Legal status in Taiwan

Per-substance legal status for Taiwan, from sourced statutes where available. Legal information, not legal advice; drug laws change, so confirm with the destination’s embassy or drug authority before you travel.

88 confirmed substances0 not individually verifiedLast updated September 21, 2026

Confirmed legal status

1P-LSD

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list. 1P-LSD has no entry in either list and this cell does not claim it is lawful. Taiwan controls LSD at 附表二第81項 and then names its analogues one at a time: 第197項 1-Acetyl-LSD (ALD-52), 第198項 AL-LAD and 第204項 ETH-LAD. The 1-propionyl compound is not among them. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. A second and a third route were tried before leaving this unsettled. The schedule heading sweeps in isomers, esters, ethers and salts, and an N1 propionyl amide is none of those, so the generic clause does not reach it. The controlled drugs list carries the same four lysergamide entries and no fifth. What remains unsettled is whether a prosecutor would argue 相類製品, similar products, the phrase article 2(2) uses when it defines each tier, and no decided case on that phrase was located from here. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: No licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan. Nothing in the lysergamide family has a licensed form here.
Documentation: Do not read the absence as permission. Article 2(3) has the list reviewed every three months, the immediate precedent is that ALD-52 was added by name, and the substance is sold as a legal LSD substitute precisely because it sits in this gap.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Absence measured against the four schedules and the controlled drugs list, with the isomer clause and the similar products phrase both considered. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

1P-LSD in Taiwan, full detail →

2-FDCK

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第66項「2-氟-去氯愷他命（2-Fluorodeschloroketamine）」. 2-FDCK is named individually, not left to the isomer clause, and the schedule goes further by listing the fluoro N ethyl variant separately at 第344項 with its own positional isomer bracket for the 2, 3 and 4 fluoro forms. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The individual listing removes the argument that a designer ketamine analogue is outside the schedule. Eight ketamine family entries are named in Category 3 and two more in the Category 4 precursor list. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: 2-FDCK has no medical use and no licensed product in Taiwan.
Documentation: No personal import route. Material sold as ketamine may in fact be this compound, and both sit in the same tier, so the practical exposure does not change.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 66. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

2-FDCK in Taiwan, full detail →

25I-NBOMe

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), reached as a bracketed isomer of 附表二第214項「2-(4-碘-2,5-二甲氧基苯基)-N-(甲氧基苄基)乙胺【包含其異構物 25I-NB4OMe（2C-I-NB4OMe）、25I-NBOMe（2C-I-NBOMe）、25I-NB3OMe（2C-I-NB3OMe）】」. 25I-NBOMe is named inside the bracketed isomer list of the Category 2 iodo entry, so it is a named substance rather than a substance reached by a general clause. The bromo equivalent 25B-NBOMe is a tier lower at 附表三第41項, and eleven further NBOMe entries sit in Category 3. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The iodo compound is the only member of its family in Category 2. That single placement is the difference between article 4(2) at life or ten years upward and article 4(3) at seven years upward for every other NBOMe. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: No NBOMe compound is a licensed medicine in Taiwan and none has a prescribing route.
Documentation: No documentation route. NBOMe compounds are active at microgramme doses and are commonly sold as LSD, so a purchaser cannot tell which entry applies.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 214, with 附表三 item 41. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

25I-NBOMe in Taiwan, full detail →

2C-B

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第21項「4-溴-2,5-二甲氧基苯基乙基胺（4-Bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine、2C-B）」. 2C-B is a Category 3 phenethylamine. The compound it is most often confused with in schedule searching, 附表二第23項「4-溴-2,5-二甲氧基安非他命（Brolamfetamine、4-Bromo-2,5-dimethoxyamphetamine、DOB）」, is a separate Category 2 entry, and the two Chinese names differ by two characters, 苯基乙基胺 against 安非他命. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Getting that pair the wrong way round moves the offence a full tier, from article 4(3) at seven years upward to article 4(2) at life or ten years upward. The two entries are 2 items apart in different schedules. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: 2C-B has no medical use and no licensed product in Taiwan, and no prescribing route.
Documentation: No personal import route. Pills sold under this name frequently contain something else, and the substituted phenethylamine series spans both Category 2 and Category 3.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 21, distinguished from 附表二 item 23. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

2C-B in Taiwan, full detail →

2C-E

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第63項「4-乙基-2,5-二甲氧基苯基乙基胺（2,5-Dimethoxy-4-ethylphenethylamine、2C-E）」. 2C-E is named individually. Its N benzyl derivatives are also listed, 第261項 for the hydroxybenzyl form and 第262項 for the methoxybenzyl form, each with a bracketed isomer list, so the derivative chemistry is covered entry by entry rather than by formula. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Simple possession at this tier is article 11-1(2), an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 with four to eight hours of drug hazard education, and it becomes a criminal offence at 5 grammes pure weight under article 11(5). Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: 2C-E has no licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No documentation route. The 2C series is dosed in low milligramme quantities, so a small quantity is a large number of doses.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 63. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

2C-E in Taiwan, full detail →

2C-I

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第276項「4-碘-2,5-二甲氧基苯乙胺（4-Iodo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine、2C-I）」. 2C-I itself is Category 3, but its N methoxybenzyl derivative 25I-NBOMe is Category 2 at 附表二第214項. The parent and the derivative are a tier apart, which is the reverse of the usual pattern in this schedule. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. That inversion is worth stating because the derivative is the more dangerous compound and the schedule reflects it. Selling 2C-I is article 4(3) at seven years upward, selling 25I-NBOMe is article 4(2) at life or ten years upward. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: 2C-I has no licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No personal import route. Blotter sold as 2C-I may be the Category 2 NBOMe derivative instead.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 276, with 附表二 item 214. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

2C-I in Taiwan, full detail →

2C-T-7

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第282項「4-丙硫基-2,5-二甲氧基苯乙胺（4-Propylthio-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine、2C-T-7）」. 2C-T-7 is named, and the isopropyl relative 2C-T-4 is separately named at 第281項, immediately before it. The sulphur substituted branch of the 2C series is enumerated compound by compound. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Article 11-1(2) governs simple possession, an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 and four to eight hours of education, with the criminal threshold at 5 grammes pure weight under article 11(5). Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: 2C-T-7 has no licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No documentation route for a substance with no licensed form. The sulphur substituted 2C compounds have a long onset, which is a dosing hazard rather than a legal one.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 282. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

2C-T-7 in Taiwan, full detail →

3-MMC

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), reached not by a named entry but through 附表三第25項「4-甲基甲基卡西酮（4-methylmethcathinone、Mephedrone、4-MMC）」 read with the 附表三 heading 「除特別規定外，皆包括其異構物Isomers、酯類Esters、醚類Ethers及鹽類 Salts」. 3-MMC has no entry of its own in either list. It is controlled because it is a positional isomer of mephedrone, and the Schedule 3 heading includes the isomers of every item unless the item says otherwise. The route is the generic clause, not a named entry. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The reasoning can be checked against the schedule's own behaviour. 第202項二甲基甲基卡西酮 spells out its positional isomers in a bracket and 第221項 does the same, which shows the drafters using brackets where they want certainty and leaving the heading to do the rest. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: 3-MMC has no licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No personal import route. Because the control runs through the isomer clause rather than a named line, a laboratory identification of the specific isomer is what the case turns on.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 25 and the 附表三 isomer heading. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

3-MMC in Taiwan, full detail →

4-AcO-DMT

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), reached as a bracketed isomer of 附表三第316項「乙醯氧基-N,N-二甲基色胺（Acetoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine、AcO-DMT）【包含其異構物 4-AcO-DMT、5-Acetoxy、6-Acetoxy、7-Acetoxy】」. 4-AcO-DMT is named inside the bracketed isomer list of the acetoxy tryptamine entry. A search of the schedule for the string 4-AcO-DMT finds it only because it appears in that bracket, and the parent entry has no position number in its own name. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Its parent DMT is a tier higher at 附表二第51項, so the acetylated prodrug is graded below the compound it becomes in the body. Selling 4-AcO-DMT is article 4(3) at seven years upward. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: No licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan. The acetoxy tryptamines have never had a medical use anywhere in the licensed formulary.
Documentation: No personal import route. The substituted tryptamines are covered by positional isomer brackets, so a shifted substitution position does not escape the entry.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 316. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

4-AcO-DMT in Taiwan, full detail →

4-HO-MET

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), reached as a bracketed isomer of 附表三第320項「羥基-N-甲基-N-乙基色胺（Hydroxy-N-methyl-N-ethyltryptamine、HO-MET）【包含其異構物 4-HO-MET、5-Hydroxy、6-Hydroxy、7-Hydroxy】」. 4-HO-MET is named as an isomer inside the hydroxy N methyl N ethyl tryptamine entry. The entry heading carries no ring position, and the four positional isomers are then listed in the bracket, which is how this schedule handles a whole substitution series in one line. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Simple possession is article 11-1(2), an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 with four to eight hours of drug hazard education, and article 11(5) makes it criminal at 5 grammes pure weight. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: No licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan. Nothing in the hydroxy tryptamine run at 附表三第318項 to 第322項 is a licensed product.
Documentation: No documentation route. There is no lawful supply to document.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 320. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

4-HO-MET in Taiwan, full detail →

5-MeO-DMT (Bufo / Toad)

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), reached as a bracketed isomer of 附表三第321項「甲氧基-N,N-二甲基色胺（Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine、MeO-DMT）【包含其異構物 4-MeO-DMT、5-Methoxy、6-Methoxy、7-Methoxy】」. 5-MeO-DMT is controlled as the 5-Methoxy isomer inside the methoxy tryptamine entry. A literal search of the four schedules for the string 5-MeO-DMT returns nothing, because the schedule names the parent and then lists the positions. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. This is a place where a careless search produces a false answer of not controlled. The substance is Category 3 and selling it is article 4(3) at seven years upward with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: No licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan. The toad secretion that contains it is not separately listed.
Documentation: No documentation route. Neither the toad nor the plant sources are named as such, and the substance is reached through its own entry.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 321. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

5-MeO-DMT (Bufo / Toad) in Taiwan, full detail →

6-APB

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), reached as a bracketed isomer of 附表三第290項「(2-胺丙基)苯并呋喃（(2-Aminopropyl)benzofuran、APB）【包含其異構物 4-APB、5-APB、6-APB、7-APB】」. 6-APB is named in the bracketed isomer list of the aminopropylbenzofuran entry, which covers all four ring positions in one line. The dihydro relatives get their own entries at 第294項 APDB and 第296項 MAPDB, each with the same four position bracket. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The ethylamino relative EAPB is a tier higher, at 附表二第211項, so a single ethyl substitution moves the compound from article 4(3) to article 4(2). Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: No licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan. The benzofuran series exists only as a research and street chemistry family.
Documentation: No documentation route. Benzofurans are sold as MDMA substitutes and are graded separately from MDMA.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 290, with 附表二 item 211. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

6-APB in Taiwan, full detail →

7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH)

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第357項「7-羥基帽柱木鹼（7-Hydroxymitragynine）」. The 7-hydroxy metabolite has its own numbered entry, near the end of Schedule 3, and is not folded into the plant or into mitragynine. Three separate entries cover the plant at item 60, the parent alkaloid at item 65 and this metabolite at item 357. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. A concentrated 7-hydroxy product is graded on this entry alone, so the 5 gramme pure weight threshold at article 11(5) is assessed against the isolate rather than against the whole leaf material it came from. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: No licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan, for the metabolite or for the leaf it is concentrated from.
Documentation: No personal import route. Products marketed abroad as enhanced kratom are typically enriched in this compound, which is separately controlled here.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 357. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

7-Hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) in Taiwan, full detail →

Adderall

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), reached through its components at 附表二第12項「安非他命（Amphetamine）」, 第39項「右旋安非他命（Dexamphetamine）」 and 第180項「離胺右旋安非他命（Lisdexamphetamine）」. Adderall has no entry of its own because it is a brand of mixed amphetamine salts, and the schedule already lists both the racemate and the dextro isomer, together with the lisdexamfetamine prodrug. The mixture is therefore controlled through each of its components. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Article 9(3) matters for a mixed salt product only if two or more scheduled narcotics of different tiers are present. Here every component is Category 2, so the tier does not move. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: No Adderall product holds a Taiwanese marketing licence. Methylphenidate is the usual prescribed stimulant, and it sits one tier lower at 附表三第8項.
Documentation: A visitor holding a foreign Adderall prescription is carrying a Category 2 narcotic that has no domestic licence. Confirm the position with the Food and Drug Administration before travelling rather than relying on the foreign prescription.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 items 12, 39 and 180. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Adderall in Taiwan, full detail →

Alcohol

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and regulated instead under the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act. Alcohol is a licensed consumer product in Taiwan, not a controlled substance of any kind. The Ethanol string does appear once in the narcotics schedules, inside the systematic chemical name of the synthetic cannabinoid HU-308 at 附表三第158項, which is a false match and not an entry for the beverage. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. Article 35 of the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act requires premises selling alcohol to display, in a conspicuous place, 「未滿十八歲者，禁止飲酒」 and 「本場所不販賣酒予未滿十八歲者」. The minimum age is eighteen. Article 31 requires the container warning 「飲酒過量，有害健康」. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Alcohol is not a medicine and there is no prescribing route. Pharmaceutical ethanol is a separate excipient question.
Documentation: Duty free and personal import allowances are customs and tax questions administered by the finance ministry, not drug law. No permit is needed for a personal quantity.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act, articles 31 and 35. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Alcohol in Taiwan, full detail →

