Legal status in Kuwait

Per-substance legal status for Kuwait, from sourced statutes where available. Legal information, not legal advice; drug laws change, so confirm with the destination’s embassy or drug authority before you travel.

83 confirmed substances5 not individually verifiedLast updated September 21, 2026

Confirmed legal status

1P-LSD

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. 1P-LSD is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026. Lysergide itself is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-4.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. 1P-LSD is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Lysergide itself is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-4. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. 1P-LSD is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: 1P-LSD is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 1P-LSD: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Lysergide itself is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-4. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 1P-LSD: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Lysergide itself is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-4 · Updated September 21, 2026

1P-LSD in Kuwait, full detail →

2-FDCK

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. 2-FDCK is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-87, 2 fluorodeschloroketamine.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing 2-FDCK for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: 2-FDCK is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 2-FDCK: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-87, 2 fluorodeschloroketamine. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 2-FDCK: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-87, 2 fluorodeschloroketamine · Updated September 21, 2026

2-FDCK in Kuwait, full detail →

25I-NBOMe

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. 25I NBOMe is listed at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-31, listed as 2C-I-NBOMe and 25I-NBOMe with its isomers.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing 25I NBOMe for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: 25I NBOMe is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 25I NBOMe: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-31, listed as 2C-I-NBOMe and 25I-NBOMe with its isomers. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 25I NBOMe: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-31, listed as 2C-I-NBOMe and 25I-NBOMe with its isomers · Updated September 21, 2026

25I-NBOMe in Kuwait, full detail →

2C-B

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. 2C-B is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-11, entered under its chemical name 4 bromo 2,5 dimethoxyphenethylamine. It is not serial P1-14, which is DOB, a different substance carrying an alpha methyl group.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing 2C-B for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: 2C-B is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 2C-B: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-11, entered under its chemical name 4 bromo 2,5 dimethoxyphenethylamine. It is not serial P1-14, which is DOB, a different substance carrying an alpha methyl group. The name column of this row is damaged in the scan, so the placement was settled on the chemical name, 4 bromo 2,5 dimethoxyphenethylamine, which is the only key in these tables that does not depend on a legible name. A name that resembles the substance is not the substance. The nearest thing in these schedules to 2C-B is DOB at serial P1-14, and it is a different substance; this cell does not rest on it.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 2C-B: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-11, entered under its chemical name 4 bromo 2,5 dimethoxyphenethylamine. It is not serial P1-14, which is DOB, a different substance carrying an alpha methyl group · Updated September 21, 2026

2C-B in Kuwait, full detail →

2C-E

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. 2C-E is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026. Serial P1-20 is DOET, a different substance carrying an alpha methyl group.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. 2C-E is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Serial P1-20 is DOET, a different substance carrying an alpha methyl group. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. 2C-E is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: 2C-E is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 2C-E: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Serial P1-20 is DOET, a different substance carrying an alpha methyl group. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated. A name that resembles the substance is not the substance. The nearest thing in these schedules to 2C-E is DOET at serial P1-20, and it is a different substance; this cell does not rest on it.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 2C-E: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Serial P1-20 is DOET, a different substance carrying an alpha methyl group · Updated September 21, 2026

2C-E in Kuwait, full detail →

2C-I

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. 2C-I is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 as a free base of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026. Only its N benzyl derivative 2C-I-NBOMe is listed, at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-31.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. 2C-I is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 as a free base, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Only its N benzyl derivative 2C-I-NBOMe is listed, at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-31. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. 2C-I is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 as a free base, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: 2C-I is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 2C-I: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 as a free base. Only its N benzyl derivative 2C-I-NBOMe is listed, at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-31. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated. A name that resembles the substance is not the substance. The nearest thing in these schedules to 2C-I is 2C-I-NBOMe at serial P1-31, and it is a different substance; this cell does not rest on it.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 2C-I: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 as a free base. Only its N benzyl derivative 2C-I-NBOMe is listed, at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-31 · Updated September 21, 2026

2C-I in Kuwait, full detail →

2C-T-7

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. 2C-T-7 is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. 2C-T-7 is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. 2C-T-7 is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: 2C-T-7 is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 2C-T-7: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 2C-T-7: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 · Updated September 21, 2026

2C-T-7 in Kuwait, full detail →

3-MMC

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. 3-MMC is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-84, 3 methyl methcathinone.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing 3-MMC for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: 3-MMC is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 3-MMC: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-84, 3 methyl methcathinone. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 3-MMC: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-84, 3 methyl methcathinone · Updated September 21, 2026

3-MMC in Kuwait, full detail →

4-AcO-DMT

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. 4-AcO-DMT is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026. Psilocybine and psilocine are listed, at P1-10 and P1-9.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. 4-AcO-DMT is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Psilocybine and psilocine are listed, at P1-10 and P1-9. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. 4-AcO-DMT is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: 4-AcO-DMT is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 4-AcO-DMT: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Psilocybine and psilocine are listed, at P1-10 and P1-9. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 4-AcO-DMT: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Psilocybine and psilocine are listed, at P1-10 and P1-9 · Updated September 21, 2026

4-AcO-DMT in Kuwait, full detail →

4-HO-MET

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. 4-HO-MET is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026. Serial P1-39 is alpha methyltryptamine and P1-23 is etryptamine, both different substances.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. 4-HO-MET is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Serial P1-39 is alpha methyltryptamine and P1-23 is etryptamine, both different substances. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. 4-HO-MET is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: 4-HO-MET is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 4-HO-MET: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Serial P1-39 is alpha methyltryptamine and P1-23 is etryptamine, both different substances. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated. A name that resembles the substance is not the substance. The nearest thing in these schedules to 4-HO-MET is alpha methyltryptamine at serial P1-39, and it is a different substance; this cell does not rest on it.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 4-HO-MET: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Serial P1-39 is alpha methyltryptamine and P1-23 is etryptamine, both different substances · Updated September 21, 2026

4-HO-MET in Kuwait, full detail →

5-MeO-DMT (Bufo / Toad)

