Is MDPV legal in United Arab Emirates?

Also known as: monkey dust

Legal status

This compound is named in the cathinones block of Schedule 5 of Decision No. 158 of 2025, at item 3, subitem 25. The entry is «MDPV؛ 3،4-ميثيلين ديوكسي بيروفاليرون», and the dossier renders the chemical name as 3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone. The enumeration is the point: the same schedule carries the parent alkaloid cathinone at its own entry, and the substituted members are listed individually in the item 3 block, so this row is controlled because subitem 25 names it and not because it is a cathinone derivative. The dossier's search on a neighbouring row records that the block prints some named analogues and not others, which is what an enumerated block looks like in practice. The row runs through Articles 10, 41 and 57, with Schedule 10 group 1 carrying the quantity band. The placement was read on 20 September 2026.

Consequences if caught

Item 3, subitem 25 of Schedule 5 puts this row in one of the four schedule groups Article 57 names. The dossier records the article as stating mandatory death for its trafficking or promotion trigger and as stating no quantity, so the capital exposure follows from the subitem placement and the conduct. Schedule 10 assigns a group 1 band to the substance, and the dossier records that the bands do not gate the Article 57 route, so the band is not the threshold it looks like. On a substituted cathinone this matters twice over, because the question that decides the row is which member was proved rather than how much of it there was. Article 41 carries the personal use route for this branch, with no tariff stated.

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: the placement at Schedule 5, item 3, subitem 25, with no medicinal product or prescribing route recorded against it. No permit procedure is described for the Schedule 5 branch, so the medical question is deferred rather than answered.

Documentation

No documentation route is recorded for this substance. Provenance: the entry «MDPV؛ 3،4-ميثيلين ديوكسي بيروفاليرون» at item 3, subitem 25 was read on 20 September 2026, with the capital analysis resting on Article 57 and not on the group 1 band. The practical point is that material described only as a synthetic cathinone is not placed by this row, because the block names its members and a member it does not name is a separate question.

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.