Amanita muscaria

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, searched for the species, for muscimol and for ibotenic acid. Amanita muscaria is not controlled in Taiwan. Neither the species nor its two active compounds, muscimol and ibotenic acid, appears in the narcotics schedules or the controlled drugs list. This is a real absence and not a naming problem: the schedules do name other fungi and plants, including 卡痛 kratom at 附表三第60項 and 墨西哥鼠尾草 Salvia divinorum at 第340項, so a plant entry is a form the drafters use. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. There is no narcotics offence and therefore no capital or life question. A product sold for consumption would engage the food or the medicines regime depending on how it is presented, and an unapproved imported drug product is a 禁藥 under article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: No licensed medicine contains muscimol or ibotenic acid in Taiwan.
Documentation: Dried caps and capsules are not scheduled. Import as a novel food ingredient is a separate food safety question that was not reached for this cell.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Absence measured against the four schedules and the controlled drugs list, searched three ways. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Amanita muscaria in Taiwan, full detail →

Amphetamine

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第12項「安非他命（Amphetamine）」. Article 2(2) names 安非他命 in the Act's own definition of the Category 2 tier. The single and dextro isomers are separately listed, 第39項「右旋安非他命（Dexamphetamine）」 and 第76項「左旋安非他命（Levamphetamine）」. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Article 11(4) makes possession of 20 grammes or more of pure Category 2 material a six month to five year offence in place of the ordinary two year maximum. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Amphetamine is 第二級管制藥品. Article 4 of the Controlled Drugs Act keeps import, export, manufacture and sale of the first two controlled drug tiers inside the Food and Drug Administration's pharmaceutical plant.
Documentation: A prescribed amphetamine salt travels on its prescription. Without one the traveller exemption in article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act does not apply and the narcotics offence is reached first.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 12, and article 2(2)(2) of the Act. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Amphetamine in Taiwan, full detail →

Amyl Nitrite

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and reached instead through the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Amyl nitrite is in neither drug list. Searching both lists for the nitrite family returns nothing at all, so the substance is outside the narcotics and controlled drugs regimes entirely and is dealt with as a medicine or as an unapproved product. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. Amyl nitrite has a historical licensed use as an antianginal and in cyanide poisoning. Importing or selling an unapproved nitrite product makes it a 禁藥 under article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, and article 83(1) punishes knowingly selling, supplying or transporting one with up to seven years and a fine of up to NT$50 million. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: No amyl nitrite product currently holds a Taiwanese marketing licence, so there is no prescribing route in practice.
Documentation: A bottle bought abroad is an unapproved medicine on arrival rather than a narcotic. The traveller proviso in article 22(1)(2) is written for a person's own medicine and does not obviously fit a recreational inhalant.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, articles 22 and 83, read for a substance with a lapsed medical use. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Amyl Nitrite in Taiwan, full detail →

Ayahuasca

Legal status: Controlled under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) across more than one grade, at 附表二第51項「二甲基色胺（Dimethyltryptamine、DMT）」 and 附表三第328項「甲氧基-1-甲基-4,9-二氫-3H-吡啶并[3,4-b]吲哚【包含其異構物 Harmaline（駱駝蓬鹼）、6-Methoxy】」. The brew has no entry of its own and is reached through both of its halves. The tryptamine is Category 2 and the harmala alkaloid that makes it orally active is Category 3, caught as a named isomer inside the Category 3 beta carboline entry. Neither plant, Psychotria viridis nor Banisteriopsis caapi, is named as a plant. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(3) reaches a Category 3 narcotic at seven years upward and article 4(4) reaches a Category 4 narcotic at five to twelve years, both fixed term. Article 15 attaches death or life only to an offence «described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1», so it does not reach article 4(3) or article 4(4) and the civil-servant aggravation is unavailable here. No limb reaches death on this row. Which article applies depends on which member of the class is in hand. Manufacture, transport or sale is article 4(3) at seven years upward for a Category 3 member and article 4(4) at five to twelve years for a Category 4 member. For a Category 2 member it is article 4(2) at life or ten years upward. Simple possession of a Category 3 or Category 4 narcotic is not a crime: article 11-1(2) makes it an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education, and articles 11(5) and 11(6) turn it criminal at 5 grammes pure weight. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Two graded narcotics in one liquid is the textbook case for article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so the brew is charged at the Category 2 rate with up to half again added. Neither reaches any Category 3 or Category 4 member of this class, at any quantity. Article 4(3) is seven years upward and article 4(4) is five to twelve years, both fixed term, and the public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), giving these limbs only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half. Any member of the class that is Category 2 is a different answer: it reaches life directly through article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑」, and it reaches death through article 15(1) where the offender is a public official abusing office. The tier of the particular compound decides it and the class name decides nothing. One point about the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade present, with up to one half added.
If prescribed / medical: Neither component is a licensed medicine in Taiwan and there is no prescribing route for either.
Documentation: Taiwan recognises no religious or ceremonial exemption in the Act. Dried vine and leaf are reached through their alkaloid content even though the plants themselves are unnamed.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表二, 附表三 and 附表四, 附表二 item 51 with 附表三 item 328, and article 9(3). The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Ayahuasca in Taiwan, full detail →

Barbiturates

Legal status: Controlled under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) across more than one grade, at 附表三 items 1, 4, 6, 11 and 13, and 附表四 items 1, 5, 8, 41, 52 and 59. The class is graded compound by compound across two tiers. Amobarbital, butalbital, cyclobarbital, pentobarbital and secobarbital are Category 3. Allobarbital, barbital, butobarbital, methylphenobarbital, phenobarbital and secbutabarbital are Category 4. Article 2(2) itself anchors the split by naming 西可巴比妥 and 異戊巴比妥 in the Category 3 definition and 二丙烯基巴比妥 in the Category 4 definition. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(3) reaches a Category 3 narcotic at seven years upward and article 4(4) reaches a Category 4 narcotic at five to twelve years, both fixed term. Article 15 attaches death or life only to an offence «described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1», so it does not reach article 4(3) or article 4(4) and the civil-servant aggravation is unavailable here. No limb reaches death on this row. Which article applies depends on which member of the class is in hand. Manufacture, transport or sale is article 4(3) at seven years upward for a Category 3 member and article 4(4) at five to twelve years for a Category 4 member. For a Category 2 member it is article 4(2) at life or ten years upward. Simple possession of a Category 3 or Category 4 narcotic is not a crime: article 11-1(2) makes it an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education, and articles 11(5) and 11(6) turn it criminal at 5 grammes pure weight. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Eleven listed barbiturates across two tiers means the class name answers nothing. Selling secobarbital is article 4(3) at seven years upward. Selling phenobarbital is article 4(4) at five to twelve years. Neither reaches any Category 3 or Category 4 member of this class, at any quantity. Article 4(3) is seven years upward and article 4(4) is five to twelve years, both fixed term, and the public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), giving these limbs only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half. Any member of the class that is Category 2 is a different answer: it reaches life directly through article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑」, and it reaches death through article 15(1) where the offender is a public official abusing office. The tier of the particular compound decides it and the class name decides nothing. One point about the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade present, with up to one half added.
If prescribed / medical: Phenobarbital is a licensed antiepileptic dispensed as a Category 4 controlled drug. The Category 3 barbiturates are hospital and veterinary agents.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed barbiturate in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and note that the tier depends on which barbiturate it is.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表二, 附表三 and 附表四, 附表三 items 1, 4, 6, 11, 13 and 附表四 items 1, 5, 8, 41, 52, 59, with article 2(2)(3) and 2(2)(4). The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Barbiturates in Taiwan, full detail →

Benzodiazepines

Legal status: Controlled under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) across more than one grade, at 附表三 items 17, 23 and 246, and 附表四 items 2, 12, 17, 19, 27, 34, 43, 45, 46 and 75. The class straddles two tiers. The nitro substituted members flunitrazepam, nimetazepam and meclonazepam are Category 3. Alprazolam, clonazepam, delorazepam, diazepam, fludiazepam, lorazepam, midazolam, nitrazepam, nordiazepam and chlorodiazepam are Category 4. Article 2(2) names 阿普唑他 in the Act's own Category 4 definition. Etizolam, a thienotriazolodiazepine, is Category 3 at 附表三第74項. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(3) reaches a Category 3 narcotic at seven years upward and article 4(4) reaches a Category 4 narcotic at five to twelve years, both fixed term. Article 15 attaches death or life only to an offence «described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1», so it does not reach article 4(3) or article 4(4) and the civil-servant aggravation is unavailable here. No limb reaches death on this row. Which article applies depends on which member of the class is in hand. Manufacture, transport or sale is article 4(3) at seven years upward for a Category 3 member and article 4(4) at five to twelve years for a Category 4 member. For a Category 2 member it is article 4(2) at life or ten years upward. Simple possession of a Category 3 or Category 4 narcotic is not a crime: article 11-1(2) makes it an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education, and articles 11(5) and 11(6) turn it criminal at 5 grammes pure weight. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Because the class spans two tiers, no single sentence about benzodiazepines is true of all of them, and the tier decides whether sale is article 4(3) at seven years upward or article 4(4) at five to twelve years. Neither reaches any Category 3 or Category 4 member of this class, at any quantity. Article 4(3) is seven years upward and article 4(4) is five to twelve years, both fixed term, and the public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), giving these limbs only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half. Any member of the class that is Category 2 is a different answer: it reaches life directly through article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑」, and it reaches death through article 15(1) where the offender is a public official abusing office. The tier of the particular compound decides it and the class name decides nothing. One point about the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade present, with up to one half added.
If prescribed / medical: Most listed benzodiazepines are licensed prescription medicines in Taiwan, dispensed as controlled drugs with cumulative use tracking. Several, including nimetazepam, hold no licence at all.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed benzodiazepine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription. Which benzodiazepine it is decides the tier, so the label matters.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表二, 附表三 and 附表四, 附表三 items 17, 23, 74, 246 and 附表四 items 2, 12, 17, 19, 27, 34, 43, 45, 46, 75. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Benzodiazepines in Taiwan, full detail →

Buprenorphine

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第3項「丁基原啡因（Buprenorphine）」. Buprenorphine is Category 3, a tier below methadone at 附表二第87項, even though the two are the pair used in the same opioid substitution programme. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The tier difference is real in the courtroom. Diverting buprenorphine is article 4(3) at seven years upward, diverting methadone is article 4(2) at life or ten years upward, and article 11-1(2) makes simple possession of buprenorphine an administrative fine rather than a crime. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: Buprenorphine is a controlled drug and is dispensed for opioid substitution and for pain, including as a transdermal patch, through the controlled drug regime.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed buprenorphine supply in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, which supplies the proper reason that articles 11 and 11-1 require.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 3. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Buprenorphine in Taiwan, full detail →

Caffeine

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list. Caffeine is not controlled in Taiwan under either drug regime. It is a food ingredient and, in high dose formulations, a medicine ingredient. No entry for it exists in the narcotics schedules or in the controlled drugs list. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. There is no criminal exposure for caffeine in any form. The regulation that exists is food labelling: packaged beverages sold in Taiwan must declare caffeine content, and chain coffee retailers display a red, yellow or green caffeine band on menus. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Caffeine appears as an active ingredient in licensed analgesic combinations, which are dispensed or sold as the licence for the finished product allows.
Documentation: No permit, prescription or declaration is needed for caffeine in any quantity a traveller would carry.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Absence measured against the four schedules and the controlled drugs list cached 2026-09-17. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Caffeine in Taiwan, full detail →

Cannabinol

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第155項「四氫大麻酚（Tetrahydrocannabinols、THCs）」. The entry is expressly generic: 「包括其異構物及立體化學變體，如以大麻成熟莖及種子所製成之製品中含四氫大麻酚不得超過 10ug/g（10ppm）」, isomers and stereochemical variants, with a 10 parts per million ceiling for products made from mature stems and seeds. That 10ppm figure is the only numeric threshold in the cannabis group. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. A hemp derived product is not outside the Act because it is called hemp. It is outside the Act only while its tetrahydrocannabinol content stays under 10 micrograms per gramme, and above that it is a Category 2 narcotic. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Tetrahydrocannabinol is 第二級管制藥品. There is no domestically licensed tetrahydrocannabinol medicine.
Documentation: A traveller carrying a hemp product should be able to evidence its tetrahydrocannabinol content against the 10 parts per million ceiling. A certificate of analysis is the document that matters, not the product label.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 155. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Cannabinol in Taiwan, full detail →

