Is Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice) legal in Malta?

Legal status

Synthetic cannabinoids are governed by both Maltese drug ordinances, which is the uncommon case. Malta runs two drug ordinances and a cell that answers from one when the substance sits in the other is wrong. Here the answer is that the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Chapter 101, reaches it through article 2 and Parts II and III of the Fifth Schedule, covering psychoactive and synthetic cannabinoids, and the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance, Chapter 31, reaches named entries of this family through its Third Schedule. Penalties therefore run through article 22 of Chapter 101 or article 120A of Chapter 31 depending on which limb catches the particular compound. The relevant text reads Synthetic cannabinoids "shall be deemed to constitute a prohibited drug punishable in the same manner and to the same extent as offences relating to cannabis". Chapter 101 directly controls the category, while Chapter 31 Part A and Part B also name numerous individual synthetic cannabinoids. Chapter 101 says synthetic cannabinoids are prohibited and punishable in the same manner as cannabis offences, so the plant cannabis allowances are not available for them. The power to amend the Fifth Schedule is article 34(3), which lets the Minister responsible for the cannabis authority classify non-psychoactive phytocannabinoids, psychoactive cannabinoids and synthetic cannabinoids by regulation.

Consequences if caught

Capital and life exposure. Malta has no death penalty and no Maltese drug offence can bring one. The ceiling is life. A controlled synthetic or psychotropic cannabinoid offence can reach life under article 22 of Chapter 101 or under article 120A of Chapter 31 where Part A applies, so which ordinance supplies the ceiling depends on which limb catches the particular compound, but the ceiling itself is life either way. The plant cannabis allowances are not available to synthetic cannabinoids. The seven gram personal possession exclusion in Chapter 537 article 4A is written for cannabis and is not assumed here, and Chapter 101 provides that synthetic cannabinoids are punishable in the same manner as cannabis offences rather than benefiting from the cannabis allowances. The general Chapter 537 article 4 route applies only if the substance is a prohibited drug, the amount is ‘less than two grams or of two pills of the drug ecstacy or of two other prohibited pills’, and the personal use circumstances are satisfied. The penalty there is ‘penalty of between seventy-five euro (€75) and one hundred and twenty-five euro (€125)’.

If prescribed or medical

Both ordinances reach synthetic cannabinoids. The Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Chapter 101, catches it through the Fifth Schedule and the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance, Chapter 31, catches named entries of the family through its Third Schedule, so which one answers a prescription question depends on the particular compound. The penalty article does not attach its ceiling to possession as such. Article 22 of Chapter 101 and article 120A of Chapter 31 alike reaches dealing and possession that is not for the exclusive use of the possessor, so a supply lawfully dispensed to you and held for your own use is not the conduct the ceiling is written for. That is a statement about the offence definition and not a permission. No therapeutic use is identified for this compound in either schedule, so there is no medical form of it for a route to attach to on the face of these texts. What this source does not establish is the prescribing and dispensing conditions themselves. The dossier read the two controlled drug ordinances and Chapter 537 and says in terms that it ‘did not attempt to decide separate medicines, pharmacy, veterinary, poisons, tobacco, alcohol, food, product-safety, or driving laws’. Treat the prescribing route as unread here rather than as absent. No Maltese personal import permit, traveller certificate or advance declaration route for a controlled medicine was found in the texts that were read, and none of Chapter 31, Chapter 101 or Chapter 537 carries a travellers provision. That is an absence in what was read rather than proof that no scheme exists, so confirm with a Maltese mission before you travel. One further point bears on any prescribed supply: the schedule entry prints the name Synthetic cannabinoids itself, so there is no argument that the control reaches this substance only by inference, and a product labelled with that name is the listed thing. The entry is transcribed in full in the legal status for this cell.

Documentation

Carry the prescription and the dispensing label if synthetic cannabinoids were dispensed to you, and understand that nothing you can carry makes an undispensed supply lawful in Malta. That is the whole of the carriage answer, because no Maltese personal import permit, traveller certificate or advance declaration route for a controlled substance appears in any of the texts read for this row, and none of them carries a travellers provision at all. An absence in what was read is not proof that no scheme exists, so a Maltese mission is the place to settle it before you fly rather than the airport on arrival. Keep the medicine in the packaging it was dispensed in, keep the quantity to what the prescription covers, and keep the prescriber's details legible. The provenance is the consolidated English text of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, Chapter 101, and the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance, Chapter 31 on Legislation Malta, read on 18 September 2026 at https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/101/eng and https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/31/eng. The amendment horizon is 18 September 2026, and on that date the consolidated texts stood at Chapter 31 through Legal Notice 46 of 2026, Chapter 101 through Legal Notice 97 of 2025, Chapter 537 through Acts VII and XII of 2025, and Chapter 628 through Act XII of 2025. Legislation Malta prints the footer ‘© Dritt tal-awtur: L-Uffiċċju tal-Avukat tal-Istat’ on each page, no open reuse licence was located, and only the words needed to identify the provision are quoted here.

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