Is Ketamine legal in Tajikistan?

Legal status

Controlled in Tajikistan as a potent substance in the hydrochloride form the list names, not as a narcotic or psychotropic substance. Annex 1 to Government Resolution No. 421 of 26 August 2022, the list of potent substances for the purposes of the Criminal Code, names «Кетамина гидрохлорид», ketamine hydrochloride, described as «2-(-Метиламино)-2-(2-хлорфенил)-циклогексанона гидрохлорид», and Annex 3 sets its large size «от» 5 grams. The note to Annexes 1 and 3 adds to the potent substances «соли перечисленных в настоящем списке веществ», «изомеры перечисленных в настоящем списке веществ» and «эфиры сложные и простые перечисленных в настоящем списке веществ», and it does not say in terms whether ketamine as the free base, rather than the hydrochloride, is reached. Ketamine is not named in the National List approved by Government Resolution No. 121 of 27 February 2020 as the Drug Control Agency published it, read at https://akn.tj/ru/2020/04/09/national-list-of-narcotic-drugs-psychotropic-substances-and-their-precursors/ on 3 October 2026, the Agency's consolidation of the list, which names Resolutions No. 507 of 25 November 2021 and No. 87 of 2 March 2023 as its amending acts, and Annex 1 to the Criminal Code in the prg.kz consolidation dated 17 June 2026, searched for "кетамин", "ketamine", "калипсол" with Latin and Cyrillic lookalike letters treated as one, because Resolution No. 421 mixes them inside names, and with positive controls that found «Трамадол» in Resolution No. 421 and «Прегабалин (Pregabalin)» in the National List by the same method, so it is not a listed narcotic drug or psychotropic substance, and articles 200 and 201 do not reach it as a listed substance; whether it could be treated as an analogue under those articles was not examined. Ketamine is also in the schedules of neither the 1961 Single Convention as at 6 June 2024 nor the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances as at 3 December 2024, both read on 3 October 2026, so note 1 to Criminal Code Annex 1, which counts as narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances those «которые не вошли в настоящий Перечень, но входят в соответствующие Списки Международных Конвенций и Национальный список наркотических средств, психотропных веществ и их прекурсоров, либо включены в них после издания настоящего Перечня и в установленном порядке отнесены к наркотическим средствам, психотропным веществам и прекурсорам», does not reach it. Amendments to Resolution No. 421 after 2022 were not found and are not ruled out.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Article 59(1) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan sets the death penalty only for «убийство (часть вторая статьи 104), изнасилование (часть третья статьи 138), терроризм (часть третья статьи 179), геноцид (статья 398)» and biocide under article 399, and names no offence concerning narcotic, psychotropic, potent or poisonous substances. Article 58(1), the article on life imprisonment, provides that a life term «назначается только как альтернатива смертной казни», only as an alternative to the death penalty, so none of those offences carries a life term either. Conduct distinction. Part 1 of article 206 of the Criminal Code punishes «Незаконное производство, изготовление, переработка, приобретение, хранение, транспортировка или пересылка с целью сбыта, а равно незаконный сбыт сильнодействующих или ядовитых веществ, не являющихся наркотическими средствами или психотропными веществами», that is production, manufacture, processing, acquisition, storage, transport or sending with intent to sell, and sale itself, of potent or poisonous substances that are not narcotic or psychotropic, with restriction of liberty for three to five years or imprisonment for the same term. Part 2, the same acts by a group by prior agreement or committed repeatedly, carries five to seven years with confiscation of property. Part 3, the same acts by an organised group or «в отношении сильнодействующих веществ в крупном размере», in respect of potent substances in a large size, carries seven to ten years; the prg.kz consolidation dated 17 June 2026 adds «с конфискацией имущества или без такового», with or without confiscation of property, which the official text at ncz.tj does not show. For ketamine hydrochloride the large size begins at 5 grams under Annex 3, and the note to Annexes 1 and 3 says that in a medicine the quantity «определяется по чистому весу указанных веществ», by the net weight of the substance and not of the tablet or ampoule. Article 206 as read reaches only conduct with intent to sell, and sale, and no article read punishes holding a potent or poisonous substance for one's own use as such. Article 206(1), a separate article, punishes in its part 2 a breach of the rules on «производства, приобретения, хранения, учета, отпуска, транспортировки или пересылки сильнодействующих или ядовитых веществ, если это повлекло их хищение либо причинение иного существенного вреда», where the breach led to theft or other substantial harm, with a fine of up to five hundred calculation indicators, correctional work of up to two years or imprisonment for the same term with disqualification from particular posts or activities for up to three years. Part 1 of article 166, in the official text at ncz.tj, punishes an adult who involves a minor in «систематическое, немедицинское употребление сильнодействующих или других одурманивающих веществ» with correctional work of up to one year or imprisonment of up to two years. Part 2 raises that to imprisonment of up to three years, with or without disqualification for up to three years, where a parent, teacher or other person responsible for the minor's upbringing does it, and part 3 to up to five years, with disqualification for two to five years, where two or more minors are involved, violence or its threat is used, or the act is repeated. The Code of Administrative Offences, read in the prg.kz consolidation dated 16 February 2026, has no article on holding a potent or poisonous substance as such: its article 128 reaches only «наркотических средств или психотропных веществ, их аналогов или их прекурсоров», and a search of its text for "сильнодейств" found only part 2 of article 90, which fines a parent or guardian fifteen to twenty calculation indicators for failing to prevent a child bringing «сильнодействующий или другие одурманивающие вещества» into an educational institution. No other penalty for simple possession is stated. Whether moving such a substance across the customs border falls under article 289(3) is not settled by its text. That part carries eight to twelve years and lists «сильнодействующих, ядовитых, отравляющих, радиоактивных, взрывчатых веществ» among the goods it covers, where the act is done «помимо или с сокрытием от таможенного контроля, либо использование документов или средств таможенной идентификации обманным путем, либо сопряжено с недекларированием или недостоверным декларированием», that is outside or hidden from customs control, with deceptive documents, or undeclared or falsely declared; but its list closes with goods «в отношении которых установлены специальные правила перемещения через таможенную границу Республики Таджикистан», and the text does not say whether those words qualify every item listed or only the last. Where part 3 applies, part 4 raises the term to twelve to fifteen years for a repeat offence, use of an official position, violence or its threat against a customs officer, or breaking through the customs border, and part 5 to fifteen to twenty years for an organised group.