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. 5-MeO-DMT is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026. DMT itself is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-3.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. 5-MeO-DMT is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. DMT itself is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-3. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. 5-MeO-DMT is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: 5-MeO-DMT is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 5-MeO-DMT: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. DMT itself is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-3. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 5-MeO-DMT: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. DMT itself is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-3 · Updated September 21, 2026

5-MeO-DMT (Bufo / Toad) in Kuwait, full detail →

6-APB

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. 6-APB is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. 6-APB is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. 6-APB is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: 6-APB is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for 6-APB: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for 6-APB: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 · Updated September 21, 2026

6-APB in Kuwait, full detail →

Adderall

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Adderall is listed at Group 2, table 2, through its dexamfetamine and amfetamine content at serials P2-2 and P2-1, Adderall itself having no separate legal identity in Kuwait.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Adderall for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Adderall is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Adderall: Group 2, table 2, through its dexamfetamine and amfetamine content at serials P2-2 and P2-1, Adderall itself having no separate legal identity in Kuwait. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Adderall: Group 2, table 2, through its dexamfetamine and amfetamine content at serials P2-2 and P2-1, Adderall itself having no separate legal identity in Kuwait · Updated September 21, 2026

Adderall in Kuwait, full detail →

Alcohol

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Alcohol is in no annexed table of Decree Law 159 of 2025.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Alcohol is in no annexed table, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Kuwait regulates it, if at all, under other law entirely. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Alcohol is in no annexed table, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Alcohol is not handled as a narcotic or psychotropic medicine under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Prescribing and import controls for it, if any, sit outside this decree law.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Alcohol: in no annexed table. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Alcohol: in no annexed table · Updated September 21, 2026

Alcohol in Kuwait, full detail →

Amanita muscaria

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Amanita muscaria is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, and not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026. Group 1, table 5, serial N5-6 names the psilocybin mushroom only.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Amanita muscaria is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, and not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Group 1, table 5, serial N5-6 names the psilocybin mushroom only. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Amanita muscaria is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, and not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Amanita muscaria is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Amanita muscaria: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, and not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5. Group 1, table 5, serial N5-6 names the psilocybin mushroom only. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Amanita muscaria: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, and not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5. Group 1, table 5, serial N5-6 names the psilocybin mushroom only · Updated September 21, 2026

Amanita muscaria in Kuwait, full detail →

Amphetamine

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Amphetamine is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-1; dexamfetamine is P2-2 and levamfetamine follows.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Amphetamine for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Amphetamine is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Amphetamine: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-1; dexamfetamine is P2-2 and levamfetamine follows. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Amphetamine: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-1 · dexamfetamine is P2-2 and levamfetamine follows · Updated September 21, 2026

Amphetamine in Kuwait, full detail →

Amyl Nitrite

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Amyl nitrite is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Amyl nitrite is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Amyl nitrite is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Amyl nitrite is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Amyl nitrite: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Amyl nitrite: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 · Updated September 21, 2026

Amyl Nitrite in Kuwait, full detail →

Ayahuasca

Legal status: Controlled through its active alkaloid. Ayahuasca is not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5. Its active principle DMT is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-3.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Ayahuasca for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. The plant itself is not named in table 5 of Group 1. Exposure runs through the scheduled alkaloid it contains, and a preparation containing a scheduled substance is itself caught. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Ayahuasca is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Ayahuasca: not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5. Its active principle DMT is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-3. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Ayahuasca: not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5. Its active principle DMT is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-3 · Updated September 21, 2026

Ayahuasca in Kuwait, full detail →

Barbiturates

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Barbiturates are listed at Group 2 as a class, with amobarbital and pentobarbital in table 3, secobarbital at serial P2-58 in table 2, and barbital and butobarbital in table 4.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Barbiturates for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Barbiturates are scheduled substances, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Barbiturates: Group 2 as a class, with amobarbital and pentobarbital in table 3, secobarbital at serial P2-58 in table 2, and barbital and butobarbital in table 4. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Barbiturates: Group 2 as a class, with amobarbital and pentobarbital in table 3, secobarbital at serial P2-58 in table 2, and barbital and butobarbital in table 4 · Updated September 21, 2026

Barbiturates in Kuwait, full detail →

Benzodiazepines

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Benzodiazepines are listed at Group 2, table 4 as a class, with seven of them, alprazolam, bromazepam, clonazepam, clorazepate, diazepam, lorazepam and midazolam, also on the Group 4 list.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Benzodiazepines for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Benzodiazepines are on the Group 4 list, so article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars. It does not reduce articles 42 and 43. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Benzodiazepines are prescribable in Kuwait under the controlled medicine chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025. Article 20 lets a licensed doctor prescribe it and article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars for a substance on the Group 4 list. That relief does not touch articles 42 and 43. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in preparations of table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropics, and article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Benzodiazepines: Group 2, table 4 as a class, with seven of them, alprazolam, bromazepam, clonazepam, clorazepate, diazepam, lorazepam and midazolam, also on the Group 4 list. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Benzodiazepines: Group 2, table 4 as a class, with seven of them, alprazolam, bromazepam, clonazepam, clorazepate, diazepam, lorazepam and midazolam, also on the Group 4 list · Updated September 21, 2026

Benzodiazepines in Kuwait, full detail →

Buprenorphine

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Buprenorphine is listed at Group 2, table 3, serial P3-25, entered under its chemical name 21 cyclopropyl 7 alpha [(S) 1 hydroxy 1,2,2 trimethylpropyl] 6,7,8,14 tetrahydrooripavine.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Buprenorphine for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Buprenorphine is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Buprenorphine: Group 2, table 3, serial P3-25, entered under its chemical name 21 cyclopropyl 7 alpha [(S) 1 hydroxy 1,2,2 trimethylpropyl] 6,7,8,14 tetrahydrooripavine. The name column of this row is damaged in the scan, so the placement was settled on the chemical name, 21 cyclopropyl 7 alpha [(S) 1 hydroxy 1,2,2 trimethylpropyl] 6,7,8,14 tetrahydrooripavine, which is the only key in these tables that does not depend on a legible name.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Buprenorphine: Group 2, table 3, serial P3-25, entered under its chemical name 21 cyclopropyl 7 alpha [(S) 1 hydroxy 1,2,2 trimethylpropyl] 6,7,8,14 tetrahydrooripavine · Updated September 21, 2026

