Is Nicotine legal in Macau?

Legal status

Not listed in Macau. Nicotine is named in none of Tables I to VI of Law 17/2009 as replaced in full by Law 18/2023 and amended by Laws 16/2024, 2/2025 and 12/2026, the last in force 18 August 2026, read on 3 October 2026. Searches of the Portuguese, English and Chinese columns for nicotina, nicotine and 尼古丁 found no entry. The string nicotin occurs only inside the chemical names of the Table I-A opioids «Nicocodina», «Nicomorfina» and «Nicodicodina», which are nicotinyl esters. That is not a statement that nicotine is lawful to sell or supply: law outside Law 17/2009 is stated below only where it was read.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Law 17/2009, read on 3 October 2026 in the Official Gazette's annotated text as captured on 9 March 2026, punishes every offence in its Articles 7 to 16 with imprisonment or a fine, and that text, searched for morte and perpétua, contains neither word; Law 12/2026, which came later, amends only the tables and the daily reference map. Because nicotine is not named in any table, the offences of Article 7, Article 8, Article 11, Article 14 and Article 15, each written for plants, substances or preparations «compreendidos» in the tables it names, do not reach it through a listing. Article 15 of Law 5/2011, as replaced by Law 13/2022, in force 90 days after its publication on 5 September 2022, prohibits manufacturing, distributing, selling, importing and exporting, including carrying on entry to and exit from Macau, «cigarros electrónicos e produtos do tabaco destinados ao uso oral ou a serem inalados», and Article 23(1)(5) fines a breach 4 000 patacas save in the cases of its subparagraphs 7) and 9), which were not read. An e-cigarette is caught by name; whether a nicotine product holding no tobacco is among the «produtos do tabaco» is not settled by the text read.

If prescribed or medical

No instrument read gives nicotine a prescription route; whether nicotine replacement medicines are regulated as medicines was not read.

Documentation

Article 2(1) confines the Law to «as plantas, as substâncias e os preparados que constam das tabelas I a IV»; Article 4(2)(4), which says Table II-A includes any substance that can cause hallucinations, is a criterion for compiling the table and creates no offence. The justification note for Law 12/2026 records that six substances already under international control «ainda não se encontram sujeitas ao controlo da Lei de combate à droga» until that law added them, so international scheduling does not by itself put a substance in Macau's tables. The isomer notes of Tables I-A, II-A and V reach isomers «em todos os casos em que estes isómeros possam existir com denominação química específica», read here as isomers within each listed chemical name and not every compound sharing a molecular formula. The Chinese searches ran against the Chinese column of Law 18/2023, because the Chinese text extracted from the Law 12/2026 PDF is garbled; Law 12/2026's replacement Table II-A prints the same 44 Portuguese entries as before.

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