Cannabis / THC

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第24項「大麻（Cannabis、Marijuana、Marihuana）」. The entry carries its own carve out: 「不包括大麻全草之成熟莖及其製品（樹脂除外）及由大麻全草之種子所製成不具發芽活性之製品」, mature stems and their products excluding resin, and non viable seed products. Resin, extract and tincture are separately listed at items 25, 26 and 27. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Cultivation has its own article and its own lighter tier. Article 12(2) punishes growing cannabis with intent to supply drug manufacture by five years upward, against life or seven years upward for the opium poppy and coca at article 12(1). Possession of cannabis seed is up to one year under article 14(4). Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Cannabis is 第二級管制藥品. Taiwan runs no medical cannabis programme, and there is no domestic licensed cannabis medicine.
Documentation: The mature stem and non viable seed carve out is the only thing a traveller can rely on, and it does not cover resin. Hemp food products are the practical edge case and they turn on the tetrahydrocannabinol limit, not on the cannabis entry.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 items 24 to 27, and article 2(2)(2) of the Act. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Cannabis / THC in Taiwan, full detail →

Cathinone

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第29項「卡西酮（Cathinone）」. The parent alkaloid is Category 2, but the synthetic cathinones derived from it sit overwhelmingly in Category 3, and the mildest natural relative 去甲假麻黃（Cathine）is 附表三第5項. The one exception to that split is 甲基卡西酮（Methcathinone）at 附表二第166項, which stays in Category 2. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The schedule itself flags a naming collision worth knowing about. 附表三第221項「甲基-卡西酮（Methylcathinone）」 carries the note 「此項非附表二第 166 項甲基卡西酮」, that this item is not the methcathinone at item 166 of Schedule 2. Two similar Chinese names, two different compounds, two different tiers. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Cathinone is a controlled drug with no accepted medical use and no prescribing route for the isolated alkaloid.
Documentation: No personal import route. The alkaloid is reached in isolation and in the leaf that contains it.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 29, with 附表三 items 5 and 221. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Cathinone in Taiwan, full detail →

CBD

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent by name from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and governed instead by the tetrahydrocannabinol content of the product. Cannabidiol has no entry of its own in either list. Its legal position in Taiwan is therefore decided entirely by what else is in the bottle, because 附表二第155項「四氫大麻酚（Tetrahydrocannabinols、THCs）」 sets a ceiling of 10 micrograms per gramme of tetrahydrocannabinol for products made from mature cannabis stems and seeds. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. A cannabidiol product above that 10 parts per million ceiling is not a lightly regulated supplement, it is a Category 2 narcotic, and sale is article 4(2) at life or ten years upward. Below it, the product is outside the narcotics schedules and is an unapproved drug under article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act unless it holds a licence. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: No cannabidiol medicine holds a Taiwanese marketing licence. Access to an overseas licensed cannabidiol medicine runs through the special import route for a named patient, which needs both a prescription and an individual import permit.
Documentation: Carry a certificate of analysis showing the tetrahydrocannabinol content against the 10 parts per million ceiling. The product's description as full spectrum or broad spectrum decides nothing; the assay does.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, 附表二 item 155 and the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, articles 22 and 39. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

CBD in Taiwan, full detail →

Clonazepam

Legal status: Category 4 narcotic (第四級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表四第12項「氯硝西泮（可那氮平、氯硝氮平）（Clonazepam）」. Clonazepam is Category 4, but the closely related meclonazepam is a tier higher at 附表三第246項. The methyl group is the whole of the difference between the two grades. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(4) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 4 narcotic by five to twelve years, with a fine of up to NT$5 million. Article 5(4) punishes possession with intent to sell by one to seven years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 4 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(6) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to one year. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Article 8(4) is the provision that catches sharing. Transferring a Category 4 narcotic to another person carries up to one year, and article 8(5) increases the penalty by up to half where the quantity transferred exceeds a threshold the Executive Yuan sets. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity, and the Category 4 tier is the furthest from them. Article 4(4) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第四級毒品者，處五年以上十二年以下有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣五百萬元以下罰金」, five to twelve years, a fixed term with a ceiling. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1); for an article 4(4) offence its second sentence gives only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot reach life from a twelve year ceiling. The one qualification is about the charge and not about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. Holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is therefore charged at the article 4(1) rate, but the capital exposure there is supplied by the Category 1 component and not by this one.
If prescribed / medical: Clonazepam is a licensed antiepileptic and anxiolytic dispensed as a Category 4 controlled drug.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed supply in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, which is the proper reason that keeps article 11-1 out of the way.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表四第四級毒品, 附表四 item 12. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Clonazepam in Taiwan, full detail →

Cocaine

Legal status: Category 1 narcotic (第一級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表一第2項「古柯鹼（Cocaine）」. The coca plant and the leaf are separately and more lightly graded, 附表二第31項「古柯（Coca）」 and 第32項「古柯葉（Coca leaves）」, so the plant material is Category 2 while the isolated alkaloid is Category 1. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: Article 4(1). Category 1 is the top tier. Article 4(1) punishes manufacture, transport or sale by death or life imprisonment, with a fine of up to NT$30 million where life is imposed. Article 5(1) punishes possession with intent to sell by life or ten years upward. Article 10(1) punishes use by six months to five years. Article 11(1) punishes simple possession by up to three years, and article 11(3) raises that to one to seven years once the pure weight reaches 10 grammes. Article 8(1) punishes transfer to another person by one to seven years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The 10 gramme pure weight threshold in article 11(3) that lifts simple possession into a one to seven year offence is measured on cocaine itself, not on the cut powder. Both reach this substance and there is no quantity threshold for either. Article 4(1) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第一級毒品者，處死刑或無期徒刑；處無期徒刑者，得併科新臺幣三千萬元以下罰金」, death or life for manufacturing, transporting or selling a Category 1 narcotic, with no weight stated anywhere in the article. It is not mandatory: the article gives the court a choice between death and life. Two further routes to a death sentence exist. Article 6(1) reads 「以強暴、脅迫、欺瞞或其他非法之方法使人施用第一級毒品者，處死刑、無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑」, death, life or ten years upward for forcing or deceiving another person into using a Category 1 narcotic. Article 15(1) reads 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」, death or life for a public official who abuses office to commit those offences. Life alone is also reached by article 5(1) for possession with intent to sell. One qualification on the floor rather than the ceiling: Constitutional Court judgment 112年憲判字第13號 of 11 August 2023 held article 4(1) unconstitutional as applied where the circumstances are extremely minor, because life remained the floor even after Criminal Code article 59 mitigation, and directed amendment within two years. That deadline passed on 11 August 2025 and the Act's last amendment remains 4 May 2022, so the judgment's own interim rule, a further reduction of up to one half, is what applies.
If prescribed / medical: Cocaine is 第一級管制藥品 on the controlled drugs list, item 2, so any import, export, manufacture or sale runs through the Food and Drug Administration's own pharmaceutical plant under article 4 of the Controlled Drugs Act. Topical medical use is narrow and hospital held.
Documentation: There is no traveller route for cocaine. A medical preparation is dispensed and administered in a hospital, not carried.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表一第一級毒品, 附表一 item 2. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Cocaine in Taiwan, full detail →

Codeine

Legal status: Controlled under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) across more than one grade, at 附表二第33項, 附表三第16項 and 附表四第16項. Codeine is graded by concentration, not by identity. 附表二第33項 covers codeine and preparations at 5.0 grammes or more per 100 millilitres or 100 grammes. 附表三第16項 covers preparations from 1.0 up to 5.0 grammes. 附表四第16項 covers a physician prescribed oral liquid or syrup under 1.0 gramme per 100 millilitres. Pure codeine is Category 2 because it is at the top of the first band. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(3) reaches a Category 3 narcotic at seven years upward and article 4(4) reaches a Category 4 narcotic at five to twelve years, both fixed term. Article 15 attaches death or life only to an offence «described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1», so it does not reach article 4(3) or article 4(4) and the civil-servant aggravation is unavailable here. No limb reaches death on this row. Which article applies depends on which member of the class is in hand. Manufacture, transport or sale is article 4(3) at seven years upward for a Category 3 member and article 4(4) at five to twelve years for a Category 4 member. For a Category 2 member it is article 4(2) at life or ten years upward. Simple possession of a Category 3 or Category 4 narcotic is not a crime: article 11-1(2) makes it an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education, and articles 11(5) and 11(6) turn it criminal at 5 grammes pure weight. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The grading bands change the offence and not just the sentence. The same cough syrup can be a Category 2, Category 3 or Category 4 narcotic depending on a number printed on its label, and article 11-1 makes possession of the Category 3 and Category 4 forms an administrative fine rather than a crime. Neither reaches any Category 3 or Category 4 member of this class, at any quantity. Article 4(3) is seven years upward and article 4(4) is five to twelve years, both fixed term, and the public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), giving these limbs only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half. Any member of the class that is Category 2 is a different answer: it reaches life directly through article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑」, and it reaches death through article 15(1) where the offender is a public official abusing office. The tier of the particular compound decides it and the class name decides nothing. One point about the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade present, with up to one half added.
If prescribed / medical: Codeine preparations are dispensed under the controlled drug tier that matches the concentration. Dihydrocodeine is graded the same way, at 附表二第46項, 附表三第20項 and 附表四第66項.
Documentation: Carry the prescription and the original labelled container. The concentration on the label is the fact that decides which tier applies, so a decanted supply loses the evidence that keeps it in the lowest band.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表二, 附表三 and 附表四, 附表二 item 33, 附表三 item 16, 附表四 item 16. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Codeine in Taiwan, full detail →

Crack Cocaine

Legal status: Category 1 narcotic (第一級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), reached not by a named entry but through 附表一第2項「古柯鹼（Cocaine）」 read with the schedule heading 「除特別規定外，皆包括其異構物 Isomers、酯類 Esters、醚類 Ethers、及鹽類 Salts」. Crack has no separate entry and needs none. It is the freebase of cocaine, so it is the same listed substance in its base form rather than a salt, and the Category 1 entry reaches it directly. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: Article 4(1). Category 1 is the top tier. Article 4(1) punishes manufacture, transport or sale by death or life imprisonment, with a fine of up to NT$30 million where life is imposed. Article 5(1) punishes possession with intent to sell by life or ten years upward. Article 10(1) punishes use by six months to five years. Article 11(1) punishes simple possession by up to three years, and article 11(3) raises that to one to seven years once the pure weight reaches 10 grammes. Article 8(1) punishes transfer to another person by one to seven years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Because grading follows the substance and not the preparation, smoking a rock and selling a gramme of powder sit in the same tier at the same article. Both reach this substance and there is no quantity threshold for either. Article 4(1) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第一級毒品者，處死刑或無期徒刑；處無期徒刑者，得併科新臺幣三千萬元以下罰金」, death or life for manufacturing, transporting or selling a Category 1 narcotic, with no weight stated anywhere in the article. It is not mandatory: the article gives the court a choice between death and life. Two further routes to a death sentence exist. Article 6(1) reads 「以強暴、脅迫、欺瞞或其他非法之方法使人施用第一級毒品者，處死刑、無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑」, death, life or ten years upward for forcing or deceiving another person into using a Category 1 narcotic. Article 15(1) reads 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」, death or life for a public official who abuses office to commit those offences. Life alone is also reached by article 5(1) for possession with intent to sell. One qualification on the floor rather than the ceiling: Constitutional Court judgment 112年憲判字第13號 of 11 August 2023 held article 4(1) unconstitutional as applied where the circumstances are extremely minor, because life remained the floor even after Criminal Code article 59 mitigation, and directed amendment within two years. That deadline passed on 11 August 2025 and the Act's last amendment remains 4 May 2022, so the judgment's own interim rule, a further reduction of up to one half, is what applies.
If prescribed / medical: There is no medicinal crack preparation anywhere in the controlled drugs list, so nothing in the pharmacy regime reaches it. The only listed cocaine medicine is the Category 1 controlled drug at item 2 of that list.
Documentation: No prescription, permit or traveller allowance exists for freebase cocaine in any Taiwanese instrument read for this cell.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表一第一級毒品, 附表一 item 2 with the schedule heading. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Crack Cocaine in Taiwan, full detail →

Delta-8-THC

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), reached not by a named entry but through 附表二第155項「四氫大麻酚（Tetrahydrocannabinols、THCs）」【包括其異構物及立體化學變體】. Delta 8 tetrahydrocannabinol has no entry of its own and does not need one. It is a double bond positional isomer of the delta 9 compound, and item 155 expressly includes isomers, so it is caught inside Category 2 by the entry's own words. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. This is the isomer clause doing real work rather than being cited decoratively. The reasoning fails for a homologue, which is why 四氫大麻丙酚（Tetrahydrocannabivarin、THCV）had to be listed separately at 附表三第353項 and sits a tier lower than the substance it is a shorter chain version of. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: No delta 8 product is licensed as a medicine in Taiwan, so the pharmacy route does not exist for it.
Documentation: Products sold abroad as hemp derived delta 8 are Category 2 narcotics on arrival. The federal or state status in the country of purchase has no bearing.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 155, isomer clause. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Delta-8-THC in Taiwan, full detail →