Buprenorphine in Kuwait, full detail →

Caffeine

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Caffeine is in no annexed table of Decree Law 159 of 2025.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Caffeine is in no annexed table, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Kuwait regulates it, if at all, under other law entirely. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Caffeine is in no annexed table, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Caffeine is not handled as a narcotic or psychotropic medicine under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Prescribing and import controls for it, if any, sit outside this decree law.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Caffeine: in no annexed table. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Caffeine: in no annexed table · Updated September 21, 2026

Caffeine in Kuwait, full detail →

Cannabinol

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Cannabinol is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 as cannabinol of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026. The string appears only inside tetrahydrocannabinol at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-13.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Cannabinol is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 as cannabinol, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. The string appears only inside tetrahydrocannabinol at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-13. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Cannabinol is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 as cannabinol, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Cannabinol is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Cannabinol: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 as cannabinol. The string appears only inside tetrahydrocannabinol at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-13. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated. A name that resembles the substance is not the substance. The nearest thing in these schedules to Cannabinol is tetrahydrocannabinol at serial P1-13, and it is a different substance; this cell does not rest on it.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Cannabinol: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 as cannabinol. The string appears only inside tetrahydrocannabinol at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-13 · Updated September 21, 2026

Cannabinol in Kuwait, full detail →

Cannabis / THC

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Cannabis is listed at Group 1, table 5, serial N5-1 as the plant, and Group 1, table 1, serial N1-16 as the resin and flowering tops. Table 6 exempts stalk fibre and roasted seeds.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Cannabis for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Because Cannabis is a plant listed in table 5 of Group 1, cultivation with intent to traffic is itself an article 42 offence, under limb 3 of that article. Article 34 forbids cultivating a table 5 plant without a licence from the Minister, and article 35 allows that licence only to government bodies, research centres, universities and specialist institutes. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Cannabis is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Cannabis: Group 1, table 5, serial N5-1 as the plant, and Group 1, table 1, serial N1-16 as the resin and flowering tops. Table 6 exempts stalk fibre and roasted seeds. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Cannabis: Group 1, table 5, serial N5-1 as the plant, and Group 1, table 1, serial N1-16 as the resin and flowering tops. Table 6 exempts stalk fibre and roasted seeds · Updated September 21, 2026

Cannabis / THC in Kuwait, full detail →

Cathinone

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Cathinone is listed at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-16.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Cathinone for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Cathinone is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Cathinone: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-16. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Cathinone: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-16 · Updated September 21, 2026

Cathinone in Kuwait, full detail →

CBD

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. CBD is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026. Cannabidiol is named nowhere in the schedules.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. CBD is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Cannabidiol is named nowhere in the schedules. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. CBD is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: CBD is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for CBD: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Cannabidiol is named nowhere in the schedules. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for CBD: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Cannabidiol is named nowhere in the schedules · Updated September 21, 2026

CBD in Kuwait, full detail →

Clonazepam

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Clonazepam is listed at Group 2, table 4, serial P4-21, and on the Group 4 list.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Clonazepam for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Clonazepam is on the Group 4 list, so article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars. It does not reduce articles 42 and 43. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Clonazepam is prescribable in Kuwait under the controlled medicine chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025. Article 20 lets a licensed doctor prescribe it and article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars for a substance on the Group 4 list. That relief does not touch articles 42 and 43. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in preparations of table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropics, and article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Clonazepam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-21, and on the Group 4 list. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Clonazepam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-21, and on the Group 4 list · Updated September 21, 2026

Clonazepam in Kuwait, full detail →

Cocaine

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Cocaine is listed at Group 1, table 1, serial N1-19 (cocaine and its salts); the coca leaf is N1-18 and the coca bush is Group 1, table 5, serial N5-4.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Cocaine for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Cocaine is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Cocaine: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-19 (cocaine and its salts); the coca leaf is N1-18 and the coca bush is Group 1, table 5, serial N5-4. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Cocaine: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-19 (cocaine and its salts) · the coca leaf is N1-18 and the coca bush is Group 1, table 5, serial N5-4 · Updated September 21, 2026

Cocaine in Kuwait, full detail →

Codeine

Legal status: Controlled narcotic, and in the table that article 52 singles out for a reduced penalty. Codeine is listed at Group 1, table 3, serial N3-2.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Possession, purchase, import and sale of Codeine are all offences under Decree Law 159 of 2025, but article 52 may cap them. None on the wording of the statute itself. Article 52 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 provides that where the object of the offences in articles 42/1 and 2, 43, 48 and 49 is a substance listed in table 3 of Group 1, the penalty is الحبس مدة لا تجاوز سنة وبغرامة لا تجاوز ألفي دينار, imprisonment not exceeding one year and a fine not exceeding two thousand dinars, or one of the two. That displaces the capital articles for this substance, and it reaches trafficking itself, not only personal use. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences, so they cannot attach either. There is no quantity threshold in article 52; the table placement alone decides it.
If prescribed / medical: Codeine sits in table 3 of Group 1, the table article 52 singles out. A licensed doctor may prescribe preparations of Group 1 tables 1, 2 and 3 under article 20, for no more than two weeks at a time, and article 26 lets an arriving patient bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Codeine: Group 1, table 3, serial N3-2. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Codeine: Group 1, table 3, serial N3-2 · Updated September 21, 2026

Codeine in Kuwait, full detail →

Crack Cocaine

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Crack cocaine is listed at Group 1, table 1, serial N1-19, which covers cocaine and all preparations containing it whatever the form.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Crack cocaine for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Crack cocaine is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Crack cocaine: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-19, which covers cocaine and all preparations containing it whatever the form. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Crack cocaine: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-19, which covers cocaine and all preparations containing it whatever the form · Updated September 21, 2026

