Is Memantine legal in United Kingdom?

Also known as: namenda

Legal status

Not a controlled drug. Memantine is not named in Schedule 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as in force on 2 October 2026, and no generic paragraph reaches it: it is an aminoadamantane with no aromatic ring, so the arylcyclohexylamine paragraph at Part II, paragraph 1(d), which requires a phenyl or thienyl ring, cannot describe it, and no other paragraph is drawn around an adamantane. The Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 does not reach it as a medicine, because Schedule 1 to that Act exempts «Medicinal products.», meaning medicinal products as defined in the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. The text read is the legislation.gov.uk revised text of the Act as in force on 2 October 2026, whose Schedule 2 page states «There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, SCHEDULE 2.» The last amendment that text incorporates is the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2024, S.I. 2024/1361, in force 15 January 2025; a title search of the same site for 2025 and 2026 found no later amending Order, and the draft Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2026 is marked «This is a draft item of legislation and has not yet been made as a UK Statutory Instrument.» Schedule 2 moves by Order in Council under section 2(2), which reads «Her Majesty may by Order in Council make such amendments in Schedule 2 to this Act as may be requisite for the purpose of adding any substance or product to, or removing any substance or product from, any of Parts I to III of that Schedule», so this does not rule out a later amendment. Section 2(1)(a) also makes a controlled drug of anything specified «in a temporary class drug order as a drug subject to temporary control (but this is subject to section 2A(6));» the only such Order found in force, the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Temporary Class Drug) Order 2026, S.I. 2026/613, in force from 11 June 2026 for one year, lists seven synthetic opioids of the orphine type, from cychlorphine to 5,6-dichlorobrorphine, and this row is not among them.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. No provision of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 or of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 provides a death sentence; the highest punishment in Schedule 4 to the 1971 Act is imprisonment for life. The 1971 Act creates no offence for memantine. The governing offences are in the Human Medicines Regulations 2012: regulation 214(1) provides «A person may not sell or supply a prescription only medicine except in accordance with a prescription given by an appropriate practitioner.» and regulation 255(5) makes a breach, or possession with intent to supply such a medicine otherwise than on a prescription under regulation 255(4), punishable «on conviction on indictment to a fine, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both.» Possession for personal use is not an offence, and nothing in those Regulations creates a quantity threshold, a trafficking offence or an offence of use.

If prescribed or medical

It is not in any Schedule to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. Whether a given product is a prescription only, pharmacy or general sale medicine is fixed by its marketing authorisation, which this cell did not read: the MHRA products register returned a script page with no product data on 2 October 2026, and the electronic medicines compendium was not used because its terms state that its material must not be used for commercial benefit. Where a product is a prescription only medicine it is obtained on a prescription from an appropriate practitioner under regulation 214 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.

Documentation

It is not a controlled drug, so no Home Office controlled drug licence or three month limit applies; the guidance at https://www.gov.uk/travelling-controlled-drugs, read on 2 October 2026, concerns controlled drugs. A traveller carries a prescribed supply with the prescription or label as evidence that it is personal medicine.

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