Diazepam

Legal status: Category 4 narcotic (第四級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表四第19項「安定（二氮平）（Diazepam）」. Diazepam is Category 4 and three of its close relatives are listed in the same tier, 第27項「氟地西泮（Fludiazepam）」, 第46項「去甲西泮（Nordiazepam）」 which is also its principal metabolite, and 第75項「氯地西泮（Chlorodiazepam）」. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(4) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 4 narcotic by five to twelve years, with a fine of up to NT$5 million. Article 5(4) punishes possession with intent to sell by one to seven years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 4 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(6) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to one year. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The metabolite having its own entry matters, because a urine screen positive for nordiazepam is a positive for a separately listed Category 4 narcotic rather than only evidence about diazepam. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity, and the Category 4 tier is the furthest from them. Article 4(4) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第四級毒品者，處五年以上十二年以下有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣五百萬元以下罰金」, five to twelve years, a fixed term with a ceiling. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1); for an article 4(4) offence its second sentence gives only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot reach life from a twelve year ceiling. The one qualification is about the charge and not about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. Holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is therefore charged at the article 4(1) rate, but the capital exposure there is supplied by the Category 1 component and not by this one.
If prescribed / medical: Diazepam is a licensed medicine dispensed as a Category 4 controlled drug, with cumulative use tracked centrally.
Documentation: Carry the original dispensed packaging with the prescription. A loose strip of tablets is a Category 4 narcotic without a proper reason attached to it.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表四第四級毒品, 附表四 item 19. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Diazepam in Taiwan, full detail →

DMT

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第51項「二甲基色胺（Dimethyltryptamine、DMT）」. The parent tryptamine is Category 2, along with 第44項「二乙基色胺（Diethyltryptamine、DET）」 and 第164項「乙基色胺（Etryptamine）」, while the substituted tryptamines sit in Category 3 in a run of entries from 第315項 to 第342項 that use positional isomer brackets to cover whole substitution patterns at once. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. That two tier structure is the most consequential thing about the tryptamine group here. Selling DMT is article 4(2), life or ten years upward. Selling 4-AcO-DMT or 5-MeO-DMT is article 4(3), seven years upward. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: DMT is a controlled drug with no accepted medical use and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No documentation route. Plant material containing DMT reaches the same entry through its alkaloid content.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 51. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

DMT in Taiwan, full detail →

DOM

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第58項「4-甲基-2,5-二甲氧基安非他命（4-Methyl-2,5-dimethoxyamphetamine、DOM、STP）」. DOM is graded a tier above the 2C phenethylamines it is often shelved with, because Taiwan places the substituted amphetamines in Category 2 and the substituted phenethylamines in Category 3. The difference is the alpha methyl group, not the potency. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The tier gap is worth stating plainly for a reader who treats DOM and 2C-B as interchangeable. Selling DOM is an article 4(2) offence carrying life or ten years upward. Selling 2C-B is an article 4(3) offence carrying seven years upward. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: DOM is 第二級管制藥品 with no medical use in Taiwan.
Documentation: No documentation route. DOM is active in microgramme quantities, so a blotter carries no visible indication of content.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 58. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

DOM in Taiwan, full detail →

DXM

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and regulated instead as a medicine under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Dextromethorphan is not a narcotic and not a controlled drug in Taiwan. It is a licensed antitussive medicine, and its control is the ordinary medicines control that applies to any licensed drug product. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. There is no narcotics offence for dextromethorphan. The exposure is under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act: article 22(1)(2) makes a drug imported without approval a 禁藥, a prohibited drug, and article 83(1) punishes knowingly selling, supplying, transporting or holding a prohibited drug with up to seven years and a fine of up to NT$50 million. Bulk powder bought online is the form that reaches that article. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Dextromethorphan is sold in licensed cough preparations. Which preparations are pharmacy only and which are general sale follows the licence for each product.
Documentation: A traveller's own cough medicine is expressly outside the prohibited drug definition by the proviso to article 22(1)(2), 「但旅客或隨交通工具服務人員攜帶自用藥品進口者，不在此限」, subject to the personal quantity limit the health ministry sets with the finance ministry.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, articles 22 and 83, read for a licensed antitussive and its bulk powder form. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

DXM in Taiwan, full detail →

Ephedrine

Legal status: Category 4 narcotic (第四級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), listed as a precursor raw material at 附表四 precursor list item 1「麻黃（Ephedrine）」. Ephedrine is a Category 4 narcotic. The Schedule 4 heading reads 「第四級毒品（包括毒品先驅原料，除特別規定外，皆包括其異構物Isomers、酯類Esters、醚類Ethers及鹽類Salts）」, so the 64 item precursor raw materials list printed under that heading is inside Category 4 and is not a separate lesser annex. Pseudoephedrine is precursor item 7 and phenylpropanolamine precursor item 6. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(4) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 4 narcotic by five to twelve years, with a fine of up to NT$5 million. Article 5(4) punishes possession with intent to sell by one to seven years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 4 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(6) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to one year. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. That placement is easy to miss because the precursor list restarts its numbering at 1 under its own subheading, so an index built on numbered lines alone merges it into the main Category 4 list. There is also a separate and much lighter industrial regime at article 31 of the Act, administered by the economics ministry, which is about reporting and inspection and carries administrative fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 rather than imprisonment. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity, and the Category 4 tier is the furthest from them. Article 4(4) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第四級毒品者，處五年以上十二年以下有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣五百萬元以下罰金」, five to twelve years, a fixed term with a ceiling. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1); for an article 4(4) offence its second sentence gives only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot reach life from a twelve year ceiling. The one qualification is about the charge and not about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. Holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is therefore charged at the article 4(1) rate, but the capital exposure there is supplied by the Category 1 component and not by this one.
If prescribed / medical: Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are licensed medicines and are 第四級管制藥品 on the controlled drugs list at items 1 and 7. Pharmacy sale is quantity limited.
Documentation: A traveller carrying a pseudoephedrine decongestant should keep it in the original retail or dispensed packaging and in a personal quantity. The traveller carve out in article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act is about prohibited drugs and does not lift a narcotics offence.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 9, 11, 11-1, 15 and 31, with 附表四第四級毒品 including its 毒品先驅原料 list, 附表四 precursor items 1, 6 and 7, and article 31 of the Act. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Ephedrine in Taiwan, full detail →

Etizolam

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第74項「依替唑侖（Etizolam）」. Etizolam is Category 3 while almost every benzodiazepine proper is Category 4. It is a thienotriazolodiazepine rather than a benzodiazepine, and Taiwan grades it a tier higher than the class it is sold as. The deschloro analogue is also Category 3, at 第240項. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Because it is Category 3 rather than Category 4, sale is article 4(3) at seven years upward rather than article 4(4) at five to twelve years, and the possession threshold in article 11(5) is 5 grammes pure weight. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: Etizolam holds no Taiwanese marketing licence. It is prescribed in some other jurisdictions, which is how it reaches travellers.
Documentation: A foreign etizolam prescription does not lift the narcotics offence. Article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act covers a traveller's own medicine as against the prohibited drug rules, and says nothing about Category 3 narcotics.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 74. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Etizolam in Taiwan, full detail →

Fentanyl

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第67項「吩坦尼（Fentanyl）」. Thirty further fentanyl analogues are named across Category 2, from 第1項 acetyl alpha methylfentanyl to 第208項 thienylfentanyl, and two synthesis intermediates sit in the Category 4 precursor list, 苄基吩坦尼（Benzylfentanyl）at precursor item 27 and 去吩坦尼（Norfentanyl）at precursor item 37. It is the most heavily enumerated family in the whole schedule. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Carfentanil is in the same tier, at 第28項「卡吩坦尼（Carfentanyl）」, which means the 20 gramme pure weight threshold at article 11(4) is set far above any quantity that would be handled. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Fentanyl is 第二級管制藥品, used as a hospital anaesthetic and as a transdermal patch for chronic severe pain, dispensed through the controlled drug regime.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed patch in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, and keep used patches rather than discarding them loose, because residual drug in a used patch is still the listed substance.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 67, with precursor items 27 and 37. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Fentanyl in Taiwan, full detail →

Gabapentin

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and regulated instead as a prescription medicine under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Gabapentin is a licensed prescription medicine in Taiwan and is in no drug schedule. It is not a narcotic, it is not a controlled drug, and it carries no scheduling driven criminal exposure. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. Article 4(4) of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act does not reach gabapentin at all, because the article operates only on substances listed in the four schedules. The exposure is the ordinary medicines one: supplying a prescription medicine outside the licensed channel, and importing an unapproved supply as a prohibited drug under article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Gabapentin is dispensed on prescription for neuropathic pain and as an antiepileptic. There is no controlled drug paperwork and no cumulative use tracking.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed supply in its dispensed packaging with the prescription. The traveller proviso to article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act covers a personal quantity.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, articles 22, 39 and 83, read for a licensed prescription anticonvulsant. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Gabapentin in Taiwan, full detail →

GBL

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules, from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and from both precursor chemical lists under the economics ministry regulation. Gamma butyrolactone is in no Taiwanese drug or precursor list. Its product GHB is a Category 2 narcotic at 附表二第167項, but the lactone itself appears nowhere. Three instruments were checked and each returned nothing for it. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. The third check is the one that settles it. The Precursor Chemical Industrial Raw Materials Types and Declaration and Inspection Regulation, made under article 31 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act and last amended 3 September 2025, lists 16 substances in its Class A table and 8 in its Class B table. Gamma butyrolactone, CAS 96-48-0, is in neither, and nor is 1,4-butanediol, CAS 110-63-4. So there is no narcotics offence, no controlled drug offence and no precursor reporting duty. An unapproved product sold for human consumption would still be a prohibited drug under article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Gamma butyrolactone is an industrial solvent with no medicinal licence in Taiwan.
Documentation: It is sold as a solvent and a cleaning product. Nothing in the drug schedules requires a document for it, which is the whole of the gap between it and the Category 2 substance it converts to.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Narcotics schedules, controlled drugs list, and the precursor chemical lists at J0030042 measured by CAS number. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

GBL in Taiwan, full detail →

GHB

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第167項「伽瑪羥基丁酸（Gamma Hydroxybutyric Acid、Gammahydroxybutyrate、GHB）」. GHB is named in Category 2. Its precursor gamma butyrolactone is not listed anywhere, which is set out under the separate entry for that substance. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The gap between GHB and its unlisted precursor is the practical point. The finished compound is a Category 2 narcotic carrying life or ten years upward on sale under article 4(2), and the chemical that converts to it in the body is in no Taiwanese drug schedule at all. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: GHB has no licensed medicine in Taiwan. Sodium oxybate, the narcolepsy medicine, holds no domestic marketing licence.
Documentation: No traveller route. A foreign sodium oxybate prescription would be a prescription for a Category 2 narcotic with no Taiwanese licence behind it.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 167. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

GHB in Taiwan, full detail →

Heroin

Legal status: Category 1 narcotic (第一級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表一第6項「海洛因（Heroin）」. Heroin is the first substance article 2(2) names when it defines the Category 1 tier in the Act's own text, 「第一級海洛因、嗎啡、鴉片、古柯鹼及其相類製品」, so its grade is fixed in the statute and not only in the schedule. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: Article 4(1). Category 1 is the top tier. Article 4(1) punishes manufacture, transport or sale by death or life imprisonment, with a fine of up to NT$30 million where life is imposed. Article 5(1) punishes possession with intent to sell by life or ten years upward. Article 10(1) punishes use by six months to five years. Article 11(1) punishes simple possession by up to three years, and article 11(3) raises that to one to seven years once the pure weight reaches 10 grammes. Article 8(1) punishes transfer to another person by one to seven years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Article 17(3) allows a reduction where a defendant transported a Category 1 narcotic for his or her own use and the circumstances are minor, which is the only softening the transport limb has. Both reach this substance and there is no quantity threshold for either. Article 4(1) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第一級毒品者，處死刑或無期徒刑；處無期徒刑者，得併科新臺幣三千萬元以下罰金」, death or life for manufacturing, transporting or selling a Category 1 narcotic, with no weight stated anywhere in the article. It is not mandatory: the article gives the court a choice between death and life. Two further routes to a death sentence exist. Article 6(1) reads 「以強暴、脅迫、欺瞞或其他非法之方法使人施用第一級毒品者，處死刑、無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑」, death, life or ten years upward for forcing or deceiving another person into using a Category 1 narcotic. Article 15(1) reads 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」, death or life for a public official who abuses office to commit those offences. Life alone is also reached by article 5(1) for possession with intent to sell. One qualification on the floor rather than the ceiling: Constitutional Court judgment 112年憲判字第13號 of 11 August 2023 held article 4(1) unconstitutional as applied where the circumstances are extremely minor, because life remained the floor even after Criminal Code article 59 mitigation, and directed amendment within two years. That deadline passed on 11 August 2025 and the Act's last amendment remains 4 May 2022, so the judgment's own interim rule, a further reduction of up to one half, is what applies.
If prescribed / medical: Heroin is 第一級管制藥品 at item 6 of the controlled drugs list. Taiwan runs no heroin assisted treatment programme; opioid substitution is methadone and buprenorphine.
Documentation: No documentation makes heroin lawful to carry into or through Taiwan.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表一第一級毒品, 附表一 item 6, and article 2(2)(1) of the Act. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Heroin in Taiwan, full detail →

HHC

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第223項「六氫大麻酚（Hexahydrocannabinol、HHC）」. Hexahydrocannabinol is named in its own right, and the hexyl homologue 六氫大麻己酚（Hexahydrocannabihexol、HHCH）is named immediately after it at item 224. Two separate entries for two closely related semi synthetic cannabinoids. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The pairing at items 223 and 224 is the clearest internal evidence in the whole schedule that Taiwan does not treat a side chain homologue as caught by the isomer clause. If it did, item 224 would be redundant. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Hexahydrocannabinol is a controlled drug with no licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: Vapes and edibles sold abroad as a legal cannabis alternative are Category 2 narcotics here. Nothing about the product's overseas availability changes that.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 items 223 and 224. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