Crack Cocaine in Kuwait, full detail →

Delta-8-THC

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Delta 8 THC is listed at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-13, whose entry lists tetrahydrocannabinol and its named isomers; the delta 8 isomer is carried there by its chemical name (6aR,10aR) 6a,7,10,10a tetrahydro 6,6,9 trimethyl 3 pentyl 6H dibenzo[b,d]pyran 1 ol.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Delta 8 THC for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Delta 8 THC is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Delta 8 THC: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-13, whose entry lists tetrahydrocannabinol and its named isomers; the delta 8 isomer is carried there by its chemical name (6aR,10aR) 6a,7,10,10a tetrahydro 6,6,9 trimethyl 3 pentyl 6H dibenzo[b,d]pyran 1 ol. The name column of this row is damaged in the scan, so the placement was settled on the chemical name, (6aR,10aR) 6a,7,10,10a tetrahydro 6,6,9 trimethyl 3 pentyl 6H dibenzo[b,d]pyran 1 ol, which is the only key in these tables that does not depend on a legible name.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Delta 8 THC: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-13, whose entry lists tetrahydrocannabinol and its named isomers · the delta 8 isomer is carried there by its chemical name (6aR,10aR) 6a,7,10,10a tetrahydro 6,6,9 trimethyl 3 pentyl 6H dibenzo[b,d]pyran 1 ol · Updated September 21, 2026

Delta-8-THC in Kuwait, full detail →

Diazepam

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Diazepam is listed at Group 2, table 4, serial P4-27, and on the Group 4 list.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Diazepam for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Diazepam is on the Group 4 list, so article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars. It does not reduce articles 42 and 43. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Diazepam is prescribable in Kuwait under the controlled medicine chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025. Article 20 lets a licensed doctor prescribe it and article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars for a substance on the Group 4 list. That relief does not touch articles 42 and 43. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in preparations of table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropics, and article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Diazepam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-27, and on the Group 4 list. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Diazepam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-27, and on the Group 4 list · Updated September 21, 2026

Diazepam in Kuwait, full detail →

DMT

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. DMT is listed at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-3.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing DMT for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: DMT is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for DMT: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-3. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for DMT: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-3 · Updated September 21, 2026

DMT in Kuwait, full detail →

DOM

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. DOM is listed at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-11, listed as STP, DOM.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing DOM for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: DOM is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for DOM: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-11, listed as STP, DOM. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for DOM: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-11, listed as STP, DOM · Updated September 21, 2026

DOM in Kuwait, full detail →

DXM

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. DXM is expressly excluded from the schedules of Decree Law 159 of 2025. Serials N1-53 and N1-88 of Group 1, table 1 each carry the words Dextromethorphan and Dextrorphan are isomers specifically excluded from this schedule.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. DXM is expressly excluded, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Serials N1-53 and N1-88 of Group 1, table 1 each carry the words Dextromethorphan and Dextrorphan are isomers specifically excluded from this schedule. This is an express exclusion written into the schedule, not an absence from it, which is the stronger form of the finding. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. DXM is expressly excluded, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: DXM is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for DXM: expressly excluded. Serials N1-53 and N1-88 of Group 1, table 1 each carry the words Dextromethorphan and Dextrorphan are isomers specifically excluded from this schedule. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for DXM: expressly excluded. Serials N1-53 and N1-88 of Group 1, table 1 each carry the words Dextromethorphan and Dextrorphan are isomers specifically excluded from this schedule · Updated September 21, 2026

DXM in Kuwait, full detail →

Etizolam

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Etizolam is listed at Group 2, table 4, serial P4-96. It is not on the Group 4 list.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Etizolam for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Etizolam is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Etizolam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-96. It is not on the Group 4 list. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Etizolam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-96. It is not on the Group 4 list · Updated September 21, 2026

Etizolam in Kuwait, full detail →

Fentanyl

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Fentanyl is listed at Group 1, table 1, serial N1-41, with a long run of fentanyl analogues at N1-117 and following.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Fentanyl for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Fentanyl is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Fentanyl: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-41, with a long run of fentanyl analogues at N1-117 and following. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Fentanyl: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-41, with a long run of fentanyl analogues at N1-117 and following · Updated September 21, 2026

Fentanyl in Kuwait, full detail →

Gabapentin

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Gabapentin is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-81.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Gabapentin for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Gabapentin is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Gabapentin: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-81. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Gabapentin: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-81 · Updated September 21, 2026

Gabapentin in Kuwait, full detail →

GBL

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. GBL is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-88, named on the face of the row as Gamma butyrolactone (GBL).
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing GBL for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: GBL is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for GBL: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-88, named on the face of the row as Gamma butyrolactone (GBL). The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for GBL: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-88, named on the face of the row as Gamma butyrolactone (GBL) · Updated September 21, 2026

GBL in Kuwait, full detail →

GHB

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. GHB is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-28.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing GHB for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: GHB is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for GHB: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-28. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for GHB: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-28 · Updated September 21, 2026

GHB in Kuwait, full detail →

Heroin

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Heroin is listed at Group 1, table 1, serial N1-43, diacetylmorphine.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Heroin for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Heroin is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Heroin: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-43, diacetylmorphine. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Heroin: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-43, diacetylmorphine · Updated September 21, 2026

Heroin in Kuwait, full detail →

HHC

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. HHC is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-90, added by Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing HHC for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: HHC is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for HHC: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-90, added by Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for HHC: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-90, added by Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026 · Updated September 21, 2026

HHC in Kuwait, full detail →

Hydrocodone

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Hydrocodone is listed at Group 1, table 1, serial N1-44, entered under its chemical name dihydrocodeinone.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Hydrocodone for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Hydrocodone is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Hydrocodone: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-44, entered under its chemical name dihydrocodeinone. The name column of this row is damaged in the scan, so the placement was settled on the chemical name, dihydrocodeinone, which is the only key in these tables that does not depend on a legible name.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Hydrocodone: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-44, entered under its chemical name dihydrocodeinone · Updated September 21, 2026

