only, as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The nearest text read is the entry "mescaline" in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, and this row is a class or a mixture rather than a single scheduled name. The cactus's characteristic alkaloid is named, and section 2 defines a psychotropic substance as any substance specified in the Second Schedule or anything that contains any substance specified in that Schedule, while the cactus Lophophora williamsii is not named in any of the four schedules and the Third Schedule list of prohibited plants runs to four entries only. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "mescaline", and this row is a mixture or a class rather than a single scheduled name, so the cell says which part is named and which is not. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Peyote in Kenya, full detail →

Phenibut

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Phenibut is not printed in any of the four schedules under that name or as beta-phenyl-gamma-aminobutyric acid. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Phenibut in Kenya, full detail →

Pink Cocaine / Tusi

Legal status: Controlled in part under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245: the two substances most often found in samples sold under that street name are named, MDMA in the first table and KETAMINE further down the same table, while 2C-B, the compound the street name originally referred to, is not named in any of the four schedules, and neither is the street name itself, so what a given sample is reaches the law only through what it actually contains, as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The nearest text read is the entry "MDMA" in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, and this row is a class or a mixture rather than a single scheduled name. The two substances most often found in samples sold under that street name are named, MDMA in the first table and KETAMINE further down the same table, while 2C-B, the compound the street name originally referred to, is not named in any of the four schedules, and neither is the street name itself, so what a given sample is reaches the law only through what it actually contains. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "MDMA", and this row is a mixture or a class rather than a single scheduled name, so the cell says which part is named and which is not. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Pink Cocaine / Tusi in Kenya, full detail →

Poppers

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. No alkyl nitrite is printed in any of the four schedules, whether as amyl, butyl, isobutyl or isopropyl nitrite, and the Fourth Schedule list of precursor chemicals names twelve chemicals, none of them a nitrite. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Poppers in Kenya, full detail →

Pregabalin

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Pregabalin is not printed in any of the four schedules, and no gabapentinoid of any kind appears among the entries. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Pregabalin in Kenya, full detail →

Psilocybin

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "PSILOCYBINE", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "PSILOCYBINE", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The schedule spells it with a closing e and prints a separate entry reading psilocine, psilotsin for the dephosphorylated compound. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "PSILOCYBINE". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Psilocybin in Kenya, full detail →

Quetiapine

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Quetiapine is not printed in any of the four schedules. The Second Schedule's nearest ring systems are the benzodiazepines and the thieno-diazepine CLOTIAZEPAM, and a dibenzothiazepine antipsychotic is not among them. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Quetiapine in Kenya, full detail →

Salvia divinorum

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Neither the plant Salvia divinorum nor salvinorin A is printed in any of the four schedules, and the Third Schedule list of prohibited plants runs to cannabis, coca bush, Papaver somniferum and Papaver setigerum only. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Salvia divinorum in Kenya, full detail →

Scopolamine (Devil's Breath)

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Scopolamine is not printed in any of the four schedules under that name or as hyoscine, and no tropane alkaloid other than the coca alkaloids appears among the entries. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

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

Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice)

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "tetrahydrocannabinol," in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "tetrahydrocannabinol,", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. The schedule prints that headword followed by seven named chemical designations and by nothing else, and it carries no generic, analogue or cannabimimetic clause. No indole or indazole carboxamide of the kind sold as a synthetic cannabinoid is printed in any of the four schedules. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

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

THC-P

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "tetrahydrocannabinol," in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "tetrahydrocannabinol,", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. Each of the seven designations printed under that headword carries a 3-pentyl side chain. THC-P carries a heptyl side chain, which is a different chemical designation rather than an isomer or stereo-chemical variant of the ones printed, so it is outside the words used. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one. This row turns on a structural reading of a chemical designation rather than on a printed name, and it is labelled as such rather than presented as a name match.

THC-P in Kenya, full detail →

Tobacco

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Neither tobacco nor the plant Nicotiana tabacum is printed in any of the four schedules, and the Third Schedule list of prohibited plants runs to four entries, none of them this crop. Kenya's tobacco control legislation is a different instrument and was not read for this cell. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Tobacco in Kenya, full detail →

Tramadol

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the First Schedule list of narcotic drugs, which prints the entry "Tramadol", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs prints the entry "Tramadol", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. It was put there by section 15 of the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022, whose words are that the principal Act is amended by inserting the word tramadol in the First Schedule, and the pre-2022 text of the Act carries no such entry. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The First Schedule list of narcotic drugs of Cap. 245 prints "Tramadol". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one. This row and the ketamine row are the two the 2022 amendment added, and both were checked against the pre-2022 text of the Act, which carries neither name.

