Medication legality checker
The people detained for medicines at borders are not smugglers — they're travellers who put a familiar box in a suitcase. Sudafed is a prohibited stimulant in Japan. Codeine is controlled across the Gulf. CBD is a dangerous drug in Hong Kong. Search the medicine, pick the destination, and get the rule, the paperwork by name, and the official source.
Nothing you type here is stored, logged or sent to analytics — searches run against our server and are thrown away. Verdicts assume the medicine is prescribed to you, in your name.
One question, answered properly — and only that question
This tool answers whether a substance is legal to bring into a country and what paperwork it needs. It never tells anyone what to take, what to stop, or what to switch to — that is medicine, and a travel site practising it would be worse than the problem. Where a medicine is prohibited at your destination, the two calls that matter are your prescriber and the destination's embassy, in that order, weeks before you fly.
The paperwork has names, and the names are the answer. “Bring a doctor's note” is what every travel article says, and it is not what Japan's Yakkan Shoumei, the Gulf states' advance approvals, Singapore's 10-working-day HSA clearance or the Schengen Article 75 certificate actually require. Each verdict here names the document, who issues it and how far ahead to start — because the lead time is usually the part that bites.
Nothing you type is stored. What medication someone takes is health data. Searches run against our server, return the match, and are thrown away — no analytics events, no logs, no history. This is a design constraint, not a settings page.
17 destinations held — the ones that actually catch people — with 45 substances searchable by brand or generic name. Every entry names its authority and links its page; entries rest on our research rather than a re-confirmed read of the source, and the cards say so. Controlled-substance schedules move by statutory instrument with little notice, so the strict jurisdictions get the monthly pass. A country or medicine we don't hold gets an honest “we don't hold this” — never a guess. Customs guidance only; not medical advice, and not a substitute for the embassy's answer.
Travelling with medication — common questions
Can I take Sudafed to Japan?
No — standard pseudoephedrine decongestants are prohibited under Japan's Stimulants Control Law, and no permit exists for personal use. This is the single most confiscated medicine we know of, because it's a supermarket item nearly everywhere else. Mexico prohibits it too (as a methamphetamine precursor, since 2008). Leave it at home and buy a local equivalent on arrival.
Can I travel with Adderall?
It depends entirely on the destination, and this is the medicine where 'I have a prescription' helps least. Japan prohibits amphetamine outright — no permit, no exception for prescriptions. The Gulf states require advance electronic approval. Most of Europe and the UK allow it with the prescription and, beyond three months, a licence. If your destination prohibits it, the conversation is with your prescriber and the embassy, well before you fly — not at the airport.
Is codeine illegal in Dubai?
It's controlled, not casually carried: codeine — including the over-the-counter combinations sold at home, like co-codamol and Nurofen Plus — needs MOHAP electronic approval before travel, a maximum 30-day supply and the original prescription. Arriving without the approval is treated as drug possession. The approval is a real, usable online process; the failure mode is not knowing it exists.
Can I bring CBD on my trip?
Check every country on the route, because CBD has the widest legal spread of anything we hold: lawful with THC limits in the UK and (hemp-derived) the US, restricted across the EU, prescription-classified in Australia, and an outright dangerous drug in Hong Kong (banned entirely in 2023), Singapore, the UAE and Japan-in-practice. 'It's just CBD' is not a sentence border officers act on.
What is a Yakkan Shoumei and do I need one for Japan?
Japan's import confirmation certificate for personal medication. You need one for more than one month's supply of prescription medicine, more than two months of OTC medicine, or most injectables. It's arranged by email with a regional bureau before you fly — allow two to three weeks. Narcotic painkillers need a separate narcotics import permit; ADHD stimulants have their own stricter rules.
Can I carry medication for someone else when travelling?
Don't. Prescriptions don't transfer: carrying another person's controlled medication across a border is an offence in several countries we hold, and the person physically holding it is the one who answers for it. This applies with full force to sending medicine in a parcel with a traveller — if a medicine is anything other than plainly permitted at the destination, it should not be handed to someone else to carry.
Do I need to worry about a layover when carrying medication?
Yes, especially if you pass immigration — separate bookings, collecting bags, or an overnight connection all put you legally inside the transit country, where its medicine rules apply to what's in your bag. Even airside, a bag search applies local law. If your route stops somewhere strict — the Gulf, Singapore — check the stop, not just the destination.
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