Is Khat legal in Jordan?

Also known as: qat, miraa, quaadka

Legal status

Khat is resolved through its scheduled constituents together with the Law's plant limb, rather than through a guessed plant-name entry. The leaf produces cathinone, which is expressly listed at Schedule 5, and cathine, which is listed at Schedule 7, and article 19(a)(1) separately reaches a plant producing narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances. Article 2 provides «المؤثرات العقلية: كل مادة طبيعية أو تركيبية من المواد المدرجة في الجداول ذوات الارقام (5) و(6) و(7) و(8) و(9) الملحقة بهذا القانون.», psychotropic substances being every natural or synthetic substance listed in Schedules 5 to 9 attached to this Law. One inconsistency in the source is recorded rather than smoothed over: the dossier's row mapping prints «الجدول رقم (5): القات», a Schedule 5 entry for khat itself, while the same row's reasoning states that khat is resolved through cathinone and cathine and not through a plant-name entry. This cell follows the constituent and plant-limb analysis, which is the narrower and better supported of the two, and the result is the same either way. Schedules are not frozen in the enacted text. Article 37 provides «لمجلس الوزراء بناء على تنسيب الوزير إجراء تعديل على أي من الجداول الملحقة بهذا القانون بحذف أي مادة منه أو إضافة أي مادة أخرى اليه أو تعديل النسب أو المواصفات أو الشروط الخاصة والمتعلقة بأي منها على ان يتم نشر ذلك في الجريدة الرسمية.»

Consequences if caught

Khat reaches articles 19 and 20 by two routes at once, its scheduled constituents and the plant limb, and article 20 states the ceiling in the words «يعاقب بالإعدام», death. Article 19(a) is the trafficking provision and its opening words are «يعاقب بالأشغال الشاقة المؤقتة مدة لا تقل عن خمس عشرة سنة وبغرامة لا تقل عن عشرة آلاف دينار ولا تزيد على عشرين ألف دينار كل من أقدم على أي فعل من الافعال التالية بقصد الاتجار», temporary hard labour of not less than fifteen years and a fine of ten thousand to twenty thousand Jordanian dinars for the listed dealing conduct committed with intent to traffic, and its first limb reaches the plant as such. Article 19(b) then provides «تكون العقوبة الأشغال الشاقة المؤبدة», life imprisonment, mandatory once a listed aggravator is proved: repeat offending, the status of a specified drug control or supervisory official, or committing the offence with or through a minor. Death under article 20 is mandatory in the same way, but only where an article 19 offence carries the specified international drug gang connection or the listed international criminal activity circumstances. Quantity is not the trigger anywhere in this structure. Two things about how khat is actually used are worth stating: it moves in bulk because fresh leaf loses potency quickly, and a bundle for a social session is a large physical volume, so the amounts involved are naturally large even for personal use, and no threshold exists to make that matter either way.

If prescribed or medical

There is no prescribing route for khat in Jordan to describe. Its constituents are controlled as psychotropic substances under Law No. 23 of 2016, cathinone at Schedule 5 and cathine at Schedule 7, and the leaf has no dispensed medical use, and a cultural or customary use in the traveller's country of origin is not a Jordanian permission. The structural point is that the trafficking offence at article 19(a) is defined by the words «بقصد الاتجار», with intent to traffic, so that particular offence requires that intent to be proved. What Law No. 23 of 2016 fixes is the control status, and what it does not fix is the prescribing and dispensing conditions; Jordan's separate medicines and pharmacy regimes were not audited for this table, so a route there is treated as unread rather than as absent.

Documentation

There is no document that makes khat lawful to carry into Jordan, and the fact that it is legally traded in some neighbouring and regional markets is not a permission here. Fresh plant material also meets agricultural inspection, and a bundle of leaf is not something that can be explained as a personal medicine. No traveller permit scheme, declaration form or carriage allowance appears anywhere in the text of Law No. 23 of 2016 as read for this row, and an absence in what was read is not proof that no scheme exists; Jordan does furnish the International Narcotics Control Board a traveller regulation sheet. The Schedule 5 cathinone and Schedule 7 cathine placements relied on here were read on 17 September 2026.

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