Is Scopolamine (Devil's Breath) legal in Turkey?

Also known as: hyoscine

Legal status

Scopolamine is absent from Turkey's closed narcotics list. The dossier ran a completed list search, «Arama kaydı: “scopolamine” adı, yaygın eş anlamlıları ve kimyasal adı 2313 sayılı Kanun kapsamındaki kararların tamamında arandı; tam kayıt bulunmadı.», the name, common synonyms and chemical name were searched across all the decisions made under Law No. 2313 and no exact entry was found. That verified absence means the narcotics schedule does not reach it, without implying unrestricted legality under other law. Scopolamine is a tropane alkaloid with genuine clinical uses in motion sickness, premedication and antispasmodic preparations, and it is also a potent poison at doses close to the therapeutic range. Those two facts point at different bodies of law, and the narcotics law is not either of them.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. No controlled drug capital, life or quantity rule attaches, because the substance is absent from the closed narcotics list; separate regulatory law may still apply. Articles 188 and 191 of Penal Code No. 5237 do not engage, so the thirty year ceiling and the two to five year use offence are not in play for scopolamine. Article 193 of the Penal Code is the provision that sits closest to this row and it is outside the narcotics chapter: two months to one year for a person who without permission produces, possesses, sells or transports «İçeriğinde zehir bulunan ve üretilmesi, bulundurulması veya satılması izne bağlı olan maddeyi», a substance containing poison whose production, possession or sale is subject to permission. Whether that reaches a given scopolamine preparation was not established by the dossier. Administering it to another person to commit an offence engages the ordinary criminal law on that offence and is not a drug charge.

If prescribed or medical

Scopolamine and its derivatives are medicines and the route is the pharmacy route. Hyoscine butylbromide is widely sold as an antispasmodic and hyoscine hydrobromide is used for motion sickness and in premedication, and the dossier carried no prescription instrument for this row, so which preparations are prescription only in Turkey is for the TİTCK to state and is deferred here. The distinction between the butylbromide and the hydrobromide matters clinically and may matter to dispensing category, so ask about the exact salt rather than about scopolamine in general. A foreign prescription is not a Turkish authorisation.

Documentation

Carry the preparation in its original packaging with the prescription where one exists and a prescriber's letter naming the patient, the active ingredient, the dose and the treatment period. The specific point on this row is to keep a transdermal patch in its labelled sachet, because an unlabelled adhesive patch is unidentifiable and the substance is a poison at small doses. No narcotics import certificate under articles 4 and 5 of Law No. 2313 is engaged. The verified absence was read in the dossier on 18 September 2026 and article 193 of the Penal Code was read from the consolidated text on 20 September 2026.

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