Is LSA (Morning Glory) legal in Taiwan?

Legal status

Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list. Lysergic acid amide, ergine, has no entry in either list, and neither do the seeds that contain it, Argyreia nervosa and Ipomoea species. What is listed is 麥角酸（Lysergic acid）at 附表四 precursor item 4, which is the acid and not the amide, and the two ergot alkaloids 麥角新（Ergometrine）at precursor item 2 and 麥角胺（Ergotamine）at precursor item 3. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.

Consequences if caught

No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. The distinction between the acid and its amide is what this turns on and it is not a quibble. An amide is not an isomer, an ester, an ether or a salt of the corresponding acid, so the Schedule 4 heading does not carry lysergic acid across to ergine. Three named ergot entries and no entry for ergine is a pattern that points towards a real gap rather than an oversight, but no decided case confirming it was located from here. Capital and life exposure. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.

If prescribed or medical

No licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan for ergine. The two ergot alkaloids that do have medical uses, ergometrine and ergotamine, are separately listed as Category 4 precursor raw materials.

Documentation

Morning glory and Hawaiian baby woodrose seed are sold as garden seed and are not named in either list. Treat that as unsettled rather than as clearance, because the quarterly review under article 2(3) can close it.

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