Hydrocodone in Kuwait, full detail →

Khat

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Khat is listed at Group 1, table 5, serial N5-5, which reads القات بجميع أصنافه ومسمياته, khat in all its varieties and names.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Khat for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Because Khat is a plant listed in table 5 of Group 1, cultivation with intent to traffic is itself an article 42 offence, under limb 3 of that article. Article 34 forbids cultivating a table 5 plant without a licence from the Minister, and article 35 allows that licence only to government bodies, research centres, universities and specialist institutes. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Khat is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Khat: Group 1, table 5, serial N5-5, which reads القات بجميع أصنافه ومسمياته, khat in all its varieties and names. The name column of this row is damaged in the scan, so the placement was settled on the chemical name, the Arabic entry القات بجميع أصنافه ومسمياته, which is the only key in these tables that does not depend on a legible name.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Khat: Group 1, table 5, serial N5-5, which reads القات بجميع أصنافه ومسمياته, khat in all its varieties and names · Updated September 21, 2026

Khat in Kuwait, full detail →

Kratom

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Kratom is listed at Group 1, table 5, serial N5-7, which reads Kartom plant, Mitragynine.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Kratom for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Because Kratom is a plant listed in table 5 of Group 1, cultivation with intent to traffic is itself an article 42 offence, under limb 3 of that article. Article 34 forbids cultivating a table 5 plant without a licence from the Minister, and article 35 allows that licence only to government bodies, research centres, universities and specialist institutes. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Kratom is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Kratom: Group 1, table 5, serial N5-7, which reads Kartom plant, Mitragynine. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Kratom: Group 1, table 5, serial N5-7, which reads Kartom plant, Mitragynine · Updated September 21, 2026

Kratom in Kuwait, full detail →

Lorazepam

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Lorazepam is listed at Group 2, table 4, serial P4-49, and on the Group 4 list.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Lorazepam for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Lorazepam is on the Group 4 list, so article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars. It does not reduce articles 42 and 43. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Lorazepam is prescribable in Kuwait under the controlled medicine chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025. Article 20 lets a licensed doctor prescribe it and article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars for a substance on the Group 4 list. That relief does not touch articles 42 and 43. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in preparations of table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropics, and article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Lorazepam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-49, and on the Group 4 list. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Lorazepam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-49, and on the Group 4 list · Updated September 21, 2026

Lorazepam in Kuwait, full detail →

LSA (Morning Glory)

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. LSA is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026. Lysergide is listed at P1-4 but ergine is not.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. LSA is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Lysergide is listed at P1-4 but ergine is not. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. LSA is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: LSA is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for LSA: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Lysergide is listed at P1-4 but ergine is not. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for LSA: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Lysergide is listed at P1-4 but ergine is not · Updated September 21, 2026

LSA (Morning Glory) in Kuwait, full detail →

LSD

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. LSD is listed at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-4, lysergide.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing LSD for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: LSD is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for LSD: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-4, lysergide. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for LSD: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-4, lysergide · Updated September 21, 2026

LSD in Kuwait, full detail →

MDA

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. MDA is listed at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-15, tenamfetamine.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing MDA for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: MDA is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for MDA: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-15, tenamfetamine. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for MDA: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-15, tenamfetamine · Updated September 21, 2026

MDA in Kuwait, full detail →

MDMA

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. MDMA is listed at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-22.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing MDMA for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: MDMA is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for MDMA: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-22. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for MDMA: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-22 · Updated September 21, 2026

MDMA in Kuwait, full detail →

MDPV

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. MDPV is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-53.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing MDPV for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: MDPV is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for MDPV: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-53. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for MDPV: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-53 · Updated September 21, 2026

MDPV in Kuwait, full detail →

Memantine

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Memantine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Memantine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Memantine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Memantine is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Memantine: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Memantine: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 · Updated September 21, 2026

Memantine in Kuwait, full detail →

Mephedrone (4-MMC)

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Mephedrone is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-54.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Mephedrone for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Mephedrone is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Mephedrone: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-54. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Mephedrone: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-54 · Updated September 21, 2026

Mephedrone (4-MMC) in Kuwait, full detail →

Mescaline

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Mescaline is listed at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-5.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Mescaline for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Mescaline is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Mescaline: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-5. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Mescaline: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-5 · Updated September 21, 2026

Mescaline in Kuwait, full detail →

Methadone

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Methadone is listed at Group 1, table 1, serial N1-55; the methadone intermediate is N1-56.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Methadone for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Methadone is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Methadone: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-55; the methadone intermediate is N1-56. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Methadone: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-55 · the methadone intermediate is N1-56 · Updated September 21, 2026

Methadone in Kuwait, full detail →

Methamphetamine

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Methamphetamine is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-4, with the racemate at P2-9.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Methamphetamine for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Methamphetamine is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Methamphetamine: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-4, with the racemate at P2-9. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Methamphetamine: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-4, with the racemate at P2-9 · Updated September 21, 2026

Methamphetamine in Kuwait, full detail →

Methylone

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Methylone is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-56.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Methylone for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Methylone is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Methylone: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-56. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Methylone: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-56 · Updated September 21, 2026

Methylone in Kuwait, full detail →

Methylphenidate

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Methylphenidate is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-6.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Methylphenidate for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Methylphenidate is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Methylphenidate: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-6. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Methylphenidate: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-6 · Updated September 21, 2026

Methylphenidate in Kuwait, full detail →

Mitragynine

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Mitragynine is listed at Group 1, table 5, serial N5-7, which names Mitragynine on the face of the row.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Mitragynine for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Because Mitragynine is a plant listed in table 5 of Group 1, cultivation with intent to traffic is itself an article 42 offence, under limb 3 of that article. Article 34 forbids cultivating a table 5 plant without a licence from the Minister, and article 35 allows that licence only to government bodies, research centres, universities and specialist institutes. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Mitragynine is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Mitragynine: Group 1, table 5, serial N5-7, which names Mitragynine on the face of the row. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Mitragynine: Group 1, table 5, serial N5-7, which names Mitragynine on the face of the row · Updated September 21, 2026

Mitragynine in Kuwait, full detail →

Modafinil

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Modafinil is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Modafinil is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Modafinil is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Modafinil is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. This cell previously rested on Ministry of Health Ministerial Decree 102 of 2020, a prescribing decree. A prescribing instrument cannot decide criminal exposure in either direction, and that earlier footing was wrong even though the conclusion it reached was right. The finding here rests instead on modafinil being absent from every table of Group 1 and Group 2 of the criminal schedules as they stand on 31 May 2026. Placement for Modafinil: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Modafinil: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 · Updated September 21, 2026

