Is Khat legal in Kazakhstan?

Legal status

Khat is a plant and Kazakhstan's Resolution works on substances, so the answer on this row is split. The plant is named in the Resolution, but in the cultivation table rather than in the Список. Таблица IV of the Сводная таблица, which sets the sizes for unlawful cultivation, lists under the heading of plants that do not grow in Kazakhstan for climatic reasons and are prohibited from cultivation there two items, кокаиновый куст, the coca bush, and кат, khat, each at one plant for the large size. The note attached to that heading says cultivating them would create a new and dangerous problem for the country. Both of the plant's alkaloids are separately scheduled: Катинон, cathinone, is item 8 of Таблица I section В at 0-0,02 grams, 0,02-1,0 grams and above 1,0 grams, and Катин, cathine, printed with норпсевдоэфедрин as its synonym, is item 18 of Таблица III section В at 0-0,2 grams, 0,2-3,0 grams and above 3,0 grams. A three letter Russian search on the plant name returns both alkaloid entries and neither is the plant, which is why the cultivation table had to be read separately. The copy read carries the amendment of 24 February 2026 made by Government Resolution No. 111, and the Сводная таблица is wholly in that redaction, so every size quoted here is the 24 February 2026 text, and a later amendment is not ruled out. [Certain] on every entry and figure quoted, all re-derived from the instrument in this pass.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Kazakhstan has abolished the death penalty. No capital punishment remains available anywhere in its Criminal Code, because the law of 29 December 2021 numbered 89-VII on abolition replaced the words carrying it in Article 11 with life imprisonment, and Article 46 now names life imprisonment as the heaviest penalty the Code holds. Kazakhstan grades the offence by the size band. Criminal Code Article 296 part 2 meets ordinary possession without intent to supply with a fine of up to 160 monthly calculation indices, corrective labour, community work or arrest of up to 40 days, part 3 meets a крупный quantity with up to 200 indices or 50 days, and part 4 meets an особо крупный quantity with three to seven years of imprisonment. Public non-medical consumption is part 1. Supply is Article 297 at five to eight years with confiscation and up to fifteen to twenty years for its aggravated forms, and Article 297-1, inserted on 2 January 2025 by law No. 150-VIII, covers manufacture and processing for supply with life imprisonment available at part 4. Which of those bands applies to a seizure of khat depends on what the material is measured as, because the Resolution sets grams for the listed substances and not for the raw plant, except where the cultivation table sets a number of plants instead. Article 296 also carries a note releasing from liability under that article a person who voluntarily hands the substance over, seeks medical help or actively assists in uncovering a related offence. [Likely] The Criminal Code articles and their year ranges in this cell were read from secondary consolidations rather than from an official publisher in this pass. Two independent consolidations agree on them, and the Code's own article text was not reached: the state portal served only its contents list. The abolition of the death penalty, by contrast, was confirmed against the Code itself and is tagged [Certain] where it appears. [Likely] Carried from the entry published before this batch and not re-derived in this pass: the two middle rungs of that ladder are six to ten years for part 2 and seven to twelve years for part 3.

If prescribed or medical

The Resolution answers the prescribing question for the listed substances and not for the plant. Nothing in it creates a medical route for Khat as plant material, and a foreign prescription would not supply one. Where the listed alkaloid sits in Таблица I of the Список, medical use of that alkaloid is prohibited outright, so no prescribing route exists on that side either.

Documentation

Provenance. The entries, the cultivation table and the grams quoted here were read from the consolidated text of Government Resolution of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 470 of 3 July 2019 approving the Список наркотических средств, психотропных веществ и прекурсоров, подлежащих контролю в Республике Казахстан and the Сводная таблица of small, large and particularly large sizes at https://zakon.uchet.kz/rus/docs/P1900000470 on 2026-09-21. The cultivation table is a separate table at the end of the Сводная таблица and is easy to miss, which is why it was read in full rather than searched. The copy read carries the amendment of 24 February 2026 made by Government Resolution No. 111, and the Сводная таблица is wholly in that redaction, so every size quoted here is the 24 February 2026 text. This cell asserts that the plant itself is not named, so it names the version it read and does not rule out a later one.

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