Is Opium legal in Vietnam?

Legal status

Controlled. Opium is named in articles 248 to 252 of the Criminal Code as nhựa thuốc phiện, opium resin, and separately as dry and fresh poppy fruit. Transport under article 250 carries a maximum of twenty years or life imprisonment and no longer carries the death penalty. Production under article 248 and trading under article 251 still do.

Consequences if caught

Vietnamese drug law separates the conduct, not the substance. Article 248 is unlawful production, article 249 is unlawful possession, article 250 is unlawful transport and article 251 is unlawful buying and selling. Since 1 July 2025 they no longer share a maximum. Transport is article 250 and its top band, khoản 4, reads 'Phạm tội thuộc một trong các trường hợp sau đây, thì bị phạt tù 20 năm hoặc tù chung thân', in translation that it is punished with twenty years of imprisonment or life imprisonment. There is no higher band. Before 1 July 2025 the same band read 'phạt tù 20 năm, tù chung thân hoặc tử hình', twenty years, life imprisonment or death, so carrying drugs was a capital offence until that date and is not one now. A death sentence passed under article 250 before 1 July 2025 and not yet carried out is not to be carried out, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court converts it to life imprisonment, under article 3(2) of the amending law. Production and trading are different. Article 248 khoản 5 and article 251 khoản 5 both read 'Phạm tội thuộc một trong các trường hợp sau đây, thì bị phạt tù chung thân hoặc tử hình', in translation that it is punished with life imprisonment or death. The death penalty for drug offences in Vietnam was not abolished on 1 July 2025. It was removed from transport and moved up a band in production and trading. Possession is article 249 and its top band is fifteen to twenty years or life imprisonment. It has never carried the death penalty. This substance is named in the articles themselves as a resin or paste. Transport reaches article 250 khoản 4 at 5 kilograms or more. Production and trading reach the capital band at 30 kilograms or more, up from 5 kilograms before 1 July 2025. The same amendment added article 256a, the crime of unlawfully using a narcotic substance, at two to three years of imprisonment for a person inside a period of treatment or post treatment supervision under the Law on Drug Prevention and Control, and three to five years on repetition.

If prescribed or medical

No recognised medical use in Vietnam through the ordinary prescription channel. Article 259 of the Criminal Code punishes breach of the rules on managing narcotic substances, precursors and addictive or psychotropic medicines.

Documentation

Carry any prescribed medicine in its original packaging with the prescription and a doctor's letter. Vietnam is outside the Schengen certificate scheme, so confirm import conditions for a controlled medicine with the Vietnamese authorities before travel.

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