HHC in Taiwan, full detail →

Hydrocodone

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第71項「二氫可待因酮（Hydrocodone）」. Hydrocodone is a Category 2 narcotic named in its own right. It is not graded by concentration in the way codeine is, and it is not marketed in Taiwan. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. A traveller arriving with a foreign hydrocodone and paracetamol combination is holding a Category 2 narcotic. The combination product's overseas status as an ordinary prescription analgesic does not follow it here. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Hydrocodone is 第二級管制藥品 with no Taiwanese marketing licence, so there is no domestic dispensing route and no Taiwanese prescription can exist for it.
Documentation: The traveller carve out at article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act is about prohibited drugs, not about narcotics. It does not lift a Category 2 narcotics offence, so a foreign prescription is not a defence to article 11.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 71. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Hydrocodone in Taiwan, full detail →

Ketamine

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第19項「愷他命（ketamine）」. Seven further ketamine analogues sit in the same tier, among them 第227項「去氯愷他命（Deschloroketamine）」 and 第339項「去甲基愷他命（Norketamine）」, and two protected synthesis intermediates are Category 4 precursor raw materials, N-Boc-Norketamine at precursor item 16 and N-Boc-Ketamine at precursor item 19. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Article 11-1(2) is the provision that decides most ketamine cases. Possession of a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason draws an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 and four to eight hours of drug hazard education, not a criminal penalty, unless the pure weight reaches 5 grammes and article 11(5) applies. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: Ketamine is a controlled drug and a licensed anaesthetic, dispensed and administered through the controlled drug regime in hospitals and veterinary practice.
Documentation: There is no traveller route for ketamine. Clinical supply is institutional.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 19. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Ketamine in Taiwan, full detail →

Khat

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第184項「恰特草（Catha edulis Forsk、Khat）」. The plant is named. 恰特草, Catha edulis Forsk, is a Category 2 entry in its own right, alongside the separate entry for the alkaloid 卡西酮（Cathinone）at item 29. A reader does not need to argue from alkaloid content to reach the leaf. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Because the leaf is itself the listed article, the 20 gramme pure weight threshold in article 11(4) is awkward to apply to fresh plant material, and the ordinary two year possession maximum in article 11(2) is the practical exposure. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Khat is a controlled drug with no recognised medical use and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: Fresh or dried khat leaf in baggage is a Category 2 narcotic by its own name in the schedule, whatever its cathinone content has degraded to.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 184. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Khat in Taiwan, full detail →

Kratom

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第60項「卡痛（Mitragyna speciose、Kratom、Ketum）」. The plant is named in its own right, transliterated as 卡痛, and both of its principal alkaloids are separately named in the same tier, 第65項「帽柱木鹼（Mitragynine）」 and 第357項「7-羥基帽柱木鹼（7-Hydroxymitragynine）」. Three entries, one plant. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Because the plant has its own entry, alkaloid content is not an element to be proved. Leaf, powder and extract all reach 附表三第60項 directly, and article 11-1(2) governs simple possession as an administrative fine. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: Kratom has no licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No personal import route. Kratom is sold openly in several neighbouring countries, which is how it arrives in baggage.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 60. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Kratom in Taiwan, full detail →

Lorazepam

Legal status: Category 4 narcotic (第四級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表四第34項「勞拉西泮（樂耐平）（Lorazepam）」. Lorazepam is Category 4. The chloro relative delorazepam is separately listed at 第17項 and the methyl relative lormetazepam at 第35項, so the family is enumerated one compound at a time. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(4) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 4 narcotic by five to twelve years, with a fine of up to NT$5 million. Article 5(4) punishes possession with intent to sell by one to seven years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 4 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(6) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to one year. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Sale or supply of a Category 4 narcotic is article 4(4), five to twelve years with a fine of up to NT$5 million, which reaches passing tablets to a friend as readily as it reaches dealing. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity, and the Category 4 tier is the furthest from them. Article 4(4) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第四級毒品者，處五年以上十二年以下有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣五百萬元以下罰金」, five to twelve years, a fixed term with a ceiling. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1); for an article 4(4) offence its second sentence gives only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot reach life from a twelve year ceiling. The one qualification is about the charge and not about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. Holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is therefore charged at the article 4(1) rate, but the capital exposure there is supplied by the Category 1 component and not by this one.
If prescribed / medical: Lorazepam is a licensed anxiolytic and hypnotic dispensed as a Category 4 controlled drug in Taiwan.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed supply in its dispensed packaging with the prescription.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表四第四級毒品, 附表四 item 34. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Lorazepam in Taiwan, full detail →

LSA (Morning Glory)

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list. Lysergic acid amide, ergine, has no entry in either list, and neither do the seeds that contain it, Argyreia nervosa and Ipomoea species. What is listed is 麥角酸（Lysergic acid）at 附表四 precursor item 4, which is the acid and not the amide, and the two ergot alkaloids 麥角新（Ergometrine）at precursor item 2 and 麥角胺（Ergotamine）at precursor item 3. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. The distinction between the acid and its amide is what this turns on and it is not a quibble. An amide is not an isomer, an ester, an ether or a salt of the corresponding acid, so the Schedule 4 heading does not carry lysergic acid across to ergine. Three named ergot entries and no entry for ergine is a pattern that points towards a real gap rather than an oversight, but no decided case confirming it was located from here. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: No licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan for ergine. The two ergot alkaloids that do have medical uses, ergometrine and ergotamine, are separately listed as Category 4 precursor raw materials.
Documentation: Morning glory and Hawaiian baby woodrose seed are sold as garden seed and are not named in either list. Treat that as unsettled rather than as clearance, because the quarterly review under article 2(3) can close it.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Absence measured against the four schedules and the controlled drugs list, with 附表四 precursor items 2, 3 and 4 considered and distinguished. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

LSA (Morning Glory) in Taiwan, full detail →

LSD

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第81項「麥角二乙胺（LSD、Lysergide、Lysergic acid diethylamide）」. Taiwan names LSD analogues one at a time rather than by a family formula. 第197項 covers ALD-52, 第198項 AL-LAD and 第204項 ETH-LAD, all in Category 2, and the starting material 麥角酸（Lysergic acid）is a Category 4 precursor raw material at precursor item 4. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The individual naming pattern is what decides whether an unlisted analogue is caught, and the answer is usually that it is not. Only an isomer, ester, ether or salt of a listed compound is swept in by the schedule heading, and an N substituted analogue is none of those. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: LSD is 第二級管制藥品 with no medical use and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No documentation route. A blotter sheet weighs almost nothing, so the 20 gramme pure weight threshold at article 11(4) is unreachable in practice and simple possession falls under article 11(2).

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 81, with precursor item 4. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

LSD in Taiwan, full detail →

MDA

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第82項「3,4-亞甲基雙氧安非他命（3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine、MDA）」. MDA is listed as a substance in its own right, one item ahead of MDMA, and the N,N-dimethyl homologue sits a tier lower at 附表三第304項, so the family is graded across two tiers rather than as a block. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Because MDA is also the principal metabolite of MDMA, a positive analysis does not by itself establish which substance was held, and the tier is the same either way. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: MDA is 第二級管制藥品 with no medical use and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No lawful personal import. There is no MDA medicine to document.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 82. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

MDA in Taiwan, full detail →

MDMA

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第83項「3,4-亞甲基雙氧甲基安非他命（3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine、MDMA）」. Two ring halogenated analogues are listed alongside it, 第210項 6-Chloro-MDMA and 第220項 6-Bromo-MDMA, which shows the schedule naming close analogues individually rather than relying on the isomer clause to sweep them in. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. A pressed tablet sold as MDMA that also carries a Category 1 component brings article 9(3) into play and the whole charge is graded up to Category 1. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: MDMA is 第二級管制藥品 with no accepted therapeutic use in Taiwan and no prescribing route.
Documentation: Nothing makes MDMA lawful to carry. A tablet of unknown composition cannot be assessed against the schedule at the point of purchase.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 83. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

MDMA in Taiwan, full detail →

MDPV

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第169項「3,4-亞甲基雙氧焦二異丁基酮（3,4-亞甲基雙氧焦洛戊酮）（3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone、MDPV）」. MDPV is Category 2, a tier above the synthetic cathinones it is usually grouped with. It is also the one entry in this family that is easy to confuse with another: 焦二異丁基酮（Pyrovaleron）is a separate substance at 附表四第58項, two tiers away, and the two share most of their Chinese name. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Getting that pair the wrong way round changes the offence from article 4(2), life or ten years upward, to article 4(4), five to twelve years, so the distinction is worth more than a footnote. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: MDPV is a controlled drug with no medical use and no prescribing route. Pyrovalerone, the separate Category 4 substance, has no Taiwanese licence either.
Documentation: No personal import route. MDPV appears in material sold under other names, which a traveller cannot verify.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 169, with 附表四 item 58. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

MDPV in Taiwan, full detail →

Memantine

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and regulated instead as a prescription medicine under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Memantine is a licensed prescription medicine for Alzheimer's disease in Taiwan and is in neither drug list. Its pharmacology overlaps with the dissociatives that are Category 3, but the schedule grades named substances and does not grade by mechanism. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. That distinction is the reason to state the absence carefully. Ketamine, methoxetamine and eight ketamine analogues are Category 3 by name, and memantine is not on any list, so the same receptor target produces two completely different legal answers. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Memantine is dispensed on prescription for moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease through ordinary pharmacy channels.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed supply in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, within the traveller allowance under article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, articles 22, 39 and 83, read alongside 附表三 items 19 and 44 to separate mechanism from grading. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Memantine in Taiwan, full detail →

Mephedrone (4-MMC)

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第25項「4-甲基甲基卡西酮（4-methylmethcathinone、Mephedrone、4-MMC）」. Mephedrone is named with its position, 4-methylmethcathinone, so the entry is specific to the para isomer and the other positional isomers rely on the schedule heading rather than on the entry itself. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Its parent alkaloid cathinone is a tier higher, at 附表二第29項, so the synthetic derivative is graded below the natural compound it derives from. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: Mephedrone has no licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No personal import route. Material sold under this name is frequently a different cathinone, and the family spans Category 2, Category 3 and Category 4.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 25. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Mephedrone (4-MMC) in Taiwan, full detail →

Mescaline

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第85項「三甲氧苯乙胺（Mescaline）」. Mescaline is Category 2 while the substituted phenethylamines it is the parent of, the 2C series, are Category 3. The alkaloid is graded above its synthetic descendants. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The cactus that contains it is separately listed at 附表二第133項「配有特（Peyote）」, so the plant and the alkaloid are both Category 2 and either one reaches the same article 4(2) penalties. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Mescaline is a controlled drug with no accepted medical use and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No personal import route for the alkaloid, and none for the cactus that contains it.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 85. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Mescaline in Taiwan, full detail →

Methadone

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第87項「美沙冬（Methadone）」. Three further methadone entries sit alongside it, 第75項「異美沙冬（Isomethadone）」, 第88項「美沙冬中間物（Methadone-intermediate）」 and 第118項「原美沙冬（Normethadone）」, so the synthetic intermediate is graded with the finished drug. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Methadone maintenance is delivered through designated clinics. A patient dosed at a clinic is not in possession, which is why take home dosing is the part of the programme that engages article 11 at all. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Methadone is 第二級管制藥品 and is the mainstay of Taiwan's opioid substitution programme, alongside buprenorphine at 附表三第3項.
Documentation: A patient travelling with a take home methadone dose should carry the clinic's documentation. Methadone is the substitution drug, so the documentation comes from the programme rather than from a retail pharmacy.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 87. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Methadone in Taiwan, full detail →

Methamphetamine

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第89項「甲基安非他命（Methamphetamine、(+)-(S)-N,alpha-dimethylphenethylamine）」. The racemate is listed separately at 第90項「消旋甲基安非他命」 and the levo isomer at 第165項「左旋甲基安非他命（Levomethamphetamine）」, so all three forms are named rather than left to the isomer clause. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Eight of the sixty four Category 4 precursor raw materials in 附表四 exist to catch methamphetamine synthesis, among them 麻黃（Ephedrine） at precursor item 1 and 苯基丙酮（Phenyl-2-propanone、P2P）at precursor item 11. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Methamphetamine is 第二級管制藥品 and has no prescribing use in Taiwan.
Documentation: No documentation route exists. The precursor listing means that even the starting materials carry a Category 4 narcotics offence.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 89, with 附表四 precursor items 1 and 11. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Methamphetamine in Taiwan, full detail →

Methaqualone (Quaaludes)

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第91項「甲酮（Methaqualone）」. Methaqualone is Category 2 under a short Chinese name, 甲酮, which is easy to miss when searching the schedule for a transliteration of the English. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Withdrawal from medical use worldwide has not moved it down a tier. It carries the same article 4(2) exposure as methamphetamine and MDMA. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Methaqualone is a controlled drug with no medical use anywhere in Taiwan's licensed formulary.
Documentation: No documentation route exists, and no legitimate supply exists to document.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 91. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Methaqualone (Quaaludes) in Taiwan, full detail →

