Is it legal in Sweden? Drug law, penalties and sources

A substance can be banned in Sweden without being a drug

The Narkotikastrafflag (1968:64) covers narkotika. Section 8 defines it as medicines or dangerous goods with dependence forming properties or euphoriant effects, or goods readily convertible into such, which either are subject to control under an international agreement Sweden has acceded to, or have been declared by the government to be narkotika under the act.

That first limb matters more than it looks. A substance controlled under the United Nations conventions is narkotika in Sweden through the definition itself, without a Swedish list having to name it. The law reaches outward to an external instrument rather than carrying its own complete catalogue.

The second act is separate and it is not a drug law. Lag (1999:42) om förbud mot vissa hälsofarliga varor applies, in the words of section 1, to goods which by their inherent properties entail danger to human life or health and which are used or can be assumed to be used for the purpose of achieving intoxication or other influence. The government prescribes which goods it applies to.

Section 2 keeps the two apart. The 1999 act does not apply to goods that are narkotika under the 1968 act, nor to doping agents, nor to medicines approved within the European Union. So the drug law is read first and the second act takes what is left.

The same conduct, and a maximum three times apart

Under the Narkotikastrafflag an ordinary narkotikabrott carries imprisonment for up to three years. A minor offence carries a fine or up to six months. A grave offence carries two to seven years and an exceptionally grave offence six to ten years.

Under the 1999 act, section 4 provides that a person who intentionally breaches the prohibitions in section 3 shall be sentenced to a fine or imprisonment for at most one year.

So the identical handling of two substances, one listed as narkotika and one listed as a hälsofarlig vara, separates by a factor of three at the ordinary maximum and by far more once the aggravated grades of the drug law are reached.

And the two lists inside the second act are not the same list

Section 3 of the 1999 act prohibits seven things without a permit: importing, transferring, manufacturing, acquiring for transfer, handling goods not intended for own use, offering for sale, and possessing.

Section 4 then punishes an intentional breach of items 2 to 7, and a grossly negligent breach of items 2 to 6 only. Possession is item 7. So negligent possession of a hälsofarlig vara is prohibited by section 3 and is not among the acts section 4 punishes, while intentional possession carries up to a year.

Item 1, importing, is absent from both limbs of section 4 because section 4 says expressly that smuggling is dealt with by the Act on penalties for smuggling (2000:1225) instead.

What each provision carries

Every substance confirmed against a primary source

88 substances have a status for Sweden verified against a named statute. Each row links to the full entry, with the consequences, the prescription position and the source.

Sources

• Narkotikastrafflag (1968:64), 1 §, 8 § and the penalty ladder Consulted 16 September 2026.
• Lag (1999:42) om förbud mot vissa hälsofarliga varor, 1 to 4 §§ Consulted 16 September 2026.

Statute text on this page is quoted from the copies linked above. Last verified September 21, 2026.