Is Nicotine legal in Sweden?

Legal status

Not a controlled drug. Nicotine is in neither the 1961 Single Convention nor the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and Sweden controls drugs by incorporating those conventions rather than by a national list.

Consequences if caught

Sweden has no national list in the criminal act. Section 8 of the Narkotikastrafflag defines narkotika as medicines or dangerous goods with dependence forming properties or euphoriant effects, or goods readily convertible into such, which are subject to control under an international agreement Sweden has acceded to, or have been declared narkotika by the government. Both convention schedules were searched against this substance and it is in neither, so it is not narkotika or a narcotic drug for the purposes of the drug law. Sweden has a second act for exactly this case. Lag (1999:42) om förbud mot vissa hälsofarliga varor applies to goods which by their inherent properties entail danger to human life or health and which are used or can be assumed to be used to achieve intoxication, where the government has prescribed that the act applies to them. Section 2 keeps the two apart by excluding anything that is narkotika under the 1968 act and any medicine approved within the European Union. Section 4 punishes an intentional breach with a fine or up to one year, which is a third of the drug law maximum. Whether this substance has been prescribed under that act was not established here. This is stated as at the INCB Yellow List 65th edition and Green List 36th edition of 2025, read on 16 September 2026. The convention schedules are amended by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and an absence is only ever an absence as at the edition read.

If prescribed or medical

Not a controlled drug, so no controlled drug prescription rule applies. Carry any prescribed medicine in its original packaging with the prescription.

Documentation

No controlled drug documentation requirement arises under the drug law.

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