Modafinil in Kuwait, full detail →

Morphine

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Morphine is listed at Group 1, table 1, in the morphine run at serials N1-22 and following.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Morphine for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Morphine is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Morphine: Group 1, table 1, in the morphine run at serials N1-22 and following. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Morphine: Group 1, table 1, in the morphine run at serials N1-22 and following · Updated September 21, 2026

Morphine in Kuwait, full detail →

MXE

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. MXE is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-55, methoxetamine.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing MXE for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: MXE is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for MXE: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-55, methoxetamine. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for MXE: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-55, methoxetamine · Updated September 21, 2026

MXE in Kuwait, full detail →

Nicotine

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Nicotine is in no annexed table of Decree Law 159 of 2025.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Nicotine is in no annexed table, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Kuwait regulates it, if at all, under other law entirely. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Nicotine is in no annexed table, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Nicotine is not handled as a narcotic or psychotropic medicine under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Prescribing and import controls for it, if any, sit outside this decree law.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Nicotine: in no annexed table. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Nicotine: in no annexed table · Updated September 21, 2026

Nicotine in Kuwait, full detail →

Nimetazepam

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Nimetazepam is listed at Group 2, table 4, serial P4-60. It is not on the Group 4 list.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Nimetazepam for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Nimetazepam is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Nimetazepam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-60. It is not on the Group 4 list. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Nimetazepam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-60. It is not on the Group 4 list · Updated September 21, 2026

Nimetazepam in Kuwait, full detail →

Nitrous Oxide

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Nitrous oxide is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Nitrous oxide is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Nitrous oxide is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Nitrous oxide is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Nitrous oxide: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Nitrous oxide: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 · Updated September 21, 2026

Nitrous Oxide in Kuwait, full detail →

Opium

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Opium is listed at Group 1, table 1, serial N1-72 as raw opium, and Group 1, table 5, serials N5-2 and N5-3 as the opium poppy and every species of the genus Papaver.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Opium for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Because Opium is a plant listed in table 5 of Group 1, cultivation with intent to traffic is itself an article 42 offence, under limb 3 of that article. Article 34 forbids cultivating a table 5 plant without a licence from the Minister, and article 35 allows that licence only to government bodies, research centres, universities and specialist institutes. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Opium is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Opium: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-72 as raw opium, and Group 1, table 5, serials N5-2 and N5-3 as the opium poppy and every species of the genus Papaver. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Opium: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-72 as raw opium, and Group 1, table 5, serials N5-2 and N5-3 as the opium poppy and every species of the genus Papaver · Updated September 21, 2026

Opium in Kuwait, full detail →

Oxycodone

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Oxycodone is listed at Group 1, table 1, serial N1-73, entered under its chemical name 14 hydroxydihydrocodeinone.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Oxycodone for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Oxycodone is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Oxycodone: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-73, entered under its chemical name 14 hydroxydihydrocodeinone. The name column of this row is damaged in the scan, so the placement was settled on the chemical name, 14 hydroxydihydrocodeinone, which is the only key in these tables that does not depend on a legible name.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Oxycodone: Group 1, table 1, serial N1-73, entered under its chemical name 14 hydroxydihydrocodeinone · Updated September 21, 2026

Oxycodone in Kuwait, full detail →

PCP

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. PCP is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-7, phencyclidine; 3 methoxyphencyclidine is P2-73.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing PCP for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: PCP is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for PCP: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-7, phencyclidine; 3 methoxyphencyclidine is P2-73. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for PCP: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-7, phencyclidine · 3 methoxyphencyclidine is P2-73 · Updated September 21, 2026

PCP in Kuwait, full detail →

Peyote

Legal status: Controlled through its active alkaloid. Peyote is not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5. Its principal alkaloid mescaline is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-5.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Peyote for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. The plant itself is not named in table 5 of Group 1. Exposure runs through the scheduled alkaloid it contains, and a preparation containing a scheduled substance is itself caught. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Peyote is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Peyote: not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5. Its principal alkaloid mescaline is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-5. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Peyote: not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5. Its principal alkaloid mescaline is Group 2, table 1, serial P1-5 · Updated September 21, 2026

Peyote in Kuwait, full detail →

Phenibut

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Phenibut is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Phenibut is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Phenibut is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Phenibut is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Phenibut: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Phenibut: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 · Updated September 21, 2026

Phenibut in Kuwait, full detail →

Pink Cocaine / Tusi

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Pink cocaine is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-11 for the 2C-B that usually gives the powder its name, and Group 1, table 1, serial N1-19 where the mixture in fact contains cocaine.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Pink cocaine for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Pink cocaine is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Pink cocaine: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-11 for the 2C-B that usually gives the powder its name, and Group 1, table 1, serial N1-19 where the mixture in fact contains cocaine. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Pink cocaine: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-11 for the 2C-B that usually gives the powder its name, and Group 1, table 1, serial N1-19 where the mixture in fact contains cocaine · Updated September 21, 2026

Pink Cocaine / Tusi in Kuwait, full detail →

Poppers

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Poppers are in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Poppers are in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches them as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Poppers are in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Poppers are not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern them. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Poppers: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Poppers: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 · Updated September 21, 2026

Poppers in Kuwait, full detail →

Pregabalin

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Pregabalin is listed at Group 2, table 2, serial P2-80.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Pregabalin for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Pregabalin is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Pregabalin: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-80. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Pregabalin: Group 2, table 2, serial P2-80 · Updated September 21, 2026