Tramadol in Kenya, full detail →

Xanax (Alprazolam)

Legal status: Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Cap. 245, by name in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances, which prints the entry "ALPRAZOLAM", as at 31 December 2022.
Consequences if caught: The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances prints the entry "ALPRAZOLAM", so the substance this row is filed under is named in the Act itself and reaches the offences by that entry rather than by inference. The entry stands in the third table of the Second Schedule against the chemical name 8-chloro-1-methyl-6-phenyl-4H-triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepine. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and here they describe the offences that this row's placement brings into play.
If prescribed / medical: Section 3(3) takes possession outside the offence where the substance is held under a licence issued pursuant to section 16, or by a medical practitioner, dentist, veterinary surgeon or registered pharmacist for medical purposes, or for medical purposes from or pursuant to a prescription of a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, or by a person authorised under the regulations. Section 2 defines each of those practitioners by registration in Kenya, a medical practitioner and a dentist under the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253), a registered pharmacist under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244) and a veterinary surgeon under the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act (Cap. 366), so the exemption as written does not on its face name a prescription written abroad. Carry the prescription and the dispensing label, and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel rather than after you land.
Documentation: The placement was decided by reading the matched entry. The Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances of Cap. 245 prints "ALPRAZOLAM". Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Xanax (Alprazolam) in Kenya, full detail →

Xylazine

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. No entry answering to this row was found in any of the four schedules, which were read through rather than searched for one spelling.
Consequences if caught: All four schedules were read through rather than searched for one spelling, and no entry answering to this row was found. Xylazine is not printed in any of the four schedules, under that name or as a chemical designation, and the Act's veterinary provisions govern who may supply a scheduled substance rather than adding one. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Xylazine in Kenya, full detail →

Zolpidem

Legal status: Not a controlled drug under Cap. 245 on the text read: it is not named in the First Schedule of narcotic drugs, the Second Schedule of psychotropic substances, the Third Schedule of prohibited plants or the Fourth Schedule of precursor chemicals, as at 31 December 2022. The nearest entry read and rejected is "MIDAZOLAM" in the Second Schedule, which names a different substance.
Consequences if caught: The nearest entry read and rejected is "MIDAZOLAM", printed in the Second Schedule list of psychotropic substances. That entry is the nearest imidazole-bearing sedative printed and it is an imidazo-benzodiazepine. Zolpidem is an imidazopyridine, a different ring system, and is not printed in any of the four schedules. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 3(2)(b) sets imprisonment of not less than 5 years for possession of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance other than cannabis, and section 4, which reaches trafficking and possession alike, sets a term of 30 years on its lower band and of 50 years on its upper one. The quantity bands are possession of less than 1 gram under section 3(2)(b), between 1 and 100 grams under section 4(a)(i), and more than 100 grams under section 4(a)(ii). The fines are not less than 5,000,000 shillings under section 3(2)(b), not less than 30,000,000 shillings under section 4(a)(i), and not less than 50,000,000 shillings or three times the market value, whichever is greater, under section 4(a)(ii), each expressed as an alternative to imprisonment or in addition to it. Cap. 245 carries no death penalty, and imprisonment for life appears only at section 4(b)(i), for precursor chemicals and for substances held out to be narcotic or psychotropic, and at section 4B(5), for conspiracy. Those figures are carried across every Kenyan row because Cap. 245 sets them country wide rather than substance by substance, and this row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Kenya's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.
If prescribed / medical: Cap. 245 does not reach this substance on the text read, so the section 3(3) exemption for a licence or a prescription is not the provision that governs it. Kenya's medicines, pharmacy and poisons legislation, its customs rules and any import permit requirement sit in other instruments, and none of them was read for this cell, so nothing here settles whether a traveller may bring this substance into Kenya. Carry any prescription you hold and put the question to a Kenyan mission before you travel.
Documentation: This row rests on an absence, so it carries the version of the list it was read against. Cap. 245 is the controlling instrument. It carries four schedules, the First for narcotic drugs, the Second for psychotropic substances, the Third for prohibited plants and the Fourth for precursor chemicals, and none of the four uses entry numbers, so no numbered placement is asserted anywhere in this batch. The text read incorporates the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act, 2022 (No. 4 of 2022), assented on 24 February 2022 and commenced on 21 March 2022, which replaced the whole of section 3(2), replaced section 4 outright, inserted sections 4A and 4B, inserted the word tramadol in the First Schedule, inserted the word ketamine in the Second Schedule and added the Fourth Schedule, and which carries no transitional or savings provision. This is stated as at the Kenya Law revised edition of Cap. 245, being the text as at 31 December 2022 as revised by the 24th Annual Supplement (Legal Notice 221 of 2023), read on 22 September 2026, which the publisher marks as the latest version of the Act. Section 87 lets the Cabinet Secretary by order add a substance or plant to the First, Second or Third Schedule or delete one from it, and no order made after 31 December 2022 was found by the routes tried, which does not rule out a later one.

Zolpidem in Kenya, full detail →

Not individually verified

1 substance is not individually verified for Kenya

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 Kenya’s drug authority or your embassy.

Substance	What we found
DXM	Not confirmed. Whether dextromethorphan falls inside or outside the First Schedule of Cap. 245 could not be settled...

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

Before you travel

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

If you’re detained or arrested abroad

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

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