Marijuana in Cyprus: what is allowed and what are the risks (2026)
Cyprus has no legality threshold, but it has thresholds for presumed trafficking and a separate penalty ceiling for young offenders. We check the text of law 29/1977.
Cyprus appears in rankings as a country with a threshold of thirty grams. This is a misunderstanding, and one that can cost a lot. This number does not separate legal from illegal, only possession from presumed trafficking.
The Cypriot drug law has two mechanisms that are not found anywhere else in this ranking. Below is what directly results from its consolidated text and from the website of the Ministry of Health.
| Possession for personal use | offense, with no legality threshold |
|---|---|
| Threshold for presumed trafficking | 30 grams of dried cannabis, 3 plants when cultivated |
| Penalty for possession | up to 8 years of imprisonment or a fine |
| Ceiling for young offenders | up to 2 years, for first conviction |
| Cultivation | prohibited, a separate ban also covers seeds |
| Medical program | is operational, has its own Office of Pharmaceutical Cannabis |
| Basis | law 29/1977, consolidated text up to 2019 |
Legal status checked on September 5, 2026, in the consolidated text of the law and on the website of the Cypriot Ministry of Health. This is a description of regulations, not legal advice.
Is possession of marijuana in Cyprus punishable?
Yes, and there is no threshold below which it ceases to be a crime. The law prohibits the acquisition and possession of controlled substances, and cannabis and cannabis resin are classified as Class B. A separate offense under Article 10 is the act of smoking or consuming cannabis in any form.
This same article goes further than a reader accustomed to European regulations might expect. It is also punishable to be in a place used for smoking cannabis and to possess pipes and devices intended for that purpose. Therefore, one does not need to have the substance on them to commit an offense.
In addition, there are two mechanisms that are not found anywhere else in this ranking. The first is the presumption from Article 30Α: above the value in the table, the court assumes that the offender possessed the substance for the purpose of supplying it to another person, unless the offender convinces the court otherwise.
The second is the age ceiling from Article 30. A person convicted for use, possession, or transportation for personal use receives a penalty not exceeding two years if at the time of the act they have not reached the age of twenty-five and have no prior conviction under this law.
Cyprus is therefore a country with strict regulations, with a built-in margin for young offenders at their first encounter with the law. How this structure compares to other countries is shown in our map of marijuana legality.
How much marijuana is allowed in Cyprus?
Thirty grams and three plants, but these are not legality thresholds, only presumptive thresholds. Article 30Α states that anyone who cultivated, possessed, or transported a substance in an amount exceeding the value in the table is considered to be acting for the purpose of supplying it to a third party.
The presumption can only be rebutted, but the burden lies with the offender: they must convince the court otherwise. This is the opposite of the situation that most European legal systems are accustomed to, where the intent to traffic must be demonstrated by the offender.
The table includes more substances than just cannabis. For illegal cultivation, it lists cannabis from three plants, poppy from twenty, and coca from five. For illegal possession or transportation: cannabis and its derivatives from thirty grams, processed opium from ten grams, and processed cocaine from ten grams.
For any other controlled substance, the limit is twenty grams in solid form or twenty cubic centimeters in liquid form. The values are set so that cannabis has a clearly higher threshold than substances considered more dangerous.
However, the most important sentence in this section is different. Below these values, possession remains a crime, just without the presumption of trafficking. There is no amount in Cyprus at which possession ceases to be an offense.
What are the consequences of exceeding the threshold in Cyprus?
For possession of a Class B substance, including cannabis, the Third Schedule provides for up to eight years of imprisonment or a fine, or both penalties simultaneously. For possession with the intent to supply to another person, the penalty is life imprisonment or a fine, or both penalties, and this applies equally to Class A and B.
The same life imprisonment ceiling applies to production and supply. The law does not differentiate here between cannabis and substances considered significantly more dangerous, so exceeding the presumption threshold moves the case to the heaviest category in the entire act.
However, the real dimension of the penalty is limited by the ceiling of two years for a person under the age of twenty-five without prior conviction, convicted for use, possession, or transportation for personal use. This is the most important safety valve in the entire structure.
