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Legality of common nootropics in NZ: A huge list!


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19 replies to this topic

#1 Dexedrine

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Posted 15 October 2012 - 08:39 AM


Haven't been onto this forum for a while, and so thought it would be nice to make a contribution. I'm making a list of the common nootropics that are illegal in NZ. Medsafe have a tool on their site that searches the Misuse of Drugs Act and Medicines Regulation Act

Customs often make mistakes, and so sometimes legal substances are mistakenly seized. I must warn that I used the medsafe search engine to check for the drugs common name, chemical name, and common synonym, but still take extreme caution using my guide as legal advice. If something is not listed, I assumed it is legal, as the two legislations I listed are currently the only statutes controlling drugs. This may change, as the asshole politician Peter Dunne has passed a new 'legal highs' legislation which makes all 'psychoactive material' illegal unless stated otherwise. This could have serious implications for importing nootropics, as they are somewhat psychoactive. But the new law hasn't come into force... yet... :(

Anyway....

Racetam Nootropics:
  • Aniracetam: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Levetiracetam: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Nefiracetam :LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Noopept: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Oxiracetam: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Phenylpiracetam: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Piracetam: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Pramiracetam: LEGAL/Unrestricted
Amino Acids/Vitamins:
  • Essential amino acids (except if listed): LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • L-DOPA: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Omega 3 Fatty acids: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Pyroxine (in meds containing more than 200mg per dose): ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Thiamine/Riboflavin/Biotin/Folic Acid/ Cyanocobalamin: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Tryptophan (in meds containing more than 100mg per dose): ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Vitamin D (in meds containing more than 25ug per dose: ILLEGAL/Prescription
Cholinergics Precursors:
  • Choline: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Dimethylethanolamine (DMAE) : LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Meclofenoxate/centrophenoxine: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Alpha-GPC (L-Alpha Glycerylphosphorylcholine): LEGAL/Unrestricted
AChE Inhibitors:
  • Donepezil: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Galantamine: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Huperzine A: LEGAL/Unrestricted
Stimulants/MAOIs:
  • Adrafinil: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Caffeine powder: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Modafinil: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Selegiline: ILLEGAL/Prescription
Misc:
  • 4-aminobutanoic acid (GABA): STRICTLY ILLEGAL/Controlled drug Class B1 (drug precursor)
  • 5-HTP : LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Acetylcysteine (if dose is less than 1000mg/day) LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Glutathione: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Melatonin: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Phenibut: Potentially illegal as GABA analog (Caution!)
    Picamilon: Same as above
  • S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM-e): LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Sulbutiamine: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Theanine LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Vinpocetine: LEGAL/Unrestricted
Source:
Misuse of Drugs Act 1975:www.legislation.govt.nz/pdflink.aspx?id=DLM436100
Medicines Regulation Act 1984 http://www.legislati...t/DLM95668.html
  • Informative x 2

#2 KTMAdv

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Posted 16 October 2012 - 11:34 PM

OUTSTANDING post and information, THANKS! As luck would have it, SWIM might have smuggled in some of the more innocent ones on your list recently out of ignorance simply because nobody seems to know about the links you published here, and SWIM might havemore coming in a shipping container that may have some more of the same innocent ones in volume in it.

Sad chap, this Peter Dunne dude. He clearly has no clue as to what is detrimental to health and what is good for it...



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#3 Auckland27

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Posted 31 December 2012 - 12:05 PM

Hey thankyou for the list :) Im new on here after reading a rolling stone artice about nootropics :laugh:

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#4 2/1_kiwi

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Posted 10 March 2013 - 01:45 AM

Awesome list Dexedrine. Ive heard some people are still getting aniracetam and oxiracetam stopped by customs, but its just a matter of arguing it out and using medsafe as a reference.

#5 Andrew Murphy

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Posted 25 April 2013 - 12:10 PM

sweet :)

#6 neek0la

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Posted 01 May 2013 - 06:27 AM

Been looking around for the Australian restrictions with no luck. Would they be the same

#7 fenra

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Posted 02 May 2013 - 11:06 PM

Holy crap that is crazy!

