Is Khat legal in Germany?

Also known as: qat, miraa, quaadka

Legal status

Khat is caught to the extent that the leaf carries the listed alkaloid cathinone, which is in Anlage I of the Betäubungsmittelgesetz. Khat is plant material and the German schedules reach it through its alkaloid rather than by naming the plant. The route runs through cathinone, whose Anlage I row of the Betäubungsmittelgesetz reads „Cathinon | - | (S)-2-Amino-1-phenylpropan-1-on“. The consequence of a plant route is specific and it cuts both ways: the leaf is caught to that extent, and the alkaloid degrades after harvest, so the material's age and condition bear directly on what is actually present. Placement is under BtMG § 1 Abs. 1. This is a constituent finding, not a separate listing of the species, and no such listing is claimed.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. The dossier's penalty column records that no death-penalty regime applies. The provisions are BtMG §§ 29 bis 30a and the recorded figure is the ceiling: not less than five years under § 30a Abs. 1, with a determinate sentence capped at fifteen years by StGB § 38 Abs. 2. No ordinary band is recorded here. On a plant route the quantity question is not the same as the weight of the leaf, because it is the alkaloid content that engages the entry, and that is an analytical finding about a particular consignment rather than something the bundle's mass settles.

If prescribed or medical

Anlage I is the non-marketable tier of the three, read at gesetze-im-internet.de on 21 September 2026, so there is no German prescribing route for the alkaloid and none for the leaf that carries it. The dossier records no traveller rule and no exemption for plant material used traditionally, so this cell states the constituent placement and defers on the border question rather than describing an allowance.

Documentation

Nothing authorises carriage, and customary use is not a document. The record that matters in a case is the assay of the consignment, since the plant is reached only through the alkaloid that the schedule actually names. The entry was read on 20 September 2026.

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