Kratom is prohibited narcotics in Norway. The plant, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine all appear on the Norwegian narcotics list, and each of the three carries the same flag against it: Forbudt etter § 5, prohibited under section 5.
Section 5 is the strict end of Norwegian drug regulation. It prohibits manufacture, acquisition, trade, import, export, storage, possession and use. Norway is one of the European countries where consuming the substance is itself part of what the prohibition forbids, rather than something the law reaches only through possession.
The instrument
The narcotics list, narkotikalisten, is an annex to the narcotics regulation, forskrift 14 February 2013 no. 199. It is amended a few times a year, and in some years not at all, and it is the operative document: a substance is narcotics in Norway because it appears there. Read the consolidated version on Lovdata rather than any single amending regulation. At the date below, the consolidated text records its most recent change as FOR-2026-08-26-1682, in force from 1 September 2026, and all three kratom entries survive it unchanged.
Three entries concern kratom. Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), with no CAS number, because it is a plant rather than a compound. Mitragynin, CAS 4098-40-2. And 7-hydroksymitragynin (7-HMG), CAS 174418-82-7. Each is marked Forbudt etter § 5.
All three were added on 11 December 2023, by an amending regulation made by the Norwegian Medicines Agency under section 4 of the narcotics regulation. The amendment says the substances were added following a national consultation, and it took effect immediately. Immediate commencement is the norm for this list rather than the exception, so read that as routine drafting and not as a signal of urgency.
The list is explicit that the name is what counts. Its own explanatory note says that every substance on the list is narcotics, that CAS numbers are supplementary information to help identify substances, and that it is the substance name in the list that is decisive.
A national listing, not a treaty one
Many entries on the Norwegian list carry a second marking showing which United Nations convention schedule they come from. Cocaine, for example, is marked N I, and heroin N I+IV. The three kratom entries carry no such marking.
That is deliberate, and the regulation explains the mechanism. Substances, plants and drugs are entered on the list where they fall under the 1961 or 1971 conventions, and other substances are included as national listings where they have, or are assumed to have, a similar effect to the substances the conventions cover.
Kratom is in Norway’s list because Norway put it there, not because a treaty required it.
What section 5 prohibits
The provision is headed Forbudt narkotika, særlige kontrolltiltak, prohibited narcotics and special control measures. Its first paragraph prohibits the manufacture, acquisition, trade, import, export, storage, possession and use of narcotics listed with a reference to that provision, under section 22, second paragraph, of the Medicines Act.
The second paragraph gives the main route out. The Ministry may make exceptions, either by regulation or by individual decision, where there is a medical or scientific need. Where an exception is granted, the import and export certificate requirements in section 9 still apply.
There is one further carve-out, in the fourth paragraph: section 5 does not apply to a traveller bringing in medicines containing narcotics for their own personal medical use, under section 19. That provision requires the medicine to have been prescribed by a doctor or dentist, so it opens nothing for kratom, but it is there and a page that describes what happens at a Norwegian border should say so.
Beyond those, there is no exception available to a person who wants to buy kratom to take, and no prescription route. The mechanism is worth stating precisely, because the list has no parts: it is one table, and what differs is the marking in its third column. Entries without that marking, such as morphine and codeine, remain available on prescription. All three kratom entries carry it.
What this means in practice
There is no lawful retail market for kratom in Norway, and no Norwegian shop can sell it.
Ordering it from a Dutch, German or other foreign webshop is importing prohibited narcotics, and it makes no difference in Norway that the seller was acting lawfully where the parcel was posted.
Do not read that as a list of places where kratom may be sold freely. Sweden, to take the nearest example, controls mitragynine as a narcotic and added the plant itself in March 2025, which our Sweden page sets out. A Nordic seller is no more likely to be lawful than any other.
Having it and using it are both inside the prohibition, not merely evidence of an import that happened earlier. That is worth knowing before crossing a Norwegian border, because it means the question is not only how the material got to you.
Because the list names the plant as well as both alkaloids, leaf, powder, capsules and extracts are all covered.
How current this is
This page rests on the narcotics regulation and its list as published by Lovdata, read on the verification date at the top. The list is amended by regulation a few times a year, so the date matters.
This page does not state the penalties. Norwegian drug offences sit in the Medicines Act and the Penal Code, and we did not read those provisions.
If a later amending regulation changes any of this, write to editorial@wikikratom.com and we will update the page and credit the correction.