Is Ketamine legal in Serbia?

Legal status

The status of ketamine in Serbia is open and this cell does not close it. The dossier records a complete list negative search across Lista 1 to 7 of the Spisak psihoaktivnih kontrolisanih supstanci, Službeni glasnik RS 12/2026, for «ketamin; 2-Fluoroketamine», with the final Lista 7 row and the salts clauses checked, and no exact printed row was accepted. A near comparison was rejected. The dossier names a fluorinated analogue and rejects it on the ground that an analogue does not prove an exact entry for the parent. That analogue appears in this dossier only inside search strings, with no list number, no row number and no CAS anywhere across the 88 Serbian rows. An absence recorded for a parent compound in wide anaesthetic and veterinary use, resting on a comparison that is itself unconfirmed, is an anomalous result. It is flagged here for re-check and it is not presented as a finding. The outcome is recorded as not verified, and that is a statement about what the search found rather than a finding that Serbia leaves ketamine uncontrolled. What remains open is whether the current list names it under a spelling the search did not carry, or reaches it through a salts clause. The Serbian strings here are the dossier's record in Latin script and are not offered as the Cyrillic wording of the Službeni glasnik RS.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. The ceiling this dossier records for Serbia is 20 years of imprisonment, by Criminal Code art. 246(5) read with the general maximum in art. 45(1). That figure is document level, the same sentence on all 88 Serbian rows, so it is given here as the dossier's recorded ceiling for the country and not as a measured statement about this substance, and no route in the instruments the dossier cites reaches death. The open scheduling question therefore does not put a capital answer in play. It puts everything else in play. If a Serbian court finds that the Spisak reaches this substance through a synonym, a plant or preparation limb, a salts clause or an analogue rule, arts 246 and 246a apply in full and divide conduct by manja količina and velika količina with no gram value printed for either. If it finds the Spisak does not reach it, those articles do not apply at all. The dossier settles neither branch, and a cell that picked one would be inventing the answer. The only comparison offered is a fluorinated analogue that itself carries no list, row or CAS anywhere in the Serbian set, and this is a parent compound in wide anaesthetic and veterinary use, so an unresolved row here is more likely to be a gap in the search than a gap in the law. Treat ketamine in Serbia as unresolved rather than as permitted. The practical consequence of an unresolved row is asymmetric: a reader who assumes it is controlled risks only inconvenience, and a reader who assumes it is not risks the full reach of arts 246 and 246a. Separately from that, and carried forward from this site's published Serbia entry rather than re-derived from the Criminal Code in this pass, the published penalties are these. Drug use itself is not a criminal offence. Possession of a small amount for one's own use under Criminal Code article 246a paragraph 1 draws a fine or up to three years, and punishment may be remitted in minor cases. Small quantity is not numerically defined in law, so there is no fixed statutory quantity. Possession of a large quantity under article 246a paragraph 2 draws three to ten years. Production, circulation or sale under article 246 draws three to twelve years, five to fifteen years if committed by a group, and at least ten years if by an organised group. Cultivation of opium poppy or psychoactive hemp under article 246 draws six months to five years. Facilitating the taking of narcotics is an offence under article 247. The death penalty was abolished in 2002. Every figure in this paragraph is a penalty range or a fine and none of them is a quantity threshold. Whether the offence reaches this row at all is exactly what was not established, so they are recorded as Serbia's published drug penalties and not as this row's exposure.

If prescribed or medical

The dossier carries no prescription information and no traveller rule for Serbia at all, so this cell defers rather than inventing one. The country level question, meaning which Serbian body authorises a controlled medicine carried in, what paperwork it wants, what quantity it allows and how long an authorisation runs, was not established by the source behind this batch and has to be settled with the Serbian authorities before travel. On this row the deferral is doubled, because the placement is unresolved as well. The dossier records no Spisak row for ketamine, so there is no schedule position to attach a route to, and a cell that described a prescription pathway here would be describing a regime it has not shown applies. This substance is an anaesthetic administered in hospitals across Europe, so an unresolved scheduling position is a strong signal that the search rather than the law is what is incomplete.

Documentation

The checkable fact in this cell is the search, not the answer. The negative search recorded here ran the term «ketamin; 2-Fluoroketamine» across Lista 1 to 7 on 20 September 2026 against the Spisak at Službeni glasnik RS 12/2026, and returned no exact printed row. The absence rests on a comparison that is itself unconfirmed, which is the weakest evidential shape an absence record can have. Carry any medicine in its original dispensing packaging with the prescription and a doctor's letter naming the patient, the active ingredient, the dose and the treatment period, and ask the Serbian authorities before travelling rather than at the border. Do not treat an unresolved row as a clearance, and do not carry a threshold figure for ketamine from another country's law, because Serbia prints none for anything. The citation behind this cell is document level and is the same link for all 88 Serbian substances.

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