Is Khat legal in Australia?

Also known as: qat, miraa, quaadka

Legal status

Controlled through its constituents and as a named plant import. The leaf of Catha edulis is named in the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 Schedule 4 item 204, «Plants and parts of plants of the following genus or species:», at «(aa) Catha edulis (otherwise known as khat);», so every import needs a licence and permission. The plant is not listed as a controlled plant or border controlled plant in the Criminal Code Regulations 2019 as in force on 2 October 2026; it is reached by Part 9.1 because fresh leaf contains cathinone, a controlled drug (Schedule 1 item 52) and border controlled drug (Schedule 2 item 38), and Part 9.1 measures a mixture by its pure cathinone content under s312.1 as in force. In F2026L01327 cathinone is within «CATHINONES except when separately specified in these Schedules.» in Schedule 9, the leaf is reached through s7(a) and (g), and cathine, khat's other alkaloid, is Schedule 4 («CATHINE.»). Cathine is not listed in the Criminal Code Regulations, but it is cathinone with the ketone reduced, s301.9(1)(c)(ii), so on this data set's method it is a drug analogue of cathinone (see consequences). The Poisons Standard read is the Poisons Standard October 2026 (Federal Register of Legislation F2026L01327, made 28 September 2026, registered 30 September 2026, in force from 1 October 2026 under its s2, replacing the June 2026 issue; no later issue was registered when it was read). This cell states Commonwealth law only. The Poisons Standard has effect through adoption by each state and territory: its Reader's guide, which s5(1) of the instrument says is not part of it, states «The scheduling of poisons is implemented through relevant State and Territory legislation.» Most personal possession and use offences are state and territory law, which differs by jurisdiction, and Criminal Code s300.4 keeps those laws running concurrently with Part 9.1. Read as in force on 2 October 2026 against F2026L01327, the Criminal Code Act 1995 at Compilation No. 174 (compilation date 30 June 2026, C2026C00243), the Criminal Code Regulations 2019 at Compilation No. 6 (compilation date 13 December 2025, F2025C01260) and the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 at Compilation No. 147 (compilation date 13 July 2026, F2026C00751). The Criminal Code Regulations schedules are made by the Governor-General and the Poisons Standard by a delegate of the Secretary under Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 s52D, so a later instrument can change any of this, and this reading does not rule out a later amendment.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. The highest penalty anywhere in Part 9.1 of the Criminal Code is imprisonment for life, and Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973 s6 provides «The punishment of death must not be imposed as the penalty for any offence referred to in subsection 3(2) or (3).» The leaf counts by its cathinone content under s312.1 as in force. Trafficking cathinone in khat (s302.1: selling, preparing for supply, transporting, guarding or possessing with intent to sell) is s302.4, imprisonment for 10 years or 2,000 penalty units, or both. Trafficking a marketable quantity, 250.0 g or more under Schedule 1 item 52 of the Criminal Code Regulations, is s302.3, 25 years or 5,000 penalty units, or both. A commercial quantity, 0.75 kg or more, is s302.2, imprisonment for life or 7,500 penalty units, or both. Under s302.5 a person who prepares, transports, guards or possesses a trafficable quantity, 0.75 g or more, is taken to have intended to sell unless they prove they had neither that intention nor belief, a legal burden (s13.4). Manufacturing cathinone in khat for a commercial purpose is s305.5, 10 years or 2,000 penalty units, or both (12 years or 2,400 penalty units if a child under 14 is exposed, s310.4); s305.4 for a marketable quantity, 25 years or 5,000 penalty units (28 years or 5,600 aggravated); s305.3 for a commercial quantity, imprisonment for life or 7,500 penalty units, or both. Under s305.6 manufacturing a trafficable quantity presumes the commercial purpose, rebuttably. Import and export are offences of their own in Division 307 against the border controlled drug listing (Schedule 2 item 38): s307.3, imprisonment for 10 years or 2,000 penalty units, or both, with a defence if the person proves no intention or belief that any would be sold; s307.4, which needs no commercial intent, 2 years or 400 penalty units, or both; s307.2 for a marketable quantity (2.0 g or more), 25 years or 5,000 penalty units, or both; s307.1 for a commercial quantity (0.75 kg or more), imprisonment for life or 7,500 penalty units, or both. Possessing an unlawfully imported quantity is s307.5 to s307.7 on the same thresholds, and possessing one reasonably suspected of unlawful import is s307.8 to s307.10. The Customs Act s233(5) leaves border controlled drugs to these offences rather than to the Customs Act smuggling offence. Possessing cathinone in khat as a controlled drug is s308.1, imprisonment for 2 years or 400 penalty units, or both, and s308.1(3) lets the court deal with the offender as if the offence were the state or territory possession offence, so diversion available there is available here. Supplying any quantity to a child is s309.2, 15 years or 3,000 penalty units, or both. Part 9.1, other than the import and export offences in Division 307, does not apply to conduct justified or excused by or under a state or territory law (s313.1), which is how lawful prescribing and dispensing sit outside it. There is no Commonwealth offence of using or consuming a drug; use is left to state and territory law. A penalty unit is $364 for an offence committed on or after 1 July 2026 under the Crimes (Amount of a Penalty Unit) Instrument 2026 (F2026N00424), made under Crimes Act 1914 s4AA, so 400 penalty units is $145,600, 2,000 is $728,000 and 7,500 is $2,730,000; «or both» in each penalty means the prison term and the fine are available alternatively or together. Quantities are proved under s312.1 as in force on 2 October 2026, by the pure drug in a mixture. A substituted s312.1, enacted by the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Act 2026 (assented to 26 August 2026), Schedule 2 Part 2, will «treat the mixture as consisting wholly of the prohibited substance»; it commences on a day fixed by Proclamation or at the latest on 26 August 2027, and no Proclamation was found when this was read. Once the Omnibus Act's substituted s312.1 commences, the whole leaf weight will be treated as cathinone, which would measure the whole leaf weight against the 0.75 g trafficable threshold. The leaf is separately a prohibited import under Prohibited Imports Regulations Schedule 4 item 204(aa), so importing it without a licence and permission contravenes Customs Act s233(1)(b), and possessing unlawfully imported leaf contravenes s233(1)(d); both are strict liability (s233(1AB)) and punishable under s233AB(2) by a fine only, not exceeding 3 times the value of the goods or 1,000 penalty units, whichever is greater. s233(5) takes narcotic goods out of s233, and Customs Act s4 defines narcotic goods as «goods that consist of a narcotic substance»; fresh leaf contains cathinone rather than consisting of it, so on the words s233 still reaches it alongside Division 307, a point no decision read for this cell settles. Leaf whose cathinone has degraded to cathine is not outside Part 9.1 on this data set's method. Cathine is cathinone with its ketone reduced to an alcohol, the step s301.9(1)(c)(ii) describes, «(ii) by the addition of hydrogen atoms to one or more unsaturated bonds», the same step the ephedrine cell treats as plain from methcathinone. Cathine is not itself listed in Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 of the Criminal Code Regulations, so s301.9(3) does not exclude it, and on the method it is a drug analogue of cathinone: a controlled drug and border controlled drug at cathinone's quantities (Schedule 1 item 52: commercial 0.75 kg, marketable 250.0 g, trafficable 0.75 g; Schedule 2 item 38: commercial 0.75 kg, marketable 2.0 g), so cathine-only leaf carries the same Part 9.1 ladder and Division 307 offences set out above, measured by its cathine content. One caution, recorded rather than applied: the Regulations list phenylpropanolamine, a stereoisomer of cathine, as a controlled precursor (s13 item 9) and border controlled precursor, and a court could treat that as the same kind of counter-signal that makes the ephedrine analogue reading conditional; cathine itself is not so listed. No decision applying s301.9 to cathine was read. The leaf is in any case a prohibited import under item 204(aa), so s233 also reaches it on the reading stated above.

