Buying in the Netherlands and EU: check the product and the country

Two shop pages, same ingredient name, one country between them. One says "legal in Europe" in a cheerful green banner; the other says nothing at all. Neither is a legal opinion, and neither tells you whether the product in your basket is allowed where it's going. There is no verdict for the whole EU, because there isn't one. What there is: a handful of questions that sort out most products, and dated notes on the Dutch and EU position of the substances people ask about most.

Why one shop banner can't settle it

Three things decide it: what the product actually is (the species, the part of the plant, the extract, the dose), what kind of product it's sold as (food supplement, medicine, herbal product, something else) and which country's rules apply. In the Netherlands, controlled substances sit on the Opium Act lists, while food supplements, herbal preparations and novel foods fall under separate food rules. A substance that is not on an Opium Act list can still be a problem under food or medicines law, and "not banned" is not the same as "approved". Everything below was read on 8 October 2026. Laws change, and they differ between EU countries, so treat this as a dated starting point, not legal advice.

Five questions to ask about any product

1. What does the label say it is? Look for the species name (Latin, not just "kanna" or "lotus"), the part used, and whether it's a whole herb, a powder, an extract or an isolated compound. Different forms can have different rules.
2. What form is it? A fresh truffle, a dried one, a capsule and a grow kit are different things in Dutch law, as the notes below show.
3. Where is it shipped from, and where to? Rules apply to where a product is sold and where it ends up. The Dutch food authority notes that products legally sold in one EU country can in some circumstances be sold in another under mutual recognition (NVWA, importing, producing or selling supplements), but that is a rule for businesses, not a personal shield, and it doesn't touch controlled substances.
4. Is it a food, a medicine or something else? The same molecule can be a supplement at one dose and tip towards medicine territory at another (melatonin below shows how).
5. Is it authorised, or just not (yet) stopped? For novel foods, authorisation means a Commission act adding it to the Union list. An application or a scientific opinion is a stage on the way, not an approval (European Commission, authorisation process). The Commission explains that the Union list gives each authorised novel food's specifications, conditions of use and labelling (Union list of novel foods). A shop stocking something proves it's for sale, not that it complies.

Pick your substance

• If you're wondering about: Paddo's and magic truffles, fresh or dried; Where to look below: Psilocybin: mushrooms versus truffles
• If you're wondering about: Kratom; Where to look below: Kratom
• If you're wondering about: Kanna, blue lotus and damiana; Where to look below: Kanna, blue lotus and damiana
• If you're wondering about: Melatonin and the 0.3 mg line; Where to look below: Melatonin
• If you're wondering about: Ashwagandha and Cordyceps; Where to look below: Ashwagandha and cordyceps
• If you're wondering about: CBD and its novel-food question; Where to look below: CBD
• If you're wondering about: NMN and the stages of authorisation; Where to look below: NMN

Psilocybin: mushrooms versus truffles

On the Dutch Opium Act (Opiumwet), psilocine and psilocybine are on List I, and mushrooms (the "Paddo's" entry) are on List II. The statute text on wetten.overheid.nl (Opiumwet) names no truffles or sclerotia, and no grow kits, spores or mycelium. We consulted the text on 8 October 2026; the version we saw was marked as valid from 17 September 2026, and the page also lists amendments without an in-force date, which we didn't open. Article 3 prohibits, among other things, importing and exporting, cultivating, preparing, selling, supplying, transporting and possessing List II substances.

That is why a fresh magic truffle and a mushroom, which contain the same active compounds, are treated differently in the Netherlands. Jellinek says the sale of fresh truffles (sclerotia) is not prohibited (Jellinek, page version January 2021), and DRUGSinfo says truffles may be sold legally (DRUGSinfo). On dried truffles the sources differ: Jellinek says dried truffles are prohibited, while DRUGSinfo does not make that distinction. We treat dried truffles as unresolved and won't call them legal or banned. Jellinek says grow kits aren't banned, and says that possession, production and trade of paddo's are punishable; it also says police generally don't act on user quantities, though they can confiscate the mushrooms. No statute text we read names kits, and we found no court ruling on kit sales. Nothing here is guidance for growing anything.

The Dutch government says certain groups of designer drugs have been banned since 1 July 2025, namely phenethylamines including cathinones, synthetic cannabinoids and fentanyl analogues, and its page says nothing about mushrooms or truffles (Rijksoverheid, ban on designer drugs). Nothing we found changes the truffle position, but official wording should be re-checked before relying on this. These are Dutch rules; other European countries treat psilocybin-containing products very differently.

Kratom

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is not on the Dutch Opium Act lists. In a ruling of 24 June 2025 (case 24/93, ECLI:NL:CBB:2025:340) on a 1,100 kg import of kratom leaf powder, the Dutch appeals tribunal (CBb) held that kratom is not excluded from food law as a narcotic or psychotropic substance under the UN treaties. The authorities' position that kratom is an unauthorised novel food was not contested on appeal. We found no ruling on retail smartshop sales, capsules, extracts or gummies. A draft decision on Opium Act lists I and IA dated 31 March 2026 exists; we could not see which substances it names and could not confirm it is unrelated to kratom. In short: not a listed drug, treated as a food in the import case (with the authorities' unchallenged novel-food position), and an open question at the retail counter.