Methylone

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第32項「3,4-亞甲基雙氧甲基卡西酮（3,4-methylenedioxymethcathinone、Methylone、bk-MDMA）」. Methylone is named. Two further entries carry its name as part of a longer compound name, 第203項 Dimethylone and 第346項 N-Cyclohexyl Methylone, and both are also Category 3. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Its ketone free counterpart MDMA is a tier higher at 附表二第83項, so adding the beta ketone moves the compound down a tier, from article 4(2) to article 4(3). Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: Methylone has no licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No documentation route. Methylone is commonly sold as MDMA, and the two sit in different tiers.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 32. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Methylone in Taiwan, full detail →

Methylphenidate

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第8項「派醋甲酯（Methylphenidate）」. Methylphenidate is Category 3, one tier below amphetamine, and three analogues sit in the same tier, 第234項 the 3,4-dichloro compound, 第237項 the fluoro compound with a positional isomer bracket, and 第247項 Methylnaphthidate. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. For a patient the practical consequence is article 11-1(2): possession of a Category 3 narcotic without a proper reason is an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 and four to eight hours of education, and a dispensed prescription is the proper reason. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: Methylphenidate is a controlled drug and the mainstay prescribed stimulant for attention deficit disorder and narcolepsy in Taiwan, dispensed under the controlled drug regime with cumulative use tracking.
Documentation: Carry the original dispensed packaging and the prescription. A foreign prescription for a controlled stimulant is worth confirming with the Food and Drug Administration before travelling.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 8. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Methylphenidate in Taiwan, full detail →

Mitragynine

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第65項「帽柱木鹼（Mitragynine）」. Mitragynine is named separately from the plant at 第60項 and separately again from the 7-hydroxy metabolite at 第357項. The schedule does not treat the isolate as merged with the plant, contrary to what a reading based on alkaloid content would suggest. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. An isolated or enriched alkaloid preparation is therefore charged on its own entry, and the 5 gramme pure weight threshold at article 11(5) is far easier to reach with an isolate than with leaf. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: Mitragynine has no licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No documentation route. An extract standardised for alkaloid content is the form most likely to cross the 5 gramme pure weight line.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 65. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Mitragynine in Taiwan, full detail →

Modafinil

Legal status: Category 4 narcotic (第四級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表四第67項「莫待芬寧（Modafinil）」. Modafinil is Category 4 by name. The bisfluoro analogue is separately listed at 第77項 as 「2-[雙(4-氟苯基)甲基亞磺醯基]-N-甲基乙醯胺（N-Methylbisfluoromodafinil）」, a different compound in the same tier, and it is the only other schedule entry whose name contains the modafinil stem. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(4) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 4 narcotic by five to twelve years, with a fine of up to NT$5 million. Article 5(4) punishes possession with intent to sell by one to seven years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 4 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(6) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to one year. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. A stem search of the schedule for the string modafinil returns those two entries and nothing else, which is the right result here. In another jurisdiction the same search returned a designer compound with an unrelated name and would have produced a wrong grade. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity, and the Category 4 tier is the furthest from them. Article 4(4) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第四級毒品者，處五年以上十二年以下有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣五百萬元以下罰金」, five to twelve years, a fixed term with a ceiling. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1); for an article 4(4) offence its second sentence gives only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot reach life from a twelve year ceiling. The one qualification is about the charge and not about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. Holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is therefore charged at the article 4(1) rate, but the capital exposure there is supplied by the Category 1 component and not by this one.
If prescribed / medical: Modafinil is a licensed medicine for narcolepsy and related disorders, dispensed as a Category 4 controlled drug.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed supply in its dispensed packaging with the prescription. Modafinil bought online without a prescription is both a Category 4 narcotic and, if imported, a prohibited drug under article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表四第四級毒品, 附表四 items 67 and 77. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Modafinil in Taiwan, full detail →

Morphine

Legal status: Category 1 narcotic (第一級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表一第9項「嗎啡（Morphine）」. Morphine is named in article 2(2) itself. Twelve further morphine derivatives sit one tier down in 附表二, among them 二氫嗎啡（Dihydromorphine）at item 47 and 乙基嗎啡（Ethylmorphine）at item 63, so the parent alkaloid is graded above its own family. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: Article 4(1). Category 1 is the top tier. Article 4(1) punishes manufacture, transport or sale by death or life imprisonment, with a fine of up to NT$30 million where life is imposed. Article 5(1) punishes possession with intent to sell by life or ten years upward. Article 10(1) punishes use by six months to five years. Article 11(1) punishes simple possession by up to three years, and article 11(3) raises that to one to seven years once the pure weight reaches 10 grammes. Article 8(1) punishes transfer to another person by one to seven years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. A hospice or oncology patient holding prescribed morphine is outside article 11 entirely, because that article punishes possession 「無正當理由」 and a dispensed prescription is a lawful reason. Both reach this substance and there is no quantity threshold for either. Article 4(1) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第一級毒品者，處死刑或無期徒刑；處無期徒刑者，得併科新臺幣三千萬元以下罰金」, death or life for manufacturing, transporting or selling a Category 1 narcotic, with no weight stated anywhere in the article. It is not mandatory: the article gives the court a choice between death and life. Two further routes to a death sentence exist. Article 6(1) reads 「以強暴、脅迫、欺瞞或其他非法之方法使人施用第一級毒品者，處死刑、無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑」, death, life or ten years upward for forcing or deceiving another person into using a Category 1 narcotic. Article 15(1) reads 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」, death or life for a public official who abuses office to commit those offences. Life alone is also reached by article 5(1) for possession with intent to sell. One qualification on the floor rather than the ceiling: Constitutional Court judgment 112年憲判字第13號 of 11 August 2023 held article 4(1) unconstitutional as applied where the circumstances are extremely minor, because life remained the floor even after Criminal Code article 59 mitigation, and directed amendment within two years. That deadline passed on 11 August 2025 and the Act's last amendment remains 4 May 2022, so the judgment's own interim rule, a further reduction of up to one half, is what applies.
If prescribed / medical: Morphine is 第一級管制藥品 at item 9 of the controlled drugs list. It is prescribed for severe and cancer pain, and article 4 of the Controlled Drugs Act routes manufacture and import through the Food and Drug Administration's plant.
Documentation: Carry prescribed morphine in the dispensing pharmacy's packaging with the prescription. Article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act exempts a traveller's own medicine from the prohibited drug definition, and the quantity limit for that exemption is set by the health ministry with the finance ministry.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表一第一級毒品, 附表一 item 9, and article 2(2)(1) of the Act. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Morphine in Taiwan, full detail →

MXE

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第44項「2-(3-甲氧基苯基)-2-乙胺環己酮（Methoxetamine、2-(3-methoxyphenyl)-2-(ethylamino)cyclohexanone、MXE）」. Methoxetamine is named in full, and the methylamino relative is separately listed at 第228項 with its own isomer bracket covering Methoxmetamine, 2-Methoxy and 4-Methoxy, so two closely related compounds have two entries. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Article 11-1(2) governs simple possession at this tier, an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of education, with article 11(5) taking over at 5 grammes pure weight. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: Methoxetamine has no medical use and no licensed product in Taiwan.
Documentation: No documentation route for a substance with no licensed form.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 44. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

MXE in Taiwan, full detail →

Nicotine

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and reached instead through the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act and the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Nicotine is not scheduled as a narcotic or a controlled drug. It is regulated in two different places depending on the form it takes: as a tobacco product constituent under the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, and as a medicine when sold as a cessation aid under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. The 2023 amendment to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act banned 類菸品, products resembling tobacco, which is the category electronic cigarettes fall into, and set the minimum age for tobacco products at twenty. A nicotine e liquid is therefore prohibited rather than age restricted. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Nicotine patches, gum and lozenges are licensed medicines. Nicotine e liquid marketed as a therapeutic product without a licence is an unapproved drug under article 39 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.
Documentation: A traveller carrying nicotine e liquid or a vaping device is carrying a prohibited product, not a controlled drug. Cessation patches and gum travel as ordinary medicines.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, articles 15 to 17, and Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, article 39. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Nicotine in Taiwan, full detail →

Nimetazepam

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第23項「硝甲西泮（硝甲氮平）（Nimetazepam）」. Nimetazepam is Category 3, one tier above the ordinary benzodiazepines in Category 4, along with 第17項「氟硝西泮（Flunitrazepam）」 and 第246項「甲氯硝西泮（Meclonazepam）」. The nitro substituted members of the class are graded higher than the rest. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. That split is the single most useful thing to know about benzodiazepine grading here. Flunitrazepam and nimetazepam are article 4(3) substances at seven years upward, while diazepam and alprazolam are article 4(4) substances at five to twelve years. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: Nimetazepam holds no Taiwanese marketing licence and there is no domestic prescribing route.
Documentation: No traveller route. A foreign supply is a Category 3 narcotic on arrival.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 item 23. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Nimetazepam in Taiwan, full detail →

Nitrous Oxide

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and controlled instead under the Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act. Nitrous oxide is not a narcotic in Taiwan and is not a controlled drug. It is a 關注化學物質, a chemical substance of concern, register number L001-01, CAS 10024-97-2, first announced on 30 October 2020 and re announced on 12 January 2023. It was the first substance Taiwan ever placed in that category. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. The controlled activities are manufacture, import, sale, use and storage, each needing approval, with monthly reporting and a container warning reading 「限工業用、禁止吸食」, for industrial use only, inhalation prohibited. Online and mail order sale is prohibited outright. Operating without approval, failing to report or failing to label draws NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under article 61, and selling through an online platform draws NT$60,000 to NT$300,000 under article 60 with repeat penalties. Military use and rocket propellant use are carved out. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Medical nitrous oxide for anaesthesia and dental sedation is a legitimate declared use inside the approval regime. It is not dispensed to patients.
Documentation: Whipped cream chargers are the retail form and they are inside the regime. Carrying them for inhalation is the conduct the labelling requirement was written against.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act, articles 25 to 28, 60 and 61, register entry L001-01. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Nitrous Oxide in Taiwan, full detail →

Opium

Legal status: Category 1 narcotic (第一級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表一第8項「鴉片（阿片）（Opium）」. Opium is graded twice by strength. Raw opium is Category 1 at item 8, while 附表四第47項「鴉片（Opium）複方製劑含量每 100 毫升（或 100 公克）0.5 公克以上」 puts a compound preparation holding 0.5 grammes or more per 100 millilitres in Category 4. Below that concentration the preparation falls out of the schedules altogether. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: Article 4(1). Category 1 is the top tier. Article 4(1) punishes manufacture, transport or sale by death or life imprisonment, with a fine of up to NT$30 million where life is imposed. Article 5(1) punishes possession with intent to sell by life or ten years upward. Article 10(1) punishes use by six months to five years. Article 11(1) punishes simple possession by up to three years, and article 11(3) raises that to one to seven years once the pure weight reaches 10 grammes. Article 8(1) punishes transfer to another person by one to seven years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Cultivation is its own offence. Article 12(1) punishes growing the opium poppy with intent to supply drug manufacture by life or seven years upward, and article 14(3) punishes mere possession of poppy seed by up to two years. Both reach this substance and there is no quantity threshold for either. Article 4(1) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第一級毒品者，處死刑或無期徒刑；處無期徒刑者，得併科新臺幣三千萬元以下罰金」, death or life for manufacturing, transporting or selling a Category 1 narcotic, with no weight stated anywhere in the article. It is not mandatory: the article gives the court a choice between death and life. Two further routes to a death sentence exist. Article 6(1) reads 「以強暴、脅迫、欺瞞或其他非法之方法使人施用第一級毒品者，處死刑、無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑」, death, life or ten years upward for forcing or deceiving another person into using a Category 1 narcotic. Article 15(1) reads 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」, death or life for a public official who abuses office to commit those offences. Life alone is also reached by article 5(1) for possession with intent to sell. One qualification on the floor rather than the ceiling: Constitutional Court judgment 112年憲判字第13號 of 11 August 2023 held article 4(1) unconstitutional as applied where the circumstances are extremely minor, because life remained the floor even after Criminal Code article 59 mitigation, and directed amendment within two years. That deadline passed on 11 August 2025 and the Act's last amendment remains 4 May 2022, so the judgment's own interim rule, a further reduction of up to one half, is what applies.
If prescribed / medical: Opium is 第一級管制藥品 at item 8 of the controlled drugs list. Compound opium preparations are dispensed under the lower controlled drug tier that matches their strength.
Documentation: A traveller carrying a compound opium preparation should carry the prescription and the packaging that states the concentration, because the concentration is what decides the tier.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表一第一級毒品, 附表一 item 8 and 附表四 item 47. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Opium in Taiwan, full detail →