If prescribed or medical

No prescription route: Khat, through its cathinone, sits in Schedule 9 of F2026L01327. The Reader's guide, which is not part of the instrument, describes Schedule 9 as «Substances which may be abused or misused, the manufacture, possession, supply or use of which should be prohibited by law except when required for medical or scientific research, or for analytical, teaching or training purposes with approval of Commonwealth and/or State or Territory Health Authorities.» Outside an approved clinical trial or research, there is no lawful medical supply in Australia on anything read for this cell, and a foreign prescription does not change the Commonwealth position.

Documentation

No traveller exemption is shown for khat. The Australian Border Force traveller guidance (abf.gov.au, read 2 October 2026) covers «Prescription medicines such as morphine, oxycodone, methadone, methylphenidate, Adderall®, and benzodiazepines» and nothing read for this cell treats a foreign prescription for khat as lawful authority for an import that Division 307 otherwise punishes. An import needs an Office of Drug Control licence and permission under regulation 5(1) of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956, and regulation 5(10) lets permission be granted only where, in the cases that apply to a private person, the drug «is required by the applicant for medical or scientific purposes». The personal importation rule in Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990 Schedule 5 item 1, which covers «therapeutic goods that are imported for therapeutic use in the treatment of the importer or the importer’s immediate family», does not help where the substance is a prohibited import, because it applies only where «the goods do not contain a substance the importation of which is prohibited under the Customs Act 1901».

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