Is Ketamine legal in Cyprus?

Legal status

Controlled under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law of 1977 (Law No. 29/1977, as amended; Classes A/B/C). Ketamine is a Class B drug: Ketamine is not named in the First Schedule to the Law as substituted by the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Controlled Drugs) (Amending) Order of 2025, K.Δ.Π. 367/2025, published in Official Gazette No. 5985 on 5 December 2025, but on this site's reading it falls within a structural paragraph of Part II, Class B. Ketamine is 2-(2-chlorophenyl)-2-(methylamino)cyclohexanone, the 2-amino-2-phenylcyclohexanone skeleton with a methyl on the nitrogen and a chlorine on the phenyl ring, and it is not among the paragraph's exclusions. Under section 30 and the Third Schedule, possession carries up to 8 years' imprisonment, and possession with intent to supply, supply, production, import and export carry up to life imprisonment, in each case or a fine, or both; taking any controlled drug in any way is a section 10 offence carrying up to life imprisonment or a fine, or both, whatever its class.

Consequences if caught

Ketamine is controlled in Cyprus under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law of 1977 (Law No. 29/1977, as amended), as a Class B drug in Part II, Class B of the First Schedule to the Law as substituted by the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Controlled Drugs) (Amending) Order of 2025, K.Δ.Π. 367/2025, published in Official Gazette No. 5985 on 5 December 2025. Section 30 and the Third Schedule set the penalties. Possessing a controlled drug, under section 6(2), carries up to 12 years' imprisonment for a Class A drug, 8 years for Class B and 4 years for Class C, or a fine, or both. Possessing one with intent to supply under section 6(3), producing or supplying it under section 5(2), and importing or exporting it under section 4(1) carry up to life imprisonment for Class A and Class B and up to 8 years for Class C, or a fine, or both. Section 10(δ) makes it an offence «να λαμβάνει με οποιοδήποτε τρόπο οποιοδήποτε ελεγχόμενο φάρμακο», to take any controlled drug in any way, and the general column of the Third Schedule sets life imprisonment or a fine, or both, for a section 10 offence whatever the class. The proviso to section 30(2) limits imprisonment to two years for a person convicted of an offence of use, possession or transport of a controlled drug for personal use who was under 25 when it was committed and has no previous conviction under the Law or its Regulations. Section 30A presumes, unless the person satisfies the court otherwise, that possession or transport was for supply at 30 g or more of cannabis or its derivatives, 10 g or more of prepared opium or prepared cocaine or their derivatives, or 20 g or more in solid form or 20 cubic centimetres or more in liquid form of any controlled drug, and that cultivation was for supply at three or more cannabis plants, twenty or more opium poppy plants or five or more coca plants. The Law provides no death sentence; the longest term in its Third Schedule is life imprisonment, and the EMCDDA's Cyprus Country Drug Report 2019 states that «a life term has never been imposed».

If prescribed or medical

Ketamine is a medicine used in anaesthesia, but no regulation read authorises a traveller to possess it, and regulation 9(2) of the 1979 Regulations covers only drugs in their Second and Third Schedules, which as published in 1979 do not name it. Nothing here authorises carrying it.

Documentation

Part II paragraph 18 reaches any substance not named in paragraphs 1 to 3 «και έχει δομικό σκελετό την 1-φαινυλοκυκλοεξαναμίνη ή την 2-άμινο-2-φαινυλοκυκλοεξανόνη», with the skeleton of 1-phenylcyclohexanamine or 2-amino-2-phenylcyclohexanone, carrying alkyl and other substitution on the nitrogen (i), substitution on the phenyl ring by amino, alkyl, alkoxy, hydroxy, halogen or haloalkyl groups (ii), alkyl substitution on the cyclohexane or cyclohexanone ring (iii), or replacement of the phenyl ring by thiophene (iv), and it excludes only eticyclidine and rolicyclidine. Ketamine is 2-(2-chlorophenyl)-2-(methylamino)cyclohexanone, the 2-amino-2-phenylcyclohexanone skeleton with a methyl on the nitrogen and a chlorine on the phenyl ring, and it is not among the paragraph's exclusions. Searching the 2025 Schedule for ketamine and «κεταμίνη» returned no entry; the only Greek match was inside «ακεταμίδιο», an unrelated acetamide. Methoxetamine and phencyclidine, its relatives, are named in Part II. Paragraph 18 (ii) and (iv) say «φαινολικό δακτύλιο», literally phenolic ring; it is read here as the phenyl ring, because (iv) replaces that ring with thiophene, which only makes sense for a phenyl ring. Ketamine is also a medicine, and no regulation read was found to exempt a medical product from this placement. The Law is cited as Law 29/1977 because that is how the CyLaw consolidation and the Gazette print it; earlier text on this page gave it as 29(I)/1977. The CyLaw consolidation runs to Law 159(I)/2020, and K.Δ.Π. 367/2025 recites the Laws of 1977 to 2020. The First Schedule printed inside that consolidation is still the 1977 text and is not the list in force. This is stated as at K.Δ.Π. 367/2025, published on 5 December 2025. Paragraph 3 of that Order replaces the whole First Schedule and paragraph 4 revokes every earlier Controlled Drugs Order. It is the latest Controlled Drugs Order in the CyLaw index of regulatory administrative acts read on 4 October 2026, which lists acts published up to 25 September 2026, and section 3(2) of the Law lets the Council of Ministers amend the First Schedule by Order, so this does not rule out a later amendment.

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