Is Khat legal in Saudi Arabia?

Also known as: qat, miraa, quaadka

Legal status

Khat is expressly a prohibited plant in Saudi Arabia, listed in Schedule IV of the schedules attached to the Law of Combating Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances, Royal Decree M/39 of 1426 AH, in the version issued on 4 September 2026, which prints «القات (KHAT)» under «الجدول الرابع... النباتات والبذور المحظورة», Schedule IV, prohibited plants and seeds. Its active alkaloids are separately scheduled: cathinone at Schedule II Category A and cathine at Schedule II Category C. Plant, strong alkaloid and weak alkaloid each have an entry, so nothing on this row rests on reading a constituent into a plant or a plant into a constituent. The plant seeds are within the Schedule IV heading as well as the leaf. Khat is chewed traditionally in neighbouring parts of the region, and the Kingdom's position on it is unusually well documented for that reason. M/39 Article 17 governs the prohibited plants and Articles 70 to 71 keep the attached schedules current.

Consequences if caught

A Schedule IV prohibited plant with scheduled constituents is inside Article 37(I), and that article states no quantity at all. There is no weight threshold in it, which matters for a bulky plant material that is ordinarily carried in bundles: the conduct named is smuggling, receipt from a smuggler, and import, export, manufacture, production, extraction or cultivation with intent to promote, together with the repeat promotion histories the article sets out, and cultivation is a named limb of the capital article rather than a lesser agricultural offence. Death under Article 37(I) is a statutory ta'zir penalty and it is not mandatory, because Article 37(II) gives the court the power to reduce it; where the court does reduce, the substitute is a prison term of not less than fifteen years with the lashes and the fine the article states. No express life imprisonment wording was found anywhere in M/39. Articles 38 to 41 are cited as the tiers below Article 37.

If prescribed or medical

The Saudi traveller rule is a permit rule rather than a prescription rule. A controlled medicine may be brought in only under a clearance obtained from the SFDA before travel through its Controlled Drugs System, and that advance electronic clearance is required rather than optional. Khat sits inside the narcotics law as a Schedule IV prohibited plant with constituents at Schedule II Categories A and C, and no Saudi dispensing route and no medicinal khat product was recorded, so nothing here should be read as saying a clearance would issue for it. Customary or cultural use is not a recorded exemption in these schedules and none was found.

Documentation

There is nothing to carry for this material, because no lawful import route was established for it, and that covers fresh leaf, dried leaf and seed alike. For any controlled medicine, apply through the SFDA Controlled Drugs System before travelling, carry the clearance and not the prescription alone, bring the medicine in its original dispensing packaging with the prescription and a medical report translated into Arabic and dated less than six months before travel, and declare it at customs; advance electronic clearance has been required since 1 November 2025. The permit mechanics stated here are the SFDA traveller rules recorded on the current live cell and were not re-derived from the instrument in this pass. The Schedule IV listing and the Schedule II Category A and Category C constituent entries were read in the 4 September 2026 schedules on 17 September 2026.

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