If prescribed or medical

The note to Annexes 1 and 3 of Resolution No. 421 provides «Розничная реализация (отпуск) осуществляется исключительно аптеками на основании рецепта врача», so retail supply is through pharmacies only, on a doctor's prescription. Point 2 of the resolution tells the Ministry of Health and Social Protection to «разработать и принять правила ввоза, вывоза и обращения сильнодействующих и ядовитых веществ», to make rules on their import, export and handling. Those rules were searched for and not found, so no route by which a foreign prescription makes carrying ketamine into Tajikistan lawful is stated. Article 15 of Law No. 873, the prescription rule for narcotic and psychotropic substances, does not reach ketamine, which is on neither of those lists.

Documentation

Article 10 of Law No. 873 requires «разрешение и сертификат международного образца» for each import or export, but it covers narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors, and the texts read do not extend it to potent substances. No personal allowance for a traveller carrying ketamine is stated in any text read. Provenance of Resolution No. 421. It was read in the.doc file that the Drug Control Agency under the President links from its page dated 27 September 2022. The file carries the signed resolution, dated 26 August 2022 and numbered 421, which approves the three annexes, refers to them as files marked «421 ОТ 26.08.22», repeals Government Resolution No. 576 of 29 December 2003 on the earlier potent and poisonous lists, and cites article 206 of the Criminal Code. Each annex is headed as an annex to the resolution of 26 August 2022 No. 421, although the word «Проект» also stands above Annex 1 in the file. The official Criminal Code at ncz.tj records the note to article 206, which gives the Government the power to approve these lists, as «в редакции Закона РТ от 19.07.2022 №1895», five weeks before the resolution. No second publisher of the resolution was found: web searches in Russian and Tajik, and a search restricted to prg.kz, zakon.kz, spinform, continent-online, adlia.tj, mmk.tj, ncz.tj and cis-legislation, returned nothing for it. Amendments to the resolution after 2022 were searched for and not found, but are not ruled out. The previous version of this cell said no entry for ketamine was retained from the National List or the Criminal Code quantity list, and named Criminal Code arts 200 to 204 and Appendix 1, Table 1 as the framework its dossier checked. That search was right about those lists; ketamine hydrochloride sits on the separate potent substances list instead. Routes tried in this run, each logged in routes-log.txt beside the batch files: the Drug Control Agency's 2020 list page, its 2023.doc file, its 2022 page for Resolution No. 421 and the resolution's.doc file, each HTTP 200; the Agency's law category pages 2 to 4, HTTP 404; the prg.kz consolidation of the Criminal Code, pages 3, 8, 9, 11, 15 and 16, each HTTP 200; the ncz.tj pages for the Criminal Code and Law No. 873, HTTP 200; the Agency's site search for "сильнодействующих", which is how Resolution No. 421 was found; a mehnat.tj file offered by one search, whose host did not resolve; the UN schedules of the 1961 and 1971 Conventions at documents.un.org, HTTP 200; the prg.kz consolidation of Resolution No. 121 and of the Code of Administrative Offences, pages 1 to 17, HTTP 200; web searches in Russian and Tajik for the Ministry of Health rules under point 2 of Resolution No. 421 and for amendments to Resolution No. 121 after 2023, which found neither.

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