Oxycodone

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第122項「羥二氫可待因酮（羥可酮）（Oxycodone）」. Oxycodone is Category 2. This is a full tier above where the substance is usually assumed to sit by analogy with tramadol, which is Category 4, and it is the same tier as methadone and morphine derivatives. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Because oxycodone is a Category 2 narcotic, the 20 gramme pure weight threshold at article 11(4) applies rather than the 5 gramme threshold used for the lower two tiers, and simple possession without a lawful reason is a criminal offence under article 11(2) rather than the administrative fine of article 11-1. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Oxycodone is 第二級管制藥品 and is prescribed for severe pain through the controlled drug regime, with import and manufacture routed through the Food and Drug Administration's plant under article 4 of the Controlled Drugs Act.
Documentation: Carry prescribed oxycodone in its dispensed packaging with the prescription. The prescription is what supplies the 「正當理由」 that article 11 requires.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 122. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Oxycodone in Taiwan, full detail →

PCP

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第126項「苯環利定（Phencyclidine、PCP）」. The pyrrolidine analogue 第151項「Rolicyclidine、PCPY、PHP」 is also Category 2, while the hydroxy and methoxy analogues are a tier lower, 附表三第223項「羥基-苯環利定（HO-PCP）」 and 第225項「甲氧基苯環利定（MeO-PCP）」, each carrying its own positional isomer list. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The split across tiers is deliberate and it means that naming a substance 3-MeO-PCP rather than PCP moves it from article 4(2) to article 4(3), from life or ten years upward down to seven years upward. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Phencyclidine is a controlled drug with no human medical use in Taiwan.
Documentation: No documentation route. Phencyclidine is sometimes present unannounced in material sold as something else, which the traveller cannot check.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 126. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

PCP in Taiwan, full detail →

Peyote

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第133項「配有特（Peyote）」. The cactus is named as a plant, transliterated into Chinese, and graded Category 2 in its own right. It is listed separately from its principal alkaloid 三甲氧苯乙胺（Mescaline）at item 85, so a live plant is a listed narcotic whatever its alkaloid content. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. A named plant entry makes horticulture the exposure. Growing peyote is not cultivation under article 12, which reaches only the opium poppy, coca and cannabis, so possession of a living plant falls under article 11(2) at up to two years. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Peyote is a controlled drug with no medical use and no prescribing route. Taiwan recognises no ceremonial or religious exemption in the Act.
Documentation: An ornamental cactus bought abroad is a Category 2 narcotic on arrival if it is Lophophora. Nothing on a nursery label changes the schedule entry.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 133. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Peyote in Taiwan, full detail →

Phenibut

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and reached instead through the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Phenibut is in neither Taiwanese drug list and holds no Taiwanese marketing licence. It is neither a scheduled narcotic nor a licensed medicine, which leaves it in the unapproved drug category rather than in a legal one. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. Sold as a nootropic supplement, it is a drug in substance. Importing it without approval makes it a 禁藥 under article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, and article 83(1) punishes knowingly selling, supplying, transporting or holding one with up to seven years and a fine of up to NT$50 million. Article 83(3) reaches the same conduct committed negligently with up to two years. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: No phenibut product is licensed in Taiwan, so there is no prescription route and no pharmacy supply.
Documentation: A supplement label does not convert a drug into a food. The traveller proviso in article 22(1)(2) is written for a person's own medicine, and phenibut carries no prescription to evidence that.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, articles 22, 39 and 83, read for an unlicensed product sold as a supplement. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Phenibut in Taiwan, full detail →

Pink Cocaine / Tusi

Legal status: Not scheduled as such under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): no entry of its own; reached through its constituents and through article 9(3) of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act. Pink cocaine, tusi, is a name for a variable powder rather than a substance, and it usually contains no cocaine at all. Analyses typically find ketamine, 附表三第19項, and MDMA, 附表二第83項, sometimes with caffeine or a synthetic cathinone. Cocaine itself, if present, is 附表一第2項 and Category 1. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: not established. The article that applies is the one for the highest graded component present. Article 4(1) reaches a mixture carrying a Category 1 component at death or life, article 4(2) a Category 2 component at life or ten years upward, and article 4(3) a Category 3 component at seven years upward, and article 9(3) then adds up to one half to whichever of those applies. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Taiwan handles the mixture problem with an express rule, and it is the rule that makes this cell answerable rather than speculative. Article 9(3) provides 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where an offence under articles 4 to 8 involves a mixture of two or more narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade present applies, and is increased by up to one half. So a ketamine and MDMA powder is charged at the Category 2 rate with up to half again added, not at the Category 3 rate. Both reach this, and which of them applies is decided by a component the purchaser cannot see. Here the mixture is the thing itself rather than an adulterated single drug, so article 9(3) is not a qualification but the operative rule: 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, the offence is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest graded narcotic present, with up to one half added. A sample carrying any Category 1 component is therefore charged under article 4(1), 「製造、運輸、販賣第一級毒品者，處死刑或無期徒刑」, death or life, with no quantity threshold and with up to one half added on top. A ketamine and MDMA sample with no Category 1 component reaches life through article 4(2) instead. Neither is mandatory. There is no quantity at which this becomes safe, because the grade follows the worst thing in the powder and not the amount of it.
If prescribed / medical: There is no lawful supply of the mixture and therefore no prescription route. Ketamine alone is a licensed anaesthetic.
Documentation: The composition varies batch to batch, so the grade varies batch to batch. A purchaser cannot know which tier a given bag falls into, and article 9(3) means the worst component sets the answer for the whole of it.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4 and 9(3), with 附表一, 附表二 and 附表三, 附表一 item 2, 附表二 item 83, 附表三 item 19, and article 9(3) of the Act. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Pink Cocaine / Tusi in Taiwan, full detail →

Poppers

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and reached instead through the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Poppers is a retail name rather than a substance, covering isobutyl, isopentyl and amyl nitrite and whatever else a given bottle contains. No alkyl nitrite appears in either Taiwanese drug list, so none of them is a narcotic or a controlled drug. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. Because there is no schedule entry, there is no narcotics offence and no capital or life question to answer. The live exposure is the prohibited drug route: an unapproved imported product is a 禁藥 under article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, and article 83(1) reaches knowingly selling or supplying one with up to seven years and a fine of up to NT$50 million. Sale as a room deodoriser or leather cleaner does not avoid that if the product is in truth a drug. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: There is no licensed poppers product and therefore no prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: A bottle in baggage is an unapproved drug rather than a scheduled one. Nothing in the drug schedules names it, and nothing in the medicines regime licenses it.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, articles 22 and 83, read for the alkyl nitrites as a group. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Poppers in Taiwan, full detail →

Pregabalin

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and regulated instead as a prescription medicine under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Pregabalin is a licensed prescription medicine in Taiwan and sits outside both drug regimes. Unlike in several other jurisdictions that moved it into a controlled class, Taiwan has not scheduled it as at the list dates read for this cell. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. The absence is worth stating precisely rather than as reassurance. It means there is no narcotics offence, and it also means the quarterly review under article 2(3) of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act could add it, so the answer is dated rather than permanent. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Pregabalin is dispensed on prescription for neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia and as an adjunct antiepileptic, through ordinary pharmacy channels with no controlled drug paperwork.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed supply in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, within the personal quantity the traveller proviso to article 22(1)(2) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act allows.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, articles 22, 39 and 83, read for a substance other jurisdictions have scheduled and Taiwan has not. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Pregabalin in Taiwan, full detail →

Psilocybin

Legal status: Controlled under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) across more than one grade, at 附表二第147項「西洛西賓（Psilocybine）」 and 附表三第322項「羥基-N,N-二甲基色胺（Hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine、Bufotenine、HO-DMT）【包含其異構物 5-HO-DMT、4-Hydroxy、6-Hydroxy、7-Hydroxy】」. The two alkaloids of the same mushroom are graded one tier apart. Psilocybin is Category 2 by name. Psilocin, its active metabolite, has no entry of its own and is caught as the 4-Hydroxy isomer inside the Category 3 bufotenine entry. The controlled drugs list records the move expressly, its item 146 reading 「（刪除）（Psilocine）併入第三級第 321 項」. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(3) reaches a Category 3 narcotic at seven years upward and article 4(4) reaches a Category 4 narcotic at five to twelve years, both fixed term. Article 15 attaches death or life only to an offence «described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1», so it does not reach article 4(3) or article 4(4) and the civil-servant aggravation is unavailable here. No limb reaches death on this row. Which article applies depends on which member of the class is in hand. Manufacture, transport or sale is article 4(3) at seven years upward for a Category 3 member and article 4(4) at five to twelve years for a Category 4 member. For a Category 2 member it is article 4(2) at life or ten years upward. Simple possession of a Category 3 or Category 4 narcotic is not a crime: article 11-1(2) makes it an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education, and articles 11(5) and 11(6) turn it criminal at 5 grammes pure weight. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Because a mushroom contains both, a sample can be charged at either tier and article 9(3) applies where two or more graded narcotics are mixed, taking the higher grade and adding up to half again. Neither reaches any Category 3 or Category 4 member of this class, at any quantity. Article 4(3) is seven years upward and article 4(4) is five to twelve years, both fixed term, and the public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), giving these limbs only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half. Any member of the class that is Category 2 is a different answer: it reaches life directly through article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑」, and it reaches death through article 15(1) where the offender is a public official abusing office. The tier of the particular compound decides it and the class name decides nothing. One point about the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade present, with up to one half added.
If prescribed / medical: Psilocybin is a controlled drug with no accepted medical use in Taiwan and no prescribing route. No psilocybin trial medicine is licensed here.
Documentation: Dried mushrooms, spore prints and grow kits all reach the same entries. There is no quantity of mushroom material that is outside the schedule.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表二, 附表三 and 附表四, 附表二 item 147 with 附表三 item 322. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Psilocybin in Taiwan, full detail →

Quetiapine

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and regulated instead as a prescription medicine under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Quetiapine is a licensed prescription antipsychotic in Taiwan and is in neither drug list. It is a medicine, and nothing in the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act reaches it. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. No narcotics offence exists for quetiapine in any quantity. Supplying it outside the licensed channel is a medicines offence, and article 83(1) of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act reaches knowingly selling or supplying an unapproved imported supply with up to seven years. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Quetiapine is dispensed on prescription for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and as an adjunct in depression, with no controlled drug paperwork.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed supply in its dispensed packaging with the prescription. Psychiatric medicines are ordinary medicines for customs purposes here.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, articles 22, 39 and 83, read for a licensed prescription antipsychotic. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Quetiapine in Taiwan, full detail →

Salvia divinorum

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三第340項「墨西哥鼠尾草（Salvia divinorum）」 and 第341項「沙維諾林 A（Salvinorin A）」. Both the plant and its active diterpene are named, in adjacent entries, and both are Category 3. The plant entry uses the botanical binomial, so it is the species rather than a preparation that is controlled. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. A living plant is the listed article. Salvia divinorum is not within article 12, which reaches only the opium poppy, coca and cannabis, so growing it falls under article 11-1(2) as an administrative fine rather than as cultivation. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: Neither entry has a licensed medicine or a prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No personal import route for seed, cutting or dried leaf. The plant is sold as an ornamental in some markets.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三 items 340 and 341. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Salvia divinorum in Taiwan, full detail →

Scopolamine (Devil's Breath)

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and regulated instead as a medicine under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Scopolamine, also called hyoscine, is a licensed medicine in Taiwan and is in neither drug list. It is used as a transdermal patch for motion sickness and as an injectable antispasmodic and premedication. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. No narcotics offence reaches scopolamine. Where it appears in a criminal case it is as the means of an offence against the person rather than as a scheduled drug, and the charge comes from the Criminal Code rather than from the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Scopolamine patches and hyoscine butylbromide tablets are licensed products, sold on prescription or as pharmacy medicines depending on the product licence.
Documentation: Carry a motion sickness patch in its retail packaging. Nothing more is required for a personal quantity.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, articles 22, 39 and 83, read for a licensed antimuscarinic. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Scopolamine (Devil's Breath) in Taiwan, full detail →

Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice)

Legal status: Category 3 narcotic (第三級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表三, 56 entries matched across the indole, indazole, naphthoyl and carboxamide families. Every synthetic cannabinoid found in the four schedules sits in Category 3, from 第26項 JWH-018 through the indazole carboxamide series and the tetramethylcyclopropyl series to 第355項 MDMB-BUTINACA. The class is enumerated compound by compound, with positional isomer brackets used heavily, and there is no generic structural definition anywhere. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(3) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 3 narcotic by seven years upward, with a fine of up to NT$10 million. Article 5(3) punishes possession with intent to sell by three to ten years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 3 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(5) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to two years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. The absence of a generic definition is the class's weakness and its reader relevance. A compound not on the list and not an isomer, ester, ether or salt of one is outside the Act until the next quarterly review under article 2(3) reaches it. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity. Article 4(3), the Category 3 trafficking limb, reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第三級毒品者，處七年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千萬元以下罰金」, seven years upward, with no life and no death. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) does not change that: its first sentence attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1), and its second sentence gives an article 4(3) offence only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot produce a capital or a life sentence from a fixed term floor. One qualification, and it is about the charge rather than about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. So holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is charged at the article 4(1) rate. The capital exposure in that case is supplied by the Category 1 component, which carried it already; what article 9(3) adds is that this material is swept into the same charge rather than treated separately.
If prescribed / medical: No synthetic cannabinoid has a licensed medicine or a prescribing route in Taiwan.
Documentation: No personal import route. Herbal blends and vape liquids carry no reliable indication of which compound is present, and an unlisted analogue and a listed one look identical to a purchaser.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表三第三級毒品, 附表三, 56 matched entries. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2 / Spice) in Taiwan, full detail →

