Is Opium legal in Bangladesh?

Legal status

Opium has two entries of its own and neither is capital. Class 'ka' serial 1 is «অপিয়াম পপি গাছ, অপিয়াম পপি ফল, কিংবা অপিয়াম পপির অঙ্কুরোদগম উপযোগী বীজ», the opium poppy plant, its fruit and germination-capable seed. Class 'ka' serial 3 is «অপিয়াম ফল নিঃসৃত আঠাল পদার্থ, পরিশোধিত অথবা অপরিশোধিত কিংবা প্রস্তুতকৃত যে-কোনো ধরনের আফিম কিংবা আফিম সহযোগে তৈরি আসক্তি সৃষ্টিতে সক্ষম যে-কোনো পদার্থ», the gum exuded from the opium fruit, refined or unrefined or prepared opium of any kind, and anything made with opium capable of producing addiction. Omnopone and Oripavine, both opium products, are in Class 'ka' serial 6, which is capital.

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. Opium sits in Class 'ka', the heaviest of the three, at serial 3 of the First Schedule. Section 36 row 6 covers opium gum and prepared opium: up to 10 grammes or millilitres is 1 to 5 years, above 10 and up to 50 is 5 to 10 years, above 50 is 10 to 15 years, with a fine at every tier. Capital and life exposure. The death penalty under the section 36 table reaches only three entries in the whole First Schedule, Class 'ka' serials 4, 5 and 6, and opium is not in any of them, so the table's capital tier does not reach it. Nor does imprisonment for life: the ceiling for this serial is a term of years. Consumption is not capital and neither is financing. Section 9(1)(c) consumption of a Class 'ka' narcotic is table row 16 at 3 months to 2 years, and section 9(1)(d), which covers «কোনো প্রচেষ্টা অথবা উদ্যোগ গ্রহণ, অর্থ বিনিয়োগ, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠান স্থাপন অথবা পরিচালনা কিংবা উহার পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা», any attempt or initiative, investment of money, establishing or running an operation or patronising one, is table row 17 at the same 3 months to 2 years. Section 36(2) doubles the maximum for a second offence after a sentence has been served, and section 36(3) sets a floor of 20 years for a third, in each case only «উক্ত অপরাধের দণ্ড মৃত্যুদণ্ড অথবা যাবজ্জীবন কারাদণ্ড না হইলে», where the penalty for that offence is not already death or life. 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.

If prescribed or medical

Section 9(3) takes a narcotic outside the section 9 prohibitions where it is needed for making an approved medicine, for industrial use, for treatment, for scientific research or for a lawful activity approved by the Director General, and then only under an instrument issued under section 13: a licence to cultivate, produce, carry, import, export, supply, buy, sell, possess, store or display it, a permit to consume, apply or use it, and a pass to carry or transport it. Section 12(1) provides that no person other than a doctor may prescribe a narcotic as a medicine, and section 12(2) that a narcotic may not be bought more than once on the same prescription. Section 2(27) defines a prescription as the written list of medicines, directions for use or instructions given for the purpose of curing disease by a doctor recognised by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council.

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.