Is Nicotine legal in Bangladesh?

Legal status

Nicotine is not a narcotic under this Act and the narcotics regime does not reach it. The only place nicotine appears in the whole First Schedule is inside the definition of something else: the schedule's Explanation at clause (গ) says «শিশা (Shisha) অর্থ বিভিন্ন ধরনের ভেষজের নির্যাস সহযোগে ০.২%-এর ঊর্ধ্বে নিকোটিন এবং এসেন্স ক্যারামেল মিশ্রিত ফ্রুট ফ্লেভার সহযোগে তৈরি যে-কোনো পদার্থ», shisha means any substance made with herbal extracts carrying more than 0.2 percent nicotine together with essence, caramel and fruit flavour. Shisha itself is named in Class 'kha' at serial 4. Nicotine on its own, and nicotine replacement products, are named nowhere.

Consequences if caught

Section 9(1) prohibits, for every narcotic except alcohol, cultivation, production or processing, carrying, transport or transfer, import and export at limb (a); supply, marketing, buying, selling, transfer, receipt, sending, dealing, auction, holding, possession, storage, warehousing and display at limb (b); consumption, application or use at limb (c); and any attempt, investment of money, establishing, running or patronising an operation, or a false declaration, at limb (d). Section 36 then sets the penalty from a 34 row table whose second column names a First Schedule class and serial number, not a substance, so what a substance is punished by depends entirely on which serial it sits in. This substance is in no serial of the First Schedule that could be identified, so no row of the section 36 table can be matched to it and no penalty range is stated here. Do not read that as permission. Section 65 lets the Government add a name to any schedule by notification in the official Gazette at any time, and Class 'ka' serial 7, Class 'kha' serial 5 and Class 'ga' serial 4 each sweep in the derivatives, alkaloids, salts, isomers, analogues and agonists of the substances above them. Capital and life exposure. No quantity threshold applies to nicotine because no schedule entry was matched to it, and the death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole schedule: Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6. Nothing in Class 'kha' or Class 'ga' is capital under that table, and neither is Class 'ka' serial 1, 2, 3, 7 or 8. Section 36A, inserted by the Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2026 on 16 July 2026 and in force at once, adds a capital route that has no quantity threshold and no class restriction at all. Buying, selling, supplying, offering, advertising, brokering or communicating about a narcotic or a psychoactive substance through cyberspace, a digital device, a website, social media, a mobile application, an online platform or any other digital medium, or using a digital payment system, an e-wallet, a virtual asset or a cryptocurrency for those purposes, is punishable under section 36A(2) by «যে কোনো মেয়াদের কারাদণ্ডে অথবা সর্বোচ্চ মৃত্যুদণ্ডে», imprisonment for any term or at the maximum death, with a fine of up to 20 lakh taka. Its proviso states that recovery of the drug from the offender is not required. This reaches any substance that is a narcotic under section 2(29), which is anything in the First Schedule, and the schedule's own Explanation at clause (ক) defines a psychoactive substance as anything in Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, Class 'kha' serials 4 and 5, or Class 'ga' serials 3 and 4. So a substance outside the schedule is outside the section 36 table, and would only reach the capital tier if a court read it into one of those three serials through the derivative and analogue clauses.

If prescribed or medical

Not a controlled medicine under this Act. The prescription machinery of sections 9(3), 12 and 13 applies to a narcotic, meaning something in the First Schedule, and this substance is not in it.

Documentation

Section 9(5) is the only traveller allowance the Act contains, and it is not a personal one: a passenger vessel, aircraft or land vehicle may keep, carry, transport, administer and use medicine-grade narcotics in its first aid box under a doctor's control for emergency treatment, in the quantity fixed by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. No such quantity notification was located for this cell, so no figure is stated. There is no personal allowance for a traveller's own supply anywhere in the Act, and the licence, permit and pass of section 13 are issued by the Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control on conditions fixed by rules. Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that section 36(4) lets a court divert a person who appears to be an addict and nothing more into treatment, with 6 months to 5 years if they refuse it.

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