THC-P

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent by name from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list. Tetrahydrocannabiphorol is not named anywhere in either list. The question is whether 附表二第155項「四氫大麻酚（Tetrahydrocannabinols、THCs）【包括其異構物及立體化學變體】」 reaches it, and this cell cannot settle that. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. The argument each way is worth setting out because the answer decides between no offence at all and article 4(2) at life or ten years upward. Against coverage: THC-P is a seven carbon side chain homologue, not an isomer or a stereochemical variant, and the schedule itself names homologues separately, 四氫大麻丙酚（THCV）at 附表三第353項, 四氫大麻己酚（Parahexyl）at 附表二第125項 and 六氫大麻己酚（HHCH）at 附表二第224項, each of which would be redundant if the plural heading swept homologues in. For coverage: the entry is written in the plural, Tetrahydrocannabinols and THCs, which a court could read as a class rather than as delta 9 and its isomers. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: No licensed medicine and no prescribing route in Taiwan. No cannabinoid medicine of any kind holds a domestic marketing licence.
Documentation: A traveller cannot resolve this at a border. The prudent reading is that a THC-P product is likely to be treated as a Category 2 narcotic, and the honest statement is that the text does not settle it.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, 附表二 item 155 read against 附表二 items 125 and 224 and 附表三 item 353. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

THC-P in Taiwan, full detail →

Tobacco

Legal status: Not controlled as a narcotic under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例): absent from all four narcotics schedules and from the controlled drugs grades and items list, and regulated instead under the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act. Tobacco is a licensed consumer product regulated under the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, last amended 15 February 2023, not under any drug schedule. The 2023 amendment raised the age from eighteen to twenty and banned electronic cigarettes outright. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. No article of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act applies, because articles 4 to 11 operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules and this substance is in none of them. Article 16(1) provides 「未滿二十歲之人及孕婦，不得吸菸」, that persons under twenty and pregnant women may not smoke. Article 17(1) provides 「任何人不得供應菸品、指定菸品必要之組合元件予未滿二十歲之人」, that no person may supply tobacco products to anyone under twenty. A person under twenty who smokes is directed to cessation education under article 48 rather than fined, and a minor's parent or guardian must attend. Neither reaches this substance, and not because the penalty is low but because no narcotics offence applies to it at all, at any quantity. Articles 4 to 11 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act operate only on substances graded in the Act's four schedules, and the death and life penalties live in article 4(1) for Category 1, article 6(1) for forced administration of a Category 1 narcotic, article 4(2) for life on Category 2, and article 15(1) for a public official committing an article 4(2) or article 6(1) offence. None of those can be engaged by a substance with no schedule entry. The one qualification is article 9(3), 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: if this substance is held mixed with substances that are graded, the charge is built on those, takes the highest grade among them and adds up to one half, and this substance is swept into that charge rather than giving rise to one of its own.
If prescribed / medical: Nicotine replacement products are medicines and are dealt with under the nicotine entry. Tobacco itself has no medical route.
Documentation: Personal import allowances for tobacco are a customs and tax matter. The heated tobacco category is admissible only after health risk assessment approval, and unapproved heated tobacco products are prohibited.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2 and 4, read to establish absence, with 附表一 to 附表四, Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, articles 16, 17 and 48. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Tobacco in Taiwan, full detail →

Tramadol

Legal status: Category 4 narcotic (第四級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表四第69項「特拉嗎竇（Tramadol）」. Tramadol is Category 4, the lowest narcotics tier, which puts it three tiers below oxycodone at 附表二第122項 and two tiers below buprenorphine at 附表三第3項. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(4) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 4 narcotic by five to twelve years, with a fine of up to NT$5 million. Article 5(4) punishes possession with intent to sell by one to seven years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 4 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(6) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to one year. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Because it is Category 4, article 11-1(2) applies to simple possession as an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 with four to eight hours of education, and the criminal threshold under article 11(6) is 5 grammes pure weight, which for a 50 milligramme capsule is 100 capsules. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity, and the Category 4 tier is the furthest from them. Article 4(4) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第四級毒品者，處五年以上十二年以下有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣五百萬元以下罰金」, five to twelve years, a fixed term with a ceiling. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1); for an article 4(4) offence its second sentence gives only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot reach life from a twelve year ceiling. The one qualification is about the charge and not about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. Holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is therefore charged at the article 4(1) rate, but the capital exposure there is supplied by the Category 1 component and not by this one.
If prescribed / medical: Tramadol is a licensed analgesic dispensed as a Category 4 controlled drug in Taiwan.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed supply in its dispensed packaging with the prescription. Tramadol is available over the counter in some neighbouring countries and is a controlled narcotic here.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表四第四級毒品, 附表四 item 69. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Tramadol in Taiwan, full detail →

Xanax (Alprazolam)

Legal status: Category 4 narcotic (第四級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表四第2項「阿普唑他（Alprazolam）」. Alprazolam is one of only two substances article 2(2) names when it defines the Category 4 tier in the Act's own text, 「第四級二丙烯基巴比妥、阿普唑他及其相類製品」, so its grade is fixed in the statute itself rather than only in the schedule. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(4) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 4 narcotic by five to twelve years, with a fine of up to NT$5 million. Article 5(4) punishes possession with intent to sell by one to seven years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 4 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(6) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to one year. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Article 11-1(2) governs simple possession at this tier as it does at Category 3: an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 and four to eight hours of drug hazard education, becoming a criminal offence at 5 grammes pure weight under article 11(6). Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity, and the Category 4 tier is the furthest from them. Article 4(4) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第四級毒品者，處五年以上十二年以下有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣五百萬元以下罰金」, five to twelve years, a fixed term with a ceiling. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1); for an article 4(4) offence its second sentence gives only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot reach life from a twelve year ceiling. The one qualification is about the charge and not about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. Holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is therefore charged at the article 4(1) rate, but the capital exposure there is supplied by the Category 1 component and not by this one.
If prescribed / medical: Alprazolam is a licensed anxiolytic dispensed as a controlled drug in Taiwan, with an import or export licence required for any controlled handling.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed supply in its dispensed packaging with the prescription. That is what supplies the proper reason article 11-1 requires.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表四第四級毒品, 附表四 item 2, and article 2(2)(4) of the Act. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Xanax (Alprazolam) in Taiwan, full detail →

Xylazine

Legal status: Category 2 narcotic (第二級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表二第241項「賽拉嗪（Xylazine）」. Xylazine is scheduled as a Category 2 narcotic in its own right. That is unusual internationally, where it is more often left to veterinary medicines control, and it puts a veterinary sedative in the same tier as methamphetamine. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: article 15, and only where the offender is a civil servant abusing office. [Certain] Re-derived in this pass: articles 4 and 15 were read at law.moj.gov.tw on 21 September 2026. Article 4(2), the limb that reaches a Category 2 narcotic, provides «life imprisonment or a minimum ten-year fixed-term imprisonment» and no death penalty at all. Article 15 provides that «civil servants convicted of committing offenses described in Article 4 Paragraph 2 or Article 6 Paragraph 1 under the pretexts of their authority, opportunities, or means given to the position shall be punished with a death penalty, or life imprisonment». That is the only route by which death reaches this row, and it is unavailable to an ordinary offender. Article 4(1), which does carry death on its own wording, reaches Category 1 only and this substance is not in Category 1. Article 4(2) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 2 narcotic by life imprisonment or ten years upward, with a fine of up to NT$15 million. Article 5(2) punishes possession with intent to sell by five years upward. Article 10(2) punishes use by up to three years. Article 11(2) punishes simple possession by up to two years, and article 11(4) raises that to six months to five years once the pure weight reaches 20 grammes. Article 8(2) punishes transfer by six months to five years. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Because the narcotics grading reaches it directly, a xylazine adulterated opioid sample engages article 9(3), the mixture rule, and takes the higher of the two grades with up to half again added. Life reaches this substance directly and the death penalty reaches it by one route, so the common statement that capital exposure in Taiwan is confined to Category 1 is wrong here. Life comes from article 4(2), 「製造、運輸、販賣第二級毒品者，處無期徒刑或十年以上有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣一千五百萬元以下罰金」, life or ten years upward for manufacture, transport or sale, with no weight threshold. The death penalty comes from article 15(1), 「公務員假借職務上之權力、機會或方法犯第四條第二項或第六條第一項之罪者，處死刑或無期徒刑」: a public official who abuses the power, opportunity or methods of office to commit an article 4(2) offence faces death or life. Article 4(2) is the Category 2 trafficking limb, so what the death penalty turns on there is the offender's status rather than the drug's grade, and for anyone in that position the exposure is real. A separate point concerns the charge rather than the substance: article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」, so an offence involving a mixture of two or more graded narcotics is charged at the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them with up to one half added, and a Category 1 component brings the whole charge under article 4(1). Neither the life route nor the death route is mandatory; each offers the court a choice.
If prescribed / medical: Xylazine is a veterinary sedative. Its Category 2 narcotics listing means veterinary handling runs through the controlled drug regime and not through ordinary veterinary medicines supply.
Documentation: There is no human prescription and therefore no human documentation route.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, with 附表二第二級毒品, 附表二 item 241. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Xylazine in Taiwan, full detail →

Zolpidem

Legal status: Category 4 narcotic (第四級毒品) under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), named at 附表四第65項「佐沛眠（Zolpidem）」. Zolpidem is Category 4 by name. Its fellow Z drugs are graded with it, 第63項「唑匹可隆（Zopiclone）」 and 第70項「札來普隆（Zaleplon）」, so the non benzodiazepine hypnotics sit in the same tier as the benzodiazepines they replaced. The model: the four grades and their anchor substances are in the Act itself, article 2(2) reading 「毒品依其成癮性、濫用性及對社會危害性，分為四級，其品項如下」, and the full item lists are the Act's own four schedules, 附表一 to 附表四. The power to change them is delegated. Article 2(3) reads 「前項毒品之分級及品項，由法務部會同衛生福利部組成審議委員會，每三個月定期檢討，審議委員會並得將具有成癮性、濫用性、對社會危害性之虞之麻醉藥品與其製品、影響精神物質與其製品及與該等藥品、物質或製品具有類似化學結構之物質進行審議，並經審議通過後，報由行政院公告調整、增減之，並送請立法院查照」, a review committee of the justice and health ministries reviewing every three months, adjustment by Executive Yuan announcement, reported to the Legislative Yuan. The Act was last amended 4 May 2022. The list was last amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026, which moved etomidate and eight related compounds from Category 2 up to Category 1.
Consequences if caught: Capital exposure: none. Article 4(4) punishes manufacture, transport or sale of a Category 4 narcotic by five to twelve years, with a fine of up to NT$5 million. Article 5(4) punishes possession with intent to sell by one to seven years. Use and simple possession are not crimes at this tier: article 11-1(2) makes holding or using a Category 4 narcotic without proper reason an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education. Article 11(6) turns possession criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, up to one year. Article 9(1) increases the penalty by up to one half where an adult sells to a minor, and article 9(2) does the same where the buyer is known to be pregnant. Article 19 confiscates the property used in an article 4 offence and, for an article 4 offence specifically, the vehicle, vessel or aircraft used. Simple possession without a proper reason is article 11-1(2), an administrative fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 plus four to eight hours of drug hazard education, and article 11(6) makes it criminal at 5 grammes pure weight, which for a 10 milligramme tablet is 500 tablets. Neither reaches this substance, at any quantity, and the Category 4 tier is the furthest from them. Article 4(4) reads 「製造、運輸、販賣第四級毒品者，處五年以上十二年以下有期徒刑，得併科新臺幣五百萬元以下罰金」, five to twelve years, a fixed term with a ceiling. The public official aggravation in article 15(1) attaches death or life only to article 4(2) and article 6(1); for an article 4(4) offence its second sentence gives only 「加重其刑至二分之一」, an increase of up to one half, which cannot reach life from a twelve year ceiling. The one qualification is about the charge and not about this substance. Article 9(3) reads 「犯前五條之罪而混合二種以上之毒品者，適用其中最高級別毒品之法定刑，並加重其刑至二分之一」: where the offence involves a mixture of two or more graded narcotics, the statutory penalty of the highest grade among them governs the whole offence, with up to one half added. Holding this substance mixed with a Category 1 narcotic is therefore charged at the article 4(1) rate, but the capital exposure there is supplied by the Category 1 component and not by this one.
If prescribed / medical: Zolpidem is a licensed hypnotic dispensed as a Category 4 controlled drug, with cumulative use tracked centrally to limit long term prescribing.
Documentation: Carry a prescribed supply in its dispensed packaging with the prescription. Zolpidem is one of the most commonly prescribed medicines in Taiwan, so the domestic route is straightforward for a resident.

毒品危害防制條例 (Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act), last amended 4 May 2022, articles 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11-1 and 15, with 附表四第四級毒品, 附表四 item 65. The four schedules and the Act text were read as at the national law database's own data cut of 11 September 2026 · the item lists stand as amended by the Executive Yuan announcement of 25 June 2026, in force 27 June 2026. Read 2026-09-17. · law.moj.gov.tw · law.moj.gov.tw · Updated September 21, 2026

Zolpidem in Taiwan, full detail →

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