Is Salvia divinorum legal in Austria?

Legal status

Controlled in Austria under the new psychoactive substances regime, and not as a narcotic or a psychotrope. The placement is Annex I of the NPS regulation's structural annexes: the new psychoactive substances regulation names salvinorin A in its Annex I, and the Act defines a substance as a synthetically manufactured chemical compound. Natural Salvia divinorum leaf is therefore not criminalised by that listing, because the leaf is not synthetically manufactured. Synthetic salvinorin A is inside the NPS regime. The dossier notes that Annex I ends with salvinorin A, so nothing further was omitted from the end of that list. Austria regulates new psychoactive substances by structure rather than by list alone. NPSG §1 additionally requires psychoactivity and synthetic manufacture, and §2 excludes lawful medicinal channels and anything already subject to the Suchtmittelgesetz, so the SMG is applied first and the NPS scope second. The twelve cannabinomimetic cores and the other group definitions are alternatives rather than a catch all, and the annex has to be read as written rather than as a general ban on novel compounds.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. The ceiling is the one to ten years in NPSG §4(2), reached through the aggravated consequence limb of the §4(1) offence, in a system that has abolished the death penalty and attaches no life term to this Act. Salvia divinorum separates the plant from the isolated compound, and only the synthetically manufactured compound is inside the offence. The base offence in NPSG §4(1) allows two years, and it is emphatically not a possession offence: it requires an intention to obtain an advantage, the production, import, export, transfer or procurement conduct, and the intent that the other person or a third party use the substance to achieve a psychoactive effect in the human body. Mere possession is absent from it. Separately from that, and carried forward from this site's published Austria entry rather than re-derived from the Suchtmittelgesetz in this pass, the published penalties are these. Austrian practice is depenalised and not legalised, and the published entry says so in those terms. There is no legal minimum quantity, and possession of any amount for personal use is punishable under section 27, up to six months in prison or a fine. Under Therapie statt Strafe at section 35, small quantity personal use is typically provisionally suspended from prosecution on one to two years of probation where the person accepts counselling or treatment. Consumption itself is not criminalised, but the possession that precedes it is. Above the Grenzmenge, the threshold quantity, the offence becomes dealing or trafficking under sections 28 and 28a, up to one to three years, escalating to ten to fifteen years for commercial or organised cases. Every figure in this paragraph is a penalty range or a fine and none of them is a quantity threshold. This row is placed outside that regime, so they are recorded as Austria's published drug penalties and not as this substance's exposure.

If prescribed or medical

The rule that governs every traveller in Austria is SMG §5(1). It confines the acquisition, possession, production, processing, carriage, import, export, offering, transfer and procurement of a Suchtmittel to medical, dental, veterinary and scientific purposes, and the particular travel, licensing and dispensing provisions operate inside it rather than around it. Because this substance is reached by the new psychoactive substances regime rather than by the narcotics or psychotrope lists, neither the SMG §30(3) medicine exception nor the psychotrope travel certificate applies to it. NPSG §2 excludes lawful medicinal channels from that regime, which is a carve out for products that already hold a medicinal authorisation and not a route a traveller can claim for themselves. No medicinal route exists for salvinorin A, and the plant is answered by food and product law rather than by prescription.

Documentation

Carry no prescription for this, because none is established anywhere in the material read: NPSG §2 only removes channels that already exist elsewhere. The leaf and synthetic salvinorin A are different legal objects in Austria. The NPS structural annexes were read at their 18 September 2026 consolidation, with Annexes II and III last amended by BGBl II 106/2024 of 18 April 2024 and Annex I last amended by BGBl II 168/2019.

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