Is Xylazine legal in United Kingdom?
- Legal status
- Xylazine is regulated in the UK as a veterinary medicine, not as a controlled drug: it is a Prescription-Only Medicine – Veterinarian (POM-V) authorised by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate under the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 and does not currently appear on any schedule of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The ACMD recommended (February 2024, reaffirmed October 2025) that xylazine be added to Class C / Schedule 4 Part 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations — an emerging human-use control not yet enacted.
- Consequences if caught
- Because xylazine is not a controlled drug, street possession attracts no Misuse of Drugs Act penalty; unauthorised supply of a POM-V is a veterinary-medicines offence rather than drug trafficking, though its spread as a 'tranq' adulterant in illicit opioids drove the ACMD's control recommendation.
- If prescribed or medical
- Supplied only on a veterinary surgeon's prescription following clinical assessment of an animal under the vet's care; there is no authorised human indication for xylazine.
- Documentation
- Xylazine injectables (e.g. Rompun, Chanazine, Nerfasin) are VMD-authorised POM-V veterinary products dispensed by veterinary surgeons and pharmacists; no human-medicine authorisation exists.
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