Is Ketamine legal in Taiwan?

Also known as: ket, special k

Legal status

Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第19項「愷他命（ketamine）」. Seven further ketamine analogues sit in the same tier, among them 第227項「去氯愷他命（Deschloroketamine）」 and 第339項「去甲基愷他命（Norketamine）」, and two protected synthesis intermediates are Category 4 precursor raw materials, N-Boc-Norketamine at precursor item 16 and N-Boc-Ketamine at precursor item 19. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Article 11-1(2) is the provision that decides most ketamine cases. Possession of a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason draws an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 and four to eight hours of drug hazard education, not a criminal penalty, unless the pure weight reaches 5 grammes and article 11(5) applies. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.

If prescribed or medical

Ketamine is a controlled drug and a licensed anaesthetic, dispensed and administered through the controlled drug regime in hospitals and veterinary practice.

Documentation

There is no traveller route for ketamine. Clinical supply is institutional.

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