Kratom in Denmark
Kratom Legal Status
Regulated as controlled substance, only permitted to persons, companies, laboratories and institutions that have been authorized by the Danish Medicines Agency.
Law
Executive Order 174, amending the Act on Euphoric Substances
Where to buy kratom in Denmark
Shipments are allowed when sent from an European Union member state where kratom is legal, regulated by the EU customs union in the Lisbon Treaty.
National drug strategy & laws
Denmark’s national illicit drug policy covers prevention and early intervention, treatment, harm reduction and law enforcement. Currently, Denmark does not have a national drug strategy document. However, the national drug policy is defined in strategic documents in different policy areas and in legislation and concrete actions. As a result, Danish drug policy covers the areas that are part of a comprehensive approach to drug issues.
Denmark has no special body with the sole task of coordinating drug policy. The Ministry of Health is responsible for central coordination in the drugs field. Coordination is based on frequent informal contact between relevant national authorities. The Ministry of Health is also responsible for legislation governing controlled substances; monitoring the legal use of controlled substances; and tasks at the national level concerning drug use prevention and medical drug use treatment, including, but not limited to, the treatment of drug users and harm reduction interventions.
At a local level, the municipalities are responsible for carrying out prevention and harm reduction interventions, as well as the medical and social treatment of drug users, which is the responsibility of the regions during hospitalisation.
In the Consolidated Act on Controlled Substances of 2016, the import, export, sale, purchase, delivery, receipt, production, processing and possession of drugs are defined as criminal offences. The penalty under this act is a fine or imprisonment for a maximum of 2 years. Drug use is not mentioned as an offence. Illegal possession for personal use usually results in a fine, the size of which varies depending on the type and quantity of drugs involved and prior offences.
Medical prescription of heroin to people with a drug dependency has been legally possible since 2008, and legislation enabling the establishment and operation of drug consumption rooms has been in place since 2012. In 2016, the law was amended to allow assisted injection by another person (staff excluded) in drug consumption rooms.
Since 2012, group bans in the Act on Controlled Substances can apply a generic classification to control certain new psychoactive substances entering the country.
National treatment policy
The main goals of Danish drug treatment policy are to achieve a reduction in drug use or to attain full abstinence through enhanced use of psychosocial interventions and systematic follow-up of treatment, and to tackle problems other than those of illicit drug use. The municipalities are responsible for organising both the social and medical treatment of drug users, while the regions are responsible for psychiatric, primary and public healthcare.
Access to drug treatment within 14 days of the first contact or request is guaranteed for drug users over the age of 18 and, in some cases, for users who are under 18. People who are entitled to treatment may choose between public and private treatment programmes within the framework of a prescribed treatment plan, which is free of charge to the client. Drug treatment includes medical and social interventions and is delivered with close cooperation between the health and social sectors.
The most prevalent approaches to drug treatment in Denmark are cognitive, socio-educational and solution focused. Opioid users are predominantly treated in opioid substitution treatment (OST) programmes, in which pharmacological treatment is accompanied by psychosocial counselling. Outpatient treatment is available through specialised drug treatment centres, in drop-in centres and in low-threshold services. Inpatient treatment services mainly provide assessment for OST, focus on detoxification and provide non-hospital-based residential treatment programmes (such as ‘halfway houses’).
The majority of clients in OST are treated with methadone. However, among new OST clients, the proportions treated with methadone and with buprenorphine-based medication are about equal. Approximately 575 clients were admitted for heroin-assisted treatment in 2017.
“Shipments are allowed when sent from an European Union member state where kratom is legal, regulated by the EU customs union in the Lisbon Treaty.”
Could you point me towards the section of the treaty which covers this? I have used kava and I am pretty sure that it is the same loophole that allows for import for personal use while sale and distribution is illegal. kratom on the other hand is directly on the anti-drug act which may make a difference, no?
“Title I, Article 2:
1. When the Treaties confer on the Union exclusive competence in a specific area, only the Union
may legislate and adopt legally binding acts, the Member States being able to do so themselves only
if so empowered by the Union or for the implementation of Union acts.
2. When the Treaties confer on the Union a competence shared with the Member States in a
specific area, the Union and the Member States may legislate and adopt legally binding acts in that
area. The Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not
exercised its competence. The Member States shall again exercise their competence to the extent
that the Union has decided to cease exercising its competence.”
“Title II, Article 28:
The Union shall comprise a customs union which shall cover all trade in goods and which shall
involve the prohibition between Member States of customs duties on imports and exports and of all
charges having equivalent effect, and the adoption of a common customs tariff in their relations with
third countries.”
“Article 29:
Products coming from a third country shall be considered to be in free circulation in a Member State
if the import formalities have been complied with and any customs duties or charges having
equivalent effect which are payable have been levied in that Member State, and if they have not
benefited from a total or partial drawback of such duties or charges.”
Therefore, the export of a product that is legal in a member State to another is guaranteed by the Lisbon Treaty. Indeed it’s a grey area if you consider the national law of each country, but again: if legal in an EU country of origin, crossing the border into another EU member State is legally allowed for the product.
So, do I understand it correct – it would be legal to bring Kratom from Germany (legal), to Denmark? I’m a bit scared, cause I’ll fly to denmark in a few days. I need the Kratom for pain issues and it wouldn’t be much, maybe 10 Grams..
Kratom be banned in Denmark in 2009