Is Phenibut legal in Saudi Arabia?

Legal status

Not established under the narcotics law, and the search that failed is recorded rather than summarised. The schedules attached to the Law of Combating Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances, Royal Decree M/39 of 1426 AH, in the version issued on 4 September 2026, were searched from Schedule I to Schedule IV for phenibut and no matching entry was verified. The search record reads «سجل البحث الخاص بـ phenibut: فُحصت الجداول من الأول إلى الرابع ولم يُتحقق من قيد مطابق.», the item specific search record for phenibut, the schedules from the first to the fourth were examined and no matching entry was verified. What was searched: “phenibut”, “β-phenyl-GABA”, “4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid”, «فينيبيوت»; the gabapentin and pregabalin entries were checked and are not phenibut. Both of those are in the locally controlled Schedule II Category E list, which is where a compound of this kind would be expected to appear if the Kingdom had placed it, so the check went to the right place and came back empty. Absence of a verified entry in the narcotics schedules is not permission to import: phenibut is a medicine in some countries and a supplement in others, and the SFDA's medicines and supplement rules are separate instruments this row does not speak to.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Article 37(I) is the capital route in M/39, it carries no quantity threshold of any kind, and its death sentence is reducible by the court under Article 37(II) to a prison term of not less than fifteen years with the stated lashes and fine. None of that is assigned to this row, because no exact Schedule I or Schedule II entry and no qualifying Schedule IV reach was verified for phenibut, and neither the gabapentin nor the pregabalin entry reaches it. No weight can cure an identity gap. The separate question of whether a phenibut product may lawfully be imported or sold under the SFDA's medicines and supplement rules is not an M/39 question and is not answered here.

If prescribed or medical

The SFDA controlled medicine clearance regime described elsewhere in this table is built on the schedules, and no schedule placement was established for phenibut, so it cannot be attached to that rule and the permit category a phenibut product would fall into is deferred rather than answered. Note that its two nearest relatives in this table, gabapentin and pregabalin, are both inside the regime at Schedule II Category E, so a traveller reasoning by analogy would reach the opposite of this row's finding; the finding rests on the absence of an entry for phenibut itself.

Documentation

No narcotics clearance was established as necessary for phenibut, and that is not an assurance that a bulk supplement will be admitted. For any controlled medicine, apply through the SFDA Controlled Drugs System before travelling, carry the clearance and not the prescription alone, bring the medicine in its original dispensing packaging with the prescription and a medical report translated into Arabic and dated less than six months before travel, and declare it at customs; advance electronic clearance has been required since 1 November 2025. The permit mechanics stated here are the SFDA traveller rules recorded on the current live cell and were not re-derived from the instrument in this pass. The failed schedule search for phenibut was run against the 4 September 2026 schedules on 17 September 2026.

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