Is Tramadol legal in United Arab Emirates?

Also known as: ultram

Legal status

Tramadol appears twice in Decision No. 158 of 2025. It is placed at Schedule 8, item 79, at the printed entry «ترامادول» with the chemical name the dossier renders as (+/-)cis-2-[(dimethylamino)methyl]-1-(3-methoxyphenyl)cyclohexanol, and it appears again at Schedule 9, item 20, where the instrument states route specific quantities of 600 mg intravenous and 400 mg oral or rectal. The Schedule 9 figures are the most detailed medicines quantities the dossier carries for any row in this table, and they are separate from the penalty architecture: Schedule 8 is the placement that carries the articles, and Schedule 9 records quantities. Tramadol is the single most commonly encountered controlled analgesic among travellers to the region, which is why the double listing matters in practice. The row runs through Articles 11, 43 and 58, with Schedule 10 group 3 carrying the penal band. The placements were read on 20 September 2026.

Consequences if caught

Article 58 reaches Schedules 3, 6, 7 and 8, and tramadol's controlling placement is Schedule 8, item 79, so the article applies to the row. The dossier records Article 58 as providing death or life imprisonment as alternatives for its stated trafficking or promotion trigger, so death is discretionary rather than mandatory, and it records that the article states no quantity. None of the figures attached to this substance is a capital threshold: the Schedule 9 route specific quantities of 600 mg intravenous and 400 mg oral or rectal are medicines quantities, and the Schedule 10 group 3 band does not gate Article 58. Three numbers and three purposes sit on this one row, and the capital route uses none of them. Article 43 carries the personal use route, with its tariff unstated.

If prescribed or medical

The dossier records at the modafinil row that a 268 entry ministry travellers list was checked and expressly not used as a schedule. Attached to this substance: tramadol is at Schedule 8, item 79, and Schedule 9, item 20 states 600 mg intravenous and 400 mg oral or rectal. Those figures are route specific, which tells you they are about administration rather than about carriage, but the dossier does not state what they govern or what procedure attaches to them, so they are reported here as printed quantities and not interpreted as a traveller allowance. The permit question is deferred.

Documentation

Carry the prescription and the original dispensing packaging naming tramadol, with a physician's letter giving the daily dose and the route, since the instrument states route specific quantities at Schedule 9, item 20. Provenance: the Schedule 8, item 79 placement, the Schedule 9, item 20 figures of 600 mg intravenous and 400 mg oral or rectal, and the entry «ترامادول» were read on 20 September 2026, with the capital analysis resting on Article 58 and its death or life alternative. Do not treat either Schedule 9 figure as an amount that may be brought in without asking the health ministry what it governs.

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