Is Opium legal in Taiwan?

Legal status

Category 1 narcotic (第一級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表一第8項「鴉片（阿片）（Opium）」. Opium is graded twice by strength. Raw opium is Category 1 at item 8, while 附表四第47項「鴉片（Opium）複方製劑含量每 100 毫升（或 100 公克）0.5 公克以上」 puts a compound preparation holding 0.5 grammes or more per 100 millilitres in Category 4. Below that concentration the preparation falls out of the schedules altogether. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.

Consequences if caught

Category 1 is the top tier. Article 4(1) punishes manufacture, transport or sale by death or life imprisonment, with a fine of up to NT$30 million where life is imposed. Article 5(1) punishes possession with intent to sell by life or ten years upward. Article 10(1) punishes use by six months to five years. Article 11(1) punishes simple possession by up to three years, and article 11(3) raises that to one to seven years once the pure weight reaches 10 grammes. Article 8(1) punishes transfer to another person by one to seven years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Cultivation is its own offence. Article 12(1) punishes growing the opium poppy with intent to supply drug manufacture by life or seven years upward, and article 14(3) punishes mere possession of poppy seed by up to two years. Capital and life exposure. Both reach this substance and there is no quantity threshold for either. Article 4(1) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第一級毒品者，處死刑或無期徒刑；處無期徒刑者，得併科新臺幣三千萬元以下罰金」, death or life for manufacturing, transporting or selling a Category 1 narcotic, with no weight stated anywhere in the article. It is not mandatory: the article gives the court a choice between death and life. Two further routes to a death sentence exist. Article 6(1) reads 「以強暴、脅迫、欺瞞或其他非法之方法使人施用第一級毒品者，處死刑、無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑」, death, life or ten years upward for forcing or deceiving another person into using a Category 1 narcotic. Article 15(1) reads 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」, death or life for a public official who abuses office to commit those offences. Life alone is also reached by article 5(1) for possession with intent to sell. One qualification on the floor rather than the ceiling: Constitutional Court judgment 112年憲判字第13號 of 11 August 2023 held article 4(1) unconstitutional as applied where the circumstances are extremely minor, because life remained the floor even after Criminal Code article 59 mitigation, and directed amendment within two years. That deadline passed on 11 August 2025 and the Act's last amendment remains 4 May 2022, so the judgment's own interim rule, a further reduction of up to one half, is what applies.

If prescribed or medical

Opium is 第一級管制藥品 at item 8 of the controlled drugs list. Compound opium preparations are dispensed under the lower controlled drug tier that matches their strength.

Documentation

A traveller carrying a compound opium preparation should carry the prescription and the packaging that states the concentration, because the concentration is what decides the tier.

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