#8 2/1_kiwi

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Posted 05 May 2013 - 09:57 AM

Crazy good or crazy bad fenra?

Its frustrating to have never tried piracetam but freely access pram or oxi.

#9 fenra

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Posted 05 May 2013 - 04:37 PM

Crazy! Why would vitamins and melatonin be illegal? Italy can be like that sometimes. But I know what kind of public the governments in Oceania have to deal with... I remember when Australia had to restrict the maximum amount of beers per person one could take into a stadium to fifty-something, and the stadium goers immediately took it to the streets in anger :-D

#10 McGTak

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 06:35 PM

I wonder if the Psychoactive Substances Act will have an effect on any of these? There doesn't seem to be anything specific in the Act about classifying what it will be targetting, but these are all psychoactive in nature. I hope this doesn't cause issues at the border.

#11 2/1_kiwi

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Posted 26 July 2013 - 01:51 AM

I wonder if the Psychoactive Substances Act will have an effect on any of these? There doesn't seem to be anything specific in the Act about classifying what it will be targetting, but these are all psychoactive in nature. I hope this doesn't cause issues at the border.


I believe it will. Hardly see nootropics getting a special consideration. Glad i got an order in recently.

Thanks a million Mr dunne.
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#12 Double_Helix

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Posted 16 September 2013 - 04:51 AM

Has anyone had any experience with this new bill in terms of the importation of any nootropics?

Edited by Double_Helix, 16 September 2013 - 04:52 AM.


#13 McGTak

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Posted 18 September 2013 - 07:00 PM

I'm discussing it with a few different places, but the reply I've had back from Medsafe is that they won't be stopped for personal use.

Their reasoning is that, as they are medicines in other countries they are not controlled by the PSA, but rather as new medicines under the Medicines Act. Therefore they can be imported by people for personal therapeutic use at their own risk.

This is only the case for the products in the list that are medicines in other countries mind you, I'm not sure about the others.

#14 Dial

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Posted 27 January 2014 - 04:58 AM

To confirm the above, I recently ordered in a package with various containers/bottles of oxiracetam, aniracetam, piracetam, Alpha -GPC and theanine.

In keeping with the list above all but the piracetam got through to me. The box had a nice label saying 'Inspected by Medsafe'. Inside was a sheet I could take to a GP for a prescription for the piracetam if I wished to claim it. And along with that another piece of paper with a stern warning about the possible dangers of aniracetam and oxiracetam and buying meds off the internet in general.

I'm not going to bother finding a GP and then paying them money on the off-chance they'll be willing to provide me a prescription for the piracetam. I imagine, that even with plenty of evidence for the safety of piracetam when used with adequate care, 99% GPs won't be interested. So that's my bottle of piracetam gone.

Edited by Dial, 27 January 2014 - 05:00 AM.


#15 Dazzcat

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Posted 04 February 2014 - 02:11 AM

Is the law some what grey when it comes to personal importation of novel patented pharmaceuticals that ain't classified under Medsafe?

Edited by Dazzcat, 04 February 2014 - 02:13 AM.


#16 Dial

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Posted 04 February 2014 - 07:48 AM

I'm no expert, but if it's not on the list as proscribed or needing a prescription customs will let you have it. So it appears. If what you have is not on the list, but they think its sketchy - the oxiracetam and aniracetam in my case, it looks like they'll put a warning in with the package. They care, bless them.
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#17 Dazzcat

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Posted 04 February 2014 - 08:14 AM

I would hope customs have better things to do other than chasing someone for non commerical importation of a nootropic such as, catching methamphetamine precursors or some of these horrible new CB1 receptor agonists, which seem to easily make it to the local dairy. As with any government department, it's rather unpredictable as to what they think.

Edited by Dazzcat, 04 February 2014 - 09:02 AM.


#18 shifter

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Posted 18 February 2014 - 05:21 AM

Some of those illegal ones are totally ridiculous. Melatonin? Vitamin D 100IU per dose?? The silly thing with that is the dose is dependant on the manufacturer.

For example the liquid vitamin D. Should a dose = 1 drop or 10 drops? 1 drop = 1000IU = okay. But if they stated a dose was 5 or 10 drops the same product illegal. Considering how cheap vitamin D, even the capsules just take a whole bunch at once :)

Im in Australia and just ordered 10,000IU vitamin D capsules. I also had no problem ordering sleep formulas containing GABA, phenibut, melatonin etc in the past.

#19 McGTak

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Posted 04 September 2015 - 12:32 AM

It seems as though Medsafe has tightened restrictions on racetams. All of the racetams in the above list are now listed as Prescription on the Medsafe website (except for phenylpiracetam), and so wouldn't likely get through customs if inspected.

 

I'm not sure about the other lists, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of those had become restricted too.



#20 Dexedrine

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Posted 07 October 2015 - 10:13 AM

Don't know how to edit the original post. Sadly there have been some recent unfortunate changes.

Firstly, essentially everything is potentially an illegal drug now. The Psychoactive Substances act makes it illegal to import virtually anything, unless it is already covered under other laws such as the Medicines Act or the Misuse of Drugs Act. This is a blanket, white list approach, and importing any unapproved psychoactive substance is punishable by up to two years prison. Their vague definition is as follows:

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, psychoactive substance means a substance, mixture, preparation, article, device, or thing that is capable of inducing a psychoactive effect (by any means) in an individual who uses the psychoactive substance (Psychoactive substances act 2013)

There definition is painfully circular as they define a psychoactive effect as:
in relation to an individual who is using or has used a psychoactive substance, means the effect of the substance on the individual's mind

This recursion raises serious questions, as there is no well formed definition of what is a psychoactive substance. The only logical inference is that any 'substance' or 'thing' that has an effect on the mind, by any means is covered. I'm going to stop waffling on the absurdity of this, and how it metaphysically covers everything, after all, abstract concepts like 'love' are at least in some sense 'things'....

Secondly, virtually all of the racetams have been designated as prescription only medicines (cite:www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/class/agen53Racetams.docx).
There is an ironic silver lining to this, their designation as POM exempts them from the Psychoactive Substances Act. Importing them is still illegal, but far less serious of an offense, and is typically not prosecuted.

Racetam Nootropics: RIP

  • Aniracetam: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Levetiracetam: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Nefiracetam :ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Noopept: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Oxiracetam: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Phenylpiracetam: ILLEGAL by default
  • Piracetam: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Pramiracetam: ILLEGAL/Prescription

Amino Acids/Vitamins:

  • Essential amino acids (except if listed): LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • L-DOPA: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Omega 3 Fatty acids: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Pyroxine (in meds containing more than 200mg per dose): ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Thiamine/Riboflavin/Biotin/Folic Acid/ Cyanocobalamin: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Tryptophan (in meds containing more than 100mg per dose): ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Vitamin D (in meds containing more than 25ug per dose: ILLEGAL/Prescription

Cholinergics Precursors:

  • Choline: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Dimethylethanolamine (DMAE) : LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Meclofenoxate/centrophenoxine: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Alpha-GPC (L-Alpha Glycerylphosphorylcholine): LEGAL/Unrestricted

AChE Inhibitors:

  • Donepezil: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Galantamine: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Huperzine A: ILLEGAL by default?

Stimulants/MAOIs:

  • Adrafinil: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Caffeine powder: Technically ILLEGAL
  • Modafinil: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Selegiline: ILLEGAL/Prescription

Misc:

  • 4-aminobutanoic acid (GABA): STRICTLY ILLEGAL/Controlled drug Class B1 (drug precursor)
  • 5-HTP : LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Acetylcysteine (if dose is less than 1000mg/day) LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Glutathione: LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Melatonin: ILLEGAL/Prescription
  • Phenibut: ILLEGAL by default
    Picamilon: ILLEGAL by default
  • S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM-e): LEGAL/Unrestricted
  • Sulbutiamine: Probably LEGAL
  • Theanine Probably LEGAL
  • Vinpocetine: LEGAL/Unrestricted

Source:
Misuse of Drugs Act 1975:www.legislation.govt.nz/pdflink.aspx?id=DLM436100
Medicines Regulation Act 1984 http://www.legislati...DLM5042935.html
 


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