Is Lorazepam legal in United Arab Emirates?

Also known as: ativan

Legal status

Lorazepam is individually listed in Schedule 8 of Decision No. 158 of 2025 at the printed entry «لورازيبام». The dossier's finding is precise and it is worth keeping: the individual listing leaves no basis to use another benzodiazepine's schedule by analogy. That cuts both ways, because it is also the reason a member the schedule does not name cannot be placed by pointing at this one. Lorazepam is used in acute settings as well as for anxiety, and the entry does not distinguish by indication or by route of administration. The row runs through Articles 11, 43 and 58, with Schedule 10 carrying the quantity bands. The placement was read on 20 September 2026.

Consequences if caught

Article 58 reaches Schedules 3, 6, 7 and 8, and lorazepam is in Schedule 8, so the article applies to the row. The dossier records Article 58 as providing death or life imprisonment as alternatives for its stated trafficking or promotion trigger, so death is discretionary here and not mandatory, and it records that the article states no quantity. The Schedule 10 bands do not gate that route. Because Schedule 8 is the lowest of the psychotropic schedules in the instrument, this row is a clean demonstration that a low placement does not mean a low ceiling: the schedule determines which article applies and not how severe that article is. Article 43 carries the personal use route, with its tariff unstated in the dossier.

If prescribed or medical

The dossier records at the modafinil row that a 268 entry ministry travellers list was checked and expressly not used as a schedule. Attached to this substance: lorazepam is named individually in Schedule 8, so a prescription for it evidences a substance the schedule reaches by name rather than by class. No prescribing route, traveller allowance or permit procedure is recorded for that branch, so the border question is deferred rather than answered.

Documentation

Carry the prescription and the original dispensing packaging naming lorazepam, and keep them with the medicine rather than in checked baggage separated from it. The dossier records no Emirati permit procedure, so those documents are evidence about the medicine rather than an authorisation, and the permit question belongs with the health ministry before departure. Provenance: the Schedule 8 placement and the entry «لورازيبام» were read on 20 September 2026, with the capital analysis resting on Article 58 and its death or life alternative.

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