The law also enumerates circumstances that the court considers when determining the penalty. It aggravates, among other things, participation in an organized group, use of violence or weapons, and committing the act in sports facilities or within five hundred meters of their entrance, exit, or fence.
On the mitigating side are the age of the offender, lack of any involvement in trafficking in an act related solely to use, degree of addiction, and demonstrated remorse, including willingness to undergo rehabilitation treatment.
Does Cyprus have a medical marijuana program?
Yes, and it even has its own office. The Office of Pharmaceutical Cannabis operates under the Pharmaceutical Services of the Cypriot Ministry of Health. The legal basis is the drug law as amended in 2019, which allows the Council of Ministers to issue regulations legalizing activities otherwise prohibited by the same act.
The regulations may permit such activities based on and in accordance with the conditions of a permit issued by the minister. After the amendment, they also cover the procedure for submitting, evaluating, and considering applications for permits, appointing committees for this purpose, and establishing fees.
The law separately protects medical personnel. A doctor, dentist, and veterinarian acting in this capacity do not violate it by issuing a prescription and administering a controlled substance, and a pharmacist does not violate it by dispensing it to a patient.
The details of the program are contained in the regulation announced on March 6, 2019, and here we must stop. The official file of this regulation has damaged Greek font mapping, so it could not be read, and specific conditions for patients are not established in this material.
We state this directly, instead of filling the gap with secondary studies. With the conditions for entering the medical program, the price of a mistake is highest for the patient.
Is it allowed to cultivate cannabis for personal use in Cyprus?
No. Article 7 prohibits the cultivation and importation of the Cannabis plant, medicinal poppy, and coca shrub, subject to the provisions of the law on the production and trade of industrial hemp from 2016. There is no exception for home cultivation for personal use in this provision.
A separate Article 7Α goes further and covers the seeds themselves. It prohibits supplying, offering for sale, and selling cannabis seeds to a person known to intend to cultivate them illegally, as well as importing cannabis seeds into the territory of the Republic.
This solution is worth remembering, as in many countries seeds are a collectible item outside of control. In Cyprus, their import is explicitly prohibited, regardless of what the seller declares on the packaging.
In addition, there is the presumption threshold. Three plants trigger the assumption that the cultivation is intended to supply the substance to another person, and then the case moves to the category threatened with life imprisonment.
The sum of these three provisions is unequivocal: home cultivation has no legal path in Cyprus and there is no scale at which it would be treated leniently.
What is the status of CBD in Cyprus?
Let’s start with something that is easiest to confuse here. The Cypriot drug law does not mention cannabidiol even once. In the entire consolidated text, neither its English nor Greek name appears. It does mention cannabinol, which is a completely different compound, whose name differs by one syllable.
The list includes cannabinol, excluding cases where it is contained in cannabis or cannabis resin, and separately cannabinol derivatives. This is literally the same structure as in the British Misuse of Drugs Act, from which Cyprus adopted the structure of drug law.
In the British model, cannabinol derivatives include compounds like THC, not CBD. However, in the read Cypriot text, we did not find a definition of this term, so we do not preclude how broadly it applies in Cyprus.
What the law actually establishes around the topic: it defines industrial hemp as whole plants or parts thereof, raw or processed, of the Cannabis sativa species, and excludes them from the definition of controlled cannabis. Their trade is regulated by a separate law from 2016.
Thus, the conclusion is cautious and deliberately incomplete. From this source, it follows that industrial hemp is excluded from control and that its trade has its own law. However, it does not follow that Cyprus recognizes CBD as a controlled substance, nor that it permits it.
Frequently asked questions
How much marijuana is allowed in Cyprus?
There is no amount at which possession ceases to be a crime. Thirty grams is the presumption threshold: above it, the court assumes that the substance was intended for another person, unless the offender convinces it otherwise.
What are the consequences of possession of marijuana in Cyprus?
For possession of a Class B substance, the law provides for up to eight years of imprisonment or a fine, or both penalties. For possession with the intent to supply to another person, the penalty is life imprisonment or a fine, