Is Nitrous Oxide legal in Latvia?

Legal status

Nitrous oxide is not listed in the Latvian controlled substances annex. Annex 2 to the law on the entry into force and application of the Criminal Law is the current list, because section 3(2) of the Circulation Law points to it expressly, and no entry for nitrous oxide was located in it. The Latvian language search log for this row records the terms searched: slāpekļa oksiduls; dislāpekļa monoksīds; CAS 10024-97-2. The search was run in Latvian rather than in English, which matters because the annex is printed in Latvian and an English search returns a false absence. This reading is stated as in force on 18 September 2026. Annex 2 identifies its current version as the 29 April 2021 text, as amended to 13 November 2025, with the cited 2025 change taking effect on 1 December 2025. An absence is a statement about a list at a moment, and this one is stated as at that version and no later.

Consequences if caught

Capital and life exposure. Latvia has no death penalty and no life sentence for a drug offence, and in any event none of the drug penalties reach nitrous oxide, because they attach to Annex 2 and nitrous oxide is not on it. The 15 year drug ceiling under subsection (3) of Criminal Law section 253 with a superscript one is therefore not assigned on this record, and Annex 2 prints no small ceiling and no large floor. That is not a statement that nitrous oxide is unregulated in Latvia. It is a statement that the controlled drug offence scale is not the instrument that regulates it, and this row did not audit whichever regime does.

If prescribed or medical

There is no controlled drug prescription question for nitrous oxide in Latvia, because Annex 2 does not carry it and the Circulation Law licensing and prescribing machinery follows the annex. Whether nitrous oxide is available on prescription, over the counter or on general sale is a question for the Latvian medicines and pharmacy regime, which this row did not audit. The State Agency of Medicines of Latvia is the body that answers it. Treat the supply route for nitrous oxide as unread rather than as open.

Documentation

Carry nitrous oxide as the Latvian medicines and pharmacy regime allows and do not read this row as a carriage permission, because a substance that is off the controlled list is not thereby free to cross a border. That is the carriage answer for nitrous oxide and it is deliberately narrow. No traveller permit scheme, declaration form or carriage allowance for nitrous oxide appears in what was read here. Provenance follows. Annex 2 to the law on the entry into force and application of the Criminal Law was searched in Latvian on likumi.lv, the official consolidated law portal of Latvia, on 18 September 2026, and no entry was located. The final page of Annex 2 was read, so the search reached the end of the instrument rather than stopping part way.

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