Pregabalin in Kuwait, full detail →

Psilocybin

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Psilocybin is listed at Group 2, table 1, serial P1-10 as psilocybine and P1-9 as psilocine, and Group 1, table 5, serial N5-6 as the psilocybin mushroom.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Psilocybin for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Because Psilocybin is a plant listed in table 5 of Group 1, cultivation with intent to traffic is itself an article 42 offence, under limb 3 of that article. Article 34 forbids cultivating a table 5 plant without a licence from the Minister, and article 35 allows that licence only to government bodies, research centres, universities and specialist institutes. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Psilocybin is a scheduled substance, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Psilocybin: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-10 as psilocybine and P1-9 as psilocine, and Group 1, table 5, serial N5-6 as the psilocybin mushroom. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Psilocybin: Group 2, table 1, serial P1-10 as psilocybine and P1-9 as psilocine, and Group 1, table 5, serial N5-6 as the psilocybin mushroom · Updated September 21, 2026

Psilocybin in Kuwait, full detail →

Quetiapine

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Quetiapine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Quetiapine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Quetiapine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Quetiapine is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Quetiapine: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Quetiapine: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 · Updated September 21, 2026

Quetiapine in Kuwait, full detail →

Salvia divinorum

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Salvia divinorum is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, and not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Salvia divinorum is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, and not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Salvia divinorum is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, and not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Salvia divinorum is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Salvia divinorum: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, and not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Salvia divinorum: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, and not among the seven plants of Group 1, table 5 · Updated September 21, 2026

Salvia divinorum in Kuwait, full detail →

Scopolamine (Devil's Breath)

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Scopolamine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Scopolamine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Scopolamine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Scopolamine is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Scopolamine: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Scopolamine: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 · Updated September 21, 2026

Scopolamine (Devil's Breath) in Kuwait, full detail →

Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice)

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Synthetic cannabinoids are listed at Group 2, table 2, across a long run of named synthetic cannabinoids including UR-144 at P2-40, JWH compounds, AM-2201, ADB-BUTINACA at P2-82 and adamantoyl indole at P2-89.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Synthetic cannabinoids for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Synthetic cannabinoids are scheduled substances, so the licensing and prescribing chapters of Decree Law 159 of 2025 govern any lawful handling of them. Article 20 limits a doctor's prescription to two weeks at a time for Group 1 narcotic preparations in tables 1, 2 and 3 and two months for Group 2 psychotropic preparations in tables 2, 3 and 4. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in table 1 narcotic preparations sufficient for fifteen days and table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropic preparations. Article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Synthetic cannabinoids: Group 2, table 2, across a long run of named synthetic cannabinoids including UR-144 at P2-40, JWH compounds, AM-2201, ADB-BUTINACA at P2-82 and adamantoyl indole at P2-89. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Synthetic cannabinoids: Group 2, table 2, across a long run of named synthetic cannabinoids including UR-144 at P2-40, JWH compounds, AM-2201, ADB-BUTINACA at P2-82 and adamantoyl indole at P2-89 · Updated September 21, 2026

Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice) in Kuwait, full detail →

Tobacco

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Tobacco is in no annexed table of Decree Law 159 of 2025.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Tobacco is in no annexed table, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. Kuwait regulates it, if at all, under other law entirely. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Tobacco is in no annexed table, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Tobacco is not handled as a narcotic or psychotropic medicine under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Prescribing and import controls for it, if any, sit outside this decree law.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Tobacco: in no annexed table. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Tobacco: in no annexed table · Updated September 21, 2026

Tobacco in Kuwait, full detail →

Tramadol

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Tramadol is listed at Group 2, table 4, serial P4-88, and on the Group 4 list.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Tramadol for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Tramadol is on the Group 4 list, so article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars. It does not reduce articles 42 and 43. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Tramadol is prescribable in Kuwait under the controlled medicine chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025. Article 20 lets a licensed doctor prescribe it and article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars for a substance on the Group 4 list. That relief does not touch articles 42 and 43. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in preparations of table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropics, and article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Tramadol: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-88, and on the Group 4 list. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Tramadol: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-88, and on the Group 4 list · Updated September 21, 2026

Tramadol in Kuwait, full detail →

Xanax (Alprazolam)

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Alprazolam is listed at Group 2, table 4, serial P4-3, and on the Group 4 list.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Alprazolam for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Alprazolam is on the Group 4 list, so article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars. It does not reduce articles 42 and 43. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Alprazolam is prescribable in Kuwait under the controlled medicine chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025. Article 20 lets a licensed doctor prescribe it and article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars for a substance on the Group 4 list. That relief does not touch articles 42 and 43. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in preparations of table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropics, and article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Alprazolam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-3, and on the Group 4 list. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Alprazolam: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-3, and on the Group 4 list · Updated September 21, 2026

Xanax (Alprazolam) in Kuwait, full detail →

Xylazine

Legal status: Not a controlled narcotic or psychotropic substance in Kuwait. Xylazine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, as those schedules stand after Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Conduct distinction. Articles 48 and 49 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 punish possession and personal use of a scheduled substance, up to ten years and up to five years respectively. Xylazine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so neither article reaches it as a scheduled substance. None. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025, which carry death or life imprisonment, bite only on المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً, narcotic or psychotropic substances and preparations, which article 1 defines by reference to the annexed schedules. Xylazine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2, so there is no scheduled substance for those articles to attach to. Articles 44 and 45, which make death mandatory, operate only on article 42 and 43 offences and so cannot attach either. That is the reason exposure is absent, not merely the fact of it. No quantity threshold arises, because no capital article is engaged.
If prescribed / medical: Xylazine is not on a criminal schedule of this decree law, so the prescribing chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025 does not govern it. A separate Ministry of Health prescribing or registration rule may still apply, and a prescribing rule is not a criminal schedule. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report for any medicine you bring in.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Xylazine: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. The absence was tested five ways before it was accepted: the international name, optical character recognition variants of it, the Arabic form, the chemical name, and independently by enumerating every Latin word in the schedules that begins with the same letter and reading that list. A measured zero from a scanned table is not a finding until it has been interrogated.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Xylazine: in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 · Updated September 21, 2026

Xylazine in Kuwait, full detail →

Zolpidem

Legal status: Controlled substance under Decree Law 159 of 2025. Zolpidem is listed at Group 2, table 4, serial P4-86, and on the Group 4 list.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. Articles 42 and 43 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 are the articles that carry death or life imprisonment, and both take «المواد أو المستحضرات المخدرة أو المؤثرة عقلياً» as their object, which article 1 defines by reference to the decree's tables. Three routes were tried for those tables in this pass and none produced them: the full-text page for the decree returned 404, a Kuwaiti practitioner guide states that the schedules are not reproduced, and a search of the Official Gazette located the 84 articles but not the annexes. So whether this substance sits in a table that articles 42 or 43 reach was not established, no capital provision is asserted for this row, and none is ruled out. Conduct distinction. Article 49 punishes taking or possessing Zolpidem for personal use with imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars, rising to ten years where the offence happens in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club. Article 48 punishes possession, import, smuggling, purchase, production or manufacture without any of the statutory intents with up to ten years, rising to fifteen in those same places. Article 50 punishes running a place for consumption with up to ten years, or fifteen years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand dinars if done for money. Intent to traffic is what moves the conduct into the capital articles. Zolpidem is on the Group 4 list, so article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars. It does not reduce articles 42 and 43. Article 42 of Decree Law 159 of 2025 reaches bringing in or smuggling with intent to traffic, producing or manufacturing with intent to traffic, and cultivating a plant listed in table 5 with intent to traffic. It opens يعاقب بالإعدام أو الحبس المؤبد, death or life imprisonment, with a fine of one hundred thousand to two million dinars, so death is discretionary on the article's own wording. Article 43 reaches possessing, buying or selling with intent to traffic, promoting, and bartering or supplying for money for consumption, and opens the same way, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand dinars. Neither article sets a quantity threshold. The trigger is بقصد الإتجار, the purpose of trafficking, and it is the fine, not the penalty, that scales to the value of the goods. Article 44 makes death mandatory where an article 42 or 43 offence carries an aggravating circumstance. It reads تكون العقوبة الإعدام في الجرائم المنصوص عليها في المادتين السابقتين إذا توفر فيها ظرف من الظروف المشددة and states no alternative penalty. The circumstances are recidivism, using a minor or a person of unsound mind or anyone under the offender's authority, giving the substance to a minor to consume, commission in a prison, police station, rehabilitation or addiction treatment centre, place of worship, educational place or sports club, and abuse of official position. Article 45 makes death mandatory for founding or running a gang organisation, even abroad, for article 42 or 43 offences, reading يعاقب بالإعدام alone.
If prescribed / medical: Zolpidem is prescribable in Kuwait under the controlled medicine chapter of Decree Law 159 of 2025. Article 20 lets a licensed doctor prescribe it and article 52 limb 2 reduces the article 49 personal use offence, and only that offence, to imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding five thousand dinars for a substance on the Group 4 list. That relief does not touch articles 42 and 43. Article 26 lets a patient arriving in the country bring in preparations of table 2, 3 and 4 psychotropics, and article 53 punishes a prescriber who writes for consumption against accepted medical standards. Carry a certified prescription and a medical report, and obtain Ministry of Health clearance before travelling.
Documentation: The governing instrument is Decree Law 159 of 2025 on combating narcotics and psychotropic substances and regulating their use and trade, eighty four articles in thirteen chapters, gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm on 1 December 2025 and in force from 15 December 2025. Article 83 repealed Law 74 of 1983 and Decree Law 48 of 1987 and merged them. The schedules do not sit in the law. Article 40 reads يجوز بقرار من الوزير تعديل الجداول أو المجموعات المرفقة بهذا المرسوم بقانون، بالحذف، أو بالإضافة, so the Minister of Health amends them by decision. The last such amendment read for this cell is Decision 165 of 2026, made on 24 May 2026 and gazetted in Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026, whose article five annexes the complete updated schedules. The schedules are arranged as Group 1, narcotic substances, tables 1 to 6, Group 2, psychotropic substances, tables 1 to 4, Group 3, chemical precursors, and a Group 4 list of the substances article 52 names. Group 3 was not reprinted in the annex and was not read for this cell. Foreign nationals are liable to deportation after sentence. Kuwait retains and imposes the death penalty for drug trafficking. Placement for Zolpidem: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-86, and on the Group 4 list. The schedule row was read directly in the scanned gazette annex, in both of the two optical character recognition passes.

Decree Law 159 of 2025, articles 40 to 53, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm 1 December 2025, in force 15 December 2025 · https://alwifaqkw.com/2025/12/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%81/ | Ministry of Health Decision 165 of 2026, made 24 May 2026 under article 40, annexing the complete updated schedules, gazetted Kuwait Al-Youm issue 1793 on 31 May 2026 · https://mesferlaw.com/ | placement for Zolpidem: Group 2, table 4, serial P4-86, and on the Group 4 list · Updated September 21, 2026

Zolpidem in Kuwait, full detail →

Not individually verified

5 substances are not individually verified for Kuwait

For these the governing national drug law is cited, but we have not verified that the substance specifically is scheduled under it. Treat them as unanswered, not as legal. Confirm with Kuwait’s drug authority or your embassy.

Substance	What we found
7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH)	Not confirmed. 7 hydroxymitragynine is not separately named. Serial N5-7 of Group 1, table 5 names the kratom plant...
Ephedrine	Not confirmed. Ephedrine is not in Group 1 or Group 2. Cathine, its close relative norpseudoephedrine, is Group 2...
Ketamine	Not confirmed. Ketamine is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2. Its analogue 2 fluorodeschloroketamine is listed at...
Methaqualone (Quaaludes)	Not confirmed. Methaqualone is listed twice, at Group 1, table 3, serial N3-14 and at Group 2, table 2, serial...
THC-P	Not confirmed. THC-P is in no table of Group 1 or Group 2 by name. The placement could not be settled from the...

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

Before you travel

Verify current rules with the destination country’s official drug authority and your own country’s embassy before traveling. Find the destination’s U.S. embassy & official country guidance →
Non-U.S. travelers: check your own government’s travel advisory and embassy.

If you’re detained or arrested abroad

Contact your own country’s embassy or consulate in the destination immediately, not the destination’s authorities. U.S. citizens: contact the nearest U.S. embassy/consulate and the U.S. State Department at +1-202-501-4444 (from abroad). If a U.S. citizen is arrested or detained abroad →

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