Is Kratom legal in Germany?

Also known as: mitragyna speciosa, ketum

Legal status

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is not controlled in Germany. It is not scheduled under the Narcotics Act (BtMG) nor the New Psychoactive Substances Act (NpSG), and neither mitragynine nor 7-hydroxymitragynine is a BtMG/NpSG substance. It is reachable only through medicines law: commercial sale is restricted under the Medicines Act (AMG), and the OLG Koln (2025) barred unlicensed commercial sale for human consumption. [Likely] That finding is carried forward from the entry published before this batch and was not re-derived from statute in this pass. The German position on kratom is not settled by this dossier and the row records it as open rather than as a clean absence. The search ran on 20 September 2026 across BtMG Anlagen I bis III and NpSG Anlagen 1 und 2 under „Kratom; Mitragyna speciosa; Kratomblätter“ and returned no entry, and the dossier adds that neither „Mitragynin“ nor „7-Hydroxymitragynin“ appears as a table row either, so there is no alkaloid route into the schedules to substitute for the missing plant entry. What keeps the row open is the product question: whether a particular kratom preparation is a medicinal product under AMG § 2 depends on how it is presented and what it is claimed to do, and that cannot be answered for the leaf in the abstract.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Germany has no death penalty, and that branch does not depend on the unresolved part of this row. Beyond it the dossier asserts no maximum: its penalty column records the position as open and declines to give a ceiling without a settled substance or product classification. So no narcotics band is stated, because neither the plant nor its principal alkaloids were found in the lists, and no penalty from the new psychoactive substances statute is stated either, because nothing has been shown to place the material in one of its groups. An open classification is reported as open here rather than resolved in either direction.

If prescribed or medical

No prescribing position can be given. The plant is in none of the narcotics tiers on this reading, so the prescribable tier does not arise, and the only regime the dossier leaves live is the medicines classification, which is decided product by product. It records no German traveller rule, so this cell defers on the border question as well and says plainly that it is deferring.

Documentation

Anyone carrying leaf or an extract is carrying a product of unsettled status, and the documents that bear on it are the ones that describe the product: its composition, its labelling and the claims made for it, because those are what the medicines test turns on. The search was run on 20 September 2026 and the absence holds only as at that text.

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.