Is Xylazine legal in Saudi Arabia?

Legal status

Not established under the narcotics law, and the search that failed is recorded rather than summarised. The schedules attached to the Law of Combating Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances, Royal Decree M/39 of 1426 AH, in the version issued on 4 September 2026, were searched from Schedule I to Schedule IV for xylazine and no matching entry was verified. The search record reads «سجل البحث الخاص بـ xylazine: فُحصت الجداول من الأول إلى الرابع ولم يُتحقق من قيد مطابق.», the item specific search record for xylazine, the schedules from the first to the fourth were examined and no matching entry was verified. What was searched: “xylazine”, «زيلازين»; no narcotic, psychotropic, precursor or prohibited plant entry was recovered from the 4 September 2026 schedules. Xylazine is a veterinary sedative and is not an opioid, and in most jurisdictions that have addressed it at all it has been reached through veterinary medicines law rather than through a drugs schedule. Saudi veterinary and medicines controls are separate instruments and this row does not speak to them.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Article 37(I) is the capital route in M/39, it carries no quantity threshold of any kind, and its death sentence is reducible by the court under Article 37(II) to a prison term of not less than fifteen years with the stated lashes and fine. None of that is assigned to this row, because no entry of any of the four kinds was verified for xylazine. The qualification that matters here is one of context. Xylazine is encountered almost entirely as an adulterant in illicit opioid supply, and fentanyl, heroin and morphine are all Schedule I Category A; a sample containing xylazine alongside one of them engages Article 37 through that opioid, and the presence of xylazine neither adds to nor subtracts from that exposure.

If prescribed or medical

The SFDA controlled medicine clearance regime described elsewhere in this table is built on the schedules, and no schedule placement was established for xylazine, so it cannot be attached to that rule and the permit category a xylazine product would fall into is deferred rather than answered. Xylazine is a veterinary medicine and has no human prescription route, so the traveller question would arise only for a veterinary professional, and that is a veterinary medicines import question rather than a narcotics one.

Documentation

No narcotics clearance was established as necessary for xylazine, and that is not permission to import a veterinary sedative. A professional importing veterinary medicines relies on the veterinary and medicines authorisations that govern them, which are outside this row. For any controlled medicine, apply through the SFDA Controlled Drugs System before travelling, carry the clearance and not the prescription alone, and declare it at customs; advance electronic clearance has been required since 1 November 2025. The permit mechanics stated here are the SFDA traveller rules recorded on the current live cell and were not re-derived from the instrument in this pass. The failed schedule search for xylazine was run against the 4 September 2026 schedules on 17 September 2026.

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