Is Methadone legal in Saudi Arabia?

Also known as: dolophine

Legal status

Methadone is a controlled narcotic drug in Saudi Arabia, placed at Schedule I Category A of the schedules attached to the Law of Combating Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances, Royal Decree M/39 of 1426 AH, in the version of those schedules issued on 4 September 2026. The schedule prints «Methadone» in Latin script under «الجدول الأول... فئة (أ)», Schedule I Category A, the narcotic drugs table. Methadone's principal use worldwide is as an opioid substitution medicine dispensed daily under supervision, and a Category A placement does not alter that; it determines which permit and which penalty articles apply. Buprenorphine, the other substitution medicine in this table, is placed differently, at Schedule II Category C, so the two should not be assumed to sit together. M/39 Articles 1 and 70 to 71 are cited for identification and for keeping the attached schedules current.

Consequences if caught

Schedule I Category A places methadone inside Article 37(I), and that article states no quantity at all. There is no weight threshold in it: the conduct named is smuggling, receipt from a smuggler, and import, export, manufacture, production, extraction or cultivation with intent to promote, together with the repeat promotion histories the article sets out. Death under Article 37(I) is a statutory ta'zir penalty and it is not mandatory, because Article 37(II) gives the court the power to reduce it; where the court does reduce, the substitute is a prison term of not less than fifteen years with the lashes and the fine the article states. No express life imprisonment wording was found anywhere in M/39. Articles 38 to 41 are cited as the tiers below Article 37 for this placement. A patient carrying take home doses without a clearance is in the permit problem rather than the trafficking article, and the way out of it is documentation obtained in advance.

If prescribed or medical

The Saudi traveller rule is a permit rule rather than a prescription rule, and for a substitution patient it is the single most important thing to arrange before departure. A controlled medicine may be brought in only under a clearance obtained from the SFDA before travel through its Controlled Drugs System, and that advance electronic clearance is required rather than optional. A dispensing record or a clinic letter from a substitution programme abroad is not a Saudi clearance. Methadone sits inside that regime as a Schedule I Category A narcotic drug, so the clearance question governs, and there is no informal allowance for a supervised treatment supply.

Documentation

Apply through the SFDA Controlled Drugs System well before travelling rather than on arrival, and carry the clearance itself and not the prescription alone. Bring the medicine in its original dispensing packaging with the prescription and a medical report naming the patient, the active ingredient, the dose and the treatment period, translated into Arabic and dated less than six months before travel, keep the quantity to a one month supply or the length of the stay, whichever is shorter, and declare it at customs; advance electronic clearance has been required since 1 November 2025. A letter from the prescribing clinic setting out the daily dose and the reason for the take home supply belongs with the application rather than only in the luggage. The permit mechanics stated here are the SFDA traveller rules recorded on the current live cell and were not re-derived from the instrument in this pass. The Schedule I Category A placement was read in the 4 September 2026 schedules on 17 September 2026.

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