Drugs — Romania

Do not drive in Romania after using any drug - unlike the alcohol limit, there is no legal minimum concentration. Traffic police can require a roadside drug test at any stop. If it reads positive, or you refuse or cannot provide a sample, you must give blood and urine, and the officer takes your licence on the spot and hands you a replacement slip that carries NO right to drive. The samples go to a forensic-medicine institute, which must report the result to the police within a maximum of 72 hours. You get the licence back only on a result establishing absence, or when the 72 hours run out with nothing reported. This is a crime, not a ticket.

This is a criminal offence under art. 336 alin. (2) Cod penal. The prison band was NOT read in official text this run and no figure is stated rather than guessed. Administratively, per OUG nr. 84/2024 (in force 29 June 2024) and OUG nr. 97/2024 art. 1 (Monitorul Oficial, 15 July 2024, quoted verbatim by the Ministry of Internal Affairs): the traffic police withdraw the driving licence, and the forensic-medicine institute must communicate the toxicology result to the requesting Romanian Police structure "in termen de maximum 72 de ore de la momentul finalizarii procedurilor de recoltare a mostrelor biologice" - within a maximum of 72 hours of sampling being completed. The licence is returned on a bulletin establishing absence of the substance, or on expiry of the 72 hours if no bulletin was communicated. The replacement slip issued at the roadside does not confer a right to drive. No foreign-prescription defence is asserted.

Verified Sep 9, 2026