Is Nicotine legal in Egypt?

Legal status

Not listed in any table of Egypt's Anti-Narcotics Law, Law 182/1960, as at 3 October 2026. Nicotine is not printed on the page images of all six tables of Decision 44 and of Decision 242, read entry by entry, as at 3 October 2026, with two English OCR passes and one Arabic OCR pass over every page as a second check. The only near matches are the morphine and codeine nicotinoyl esters, «Nicomorphine» at Table 1 Section 2 item 94 and nicocodeine and nicodicodeine in Table 3, which are opioids and not nicotine. The earlier citation of the Anti-Narcotics Law No. 182/1960 without a table is superseded, because Decision 44 replaced every table. This is the position under Ministry of Health and Population Decision 44 of 2026, which replaced every table annexed to Law 182/1960, published in Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriya issue 39 (continued, c) on 17 February 2026 and in force from publication, as amended by Decision 242 of 2026, in Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriya issue 179 of 17 August 2026 and in force the next day, replaced item 12 of Table 1 Section 1(b), the phenethylamine group, and added items 57 to 61 to Table 3 Section 3, four alkyl nitrites and «Cannabidiol (CBD)». Decision 44's preamble cites the Supreme Constitutional Court judgment of 16 February 2026 in case 33 of judicial year 47. The Egyptian Drug Authority laws index read on 3 October 2026 lists no amendment to the tables later than Decision 242, which does not rule out one made since.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none under Law 182/1960. Its penalty articles, from Article 33 and Article 34, which carry death, to Article 45, attach to the substances in Tables 1 and 3 and the plants in Table 5, and nicotine is in none of them. Customs, pharmacy and other laws were not read for this cell. The template text this cell carried before is superseded: it cited Act 440/2018 for synthetic cannabinoids, which Decision 44's replacement of every table overtook, and gave Article 38(1) a band of three to ten years, where the article sets aggravated imprisonment, three to fifteen years under Penal Code Article 14. The death penalty articles of Law 182/1960 are Article 33 and Article 34, and they reach only what the tables list. Law 95/2003, Article 2, abolished hard labour «أينما وردت», wherever it appears, in the Penal Code or any other law, putting «السجن المؤبد», life imprisonment, in place of life hard labour and «السجن المشدد», aggravated imprisonment, in place of hard labour for a term; Article 3 of the same Law replaced Penal Code Article 14, under which aggravated imprisonment runs from three to fifteen years unless the law provides otherwise. The penalties above are named as they stand after that Law, although Law 122/1989 wrote them as hard labour.

If prescribed or medical

Schedule 1 and Schedule 3(a,b,d) medicines (e.g. amphetamine/Adderall, methylphenidate/Ritalin, methadone) cannot be imported even with a foreign prescription; verify any controlled medicine before travel (see documentation).

Documentation

Schedule 1 and Schedule 3(a,b,d) medicines CANNOT be imported even with a foreign prescription, explicitly banned: amphetamine/dexamphetamine (Adderall), methylphenidate (Ritalin/Concerta) and methadone; tramadol is banned for recreational use and tightly controlled. Codeine, diazepam and some sleep aids may be carried WITH a doctor's letter, original packaging, a 2-3 month maximum supply, and a customs declaration. (Reference: a 2017 traveller received a 3-year sentence for carrying 290 tramadol tablets.)

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