Kanna, blue lotus and damiana

Kanna, blue lotus and damiana are not named in the Opium Act or in the annex to the Dutch herbal-preparations decree (Warenwetbesluit Kruidenpreparaten), checked 8 October 2026. That annex lists plants and fungi that herbal preparations must not contain (Article 4(2); it names kava and yohimbe, for example). A January 2026 draft amendment to the decree exists, and we didn't open its text, so we don't describe the annex as final. Not being named there is not an approval, because other rules, including EU novel-food law, are separate. We couldn't confirm the EU novel-food status of kanna, blue lotus or damiana, so we make no statement about it. Check the Commission's Novel Food Status Catalogue before buying.

Melatonin

A Dutch government reply from 2019 says melatonin may be marketed as a food supplement if the dose is below 0.3 mg and the pack carries no health claim at all. From 0.3 mg upward, it says a product can be a medicine if it meets other criteria set by the courts, and it notes that melatonin has long been sold as a supplement above that dose (Kamervragen 2019-2020, no. 297, read 8 October 2026). The Dutch Healthcare and Youth Inspectorate adds that classification is about a product's effects and dose, not its marketing (IGJ, melatonin FAQ). That is why a claim-free pack matters below the line, and why claims alone don't settle the question above it. So 0.3 mg is a line that can tip a product into medicine territory, depending on those other criteria.

Ashwagandha and cordyceps

For ashwagandha, the Dutch public-health institute RIVM advised in March 2024 against supplements containing it, citing reported liver injury and pregnancy risks (RIVM, 5 March 2024). That is advice, not a ban. The Netherlands has notified a draft supplement regulation to the EU, with comments open until 7 December 2026, and trade press reports it would ban ashwagandha (NutraIngredients, 6 October 2026). Trade reports differ on the details: on 17 September 2026 Nutri-Sana reported that the health ministry (VWS) would keep ashwagandha root allowed "for now" with a mandatory warning proposed, that other plant parts were still to be banned, and that RIVM was reassessing the root (Nutri-Sana, 17 September 2026), while the 6 October report mentions no exception for the root. The final shape is unknown. Ashwagandha is not named in the annex of the herbal-preparations decree, which is not an approval.

For cordyceps, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) says Cordyceps militaris is an unauthorised novel food in the EU and may not be sold, and that it found it at five of 17 businesses inspected in February to April 2025. It describes Cordyceps sinensis as listed in the EU's novel-food status catalogue as not novel in food supplements, so it may be sold (NVWA inspection results). Rules elsewhere in the EU may differ.

CBD

CBD is a novel-food question, not a single yes or no. EFSA's February 2026 statement set a provisional safe intake level for a narrowly defined supplement formulation (at least 98% purity, no nanoparticles, safe production), with data gaps on the liver, endocrine, nervous and reproductive systems. For people under 25, pregnant or lactating women and people on medication, EFSA says safety cannot be established (EFSA, 9 February 2026). It is a safety level, not an authorisation; the Commission's 27 February 2023 statement treats CBD as a novel food. THC limits, hemp rules, travel and medical cannabis are separate questions that this note does not answer.

NMN

NMN shows how the stages work. In May 2026, EFSA published a positive safety opinion on a synthetic form of NMN for adults at up to 300 mg a day, excluding pregnant and breastfeeding women (EFSA Journal, 2026). A safety opinion is one stage in the process, and trade press reported on 13 May 2026 that authorisation was still to come (NutraIngredients). We couldn't confirm the EU novel-food status of NMN since then, so we make no statement about it. The Commission's Union list is the place to look, and a seller should be able to say which authorisation they rely on.

Ordering across a border

Sale, possession and import are separate legal questions, and a rule that lets a Dutch shop sell something does not mean you may receive it elsewhere. Before ordering across a border, check the destination country's rules with its own authority; a "ships to the EU" line settles nothing. If a seller can't say what the product is, which authorisation applies or where it's shipped from, that tells you something.

Where to read more

Our guide to reading supplement labels helps with the label side of these questions, and our note on supplements and medicines covers interactions. The primary sources are worth bookmarking: the NVWA (supplements and novel foods), the Opiumwet text on wetten.overheid.nl, the Rijksoverheid drugs pages and RIVM in the Netherlands, and the Commission's novel-food pages for the EU.

On CBD in particular:

• Is CBD Legal in Europe? EU Law and the Dutch Position, for how EU novel food status, EFSA's 2 mg figure, THC numbers and the Dutch position fit together.

On kanna and kratom:

• Kanna: meet the plant behind the extracts, for what the plant is, why extracts differ from one another and what small studies found.
• What Is Kratom? The Plant, the Evidence and the Dutch and EU Legal Position, for the plant and its alkaloids, what human research shows, dependence and interaction risks, and where it stands in Dutch and EU law.

Written by Smart Supplements with AI assistance from the sources linked in the text. It has not been reviewed by a clinician.

Last updated: 12 October 2026

This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult a healthcare professional before starting any new supplement, especially if you take prescription medication.