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Legality · Phenibut

Is Phenibut legal in Switzerland?

Confirmed against a primary sourceVerified September 20, 2026
Legal status
Not scheduled. The federal schedule ordinance BetmVV-EDI records no entry for phenibut. The German search term checked was „Phenibut“, and nothing was found in lists a to e, nor does any article 1(2) extension for salts, esters, ethers, carbamates, stereoisomers or preparations reach it from a listed substance. Swiss control is closed, so absence from the lists is a substantive answer and not an oversight, but it is a narrow one: this row proves only that the drug schedules do not carry phenibut, and separate product, medicines, food, tobacco or poisons law may still apply. No medicines authorisation for it in Switzerland was established in this dossier either.
Consequences if caught
Capital exposure: none. Switzerland has no death penalty, and on this row there is no BetmG article 19 ceiling at all, because the negative closed list result proved for phenibut under the search term „Phenibut“ means the drug act's offence articles are not engaged by the substance itself. Neither the aggravated forms in article 19(2) nor the 20 year maximum that StGB article 40 supplies for drug offences attaches here, and nothing in lists a to e nor any article 1(2) extension reaches it from a listed substance. No medicines authorisation for it in Switzerland was established in this dossier either.
If prescribed or medical
Phenibut is not carried in lists a to e of BetmVV-EDI, the search under „Phenibut“ having returned nothing, so there is no controlled substance authorisation to obtain for it, and the one country level rule this dossier establishes does not bite. That rule is the personal use regime: BetmG article 19a punishes unauthorised consumption of a controlled substance, article 19b makes a negligible quantity prepared for one's own consumption nonpunishable, and article 19b(2) fixes that quantity at 10 g of cannabis alone. None of those articles reaches an unscheduled substance such as phenibut. No Swiss prescription route or traveller certificate for it was established in this dossier, and any medicines law requirement attaching to the product form was outside what this build verified.
Documentation
Carry phenibut only in the form and quantity the rest of Swiss law allows, because this row settles the drug schedules and nothing else, and keep any prescribed product in its original packaging with the prescription so that the product form can be identified at a control. The provenance is the negative search of the EDI ordinance BetmVV-EDI under „Phenibut“, run across lists a to e and the article 1 extensions in the German consolidation dated 13 March 2026, read at Fedlex on 18 September 2026, with the 94 page compilation read through its final page so that no further drug schedule was left unchecked.
Primary sources
  • Switzerland, Phenibut: BetmVV-EDI article 1 with Annexes 1 to 6 covering lists a to e, negative search under „Phenibut“, at https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2011/363/de
  • BetmG articles 19, 19a and 19b at https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1952/241_241_245/de
  • Swiss Criminal Code article 40 at https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/54/757_781_799/de
  • German consolidation dated 13 March 2026, read 18 September 2026.

Court records

We have not yet assessed whether court records are publicly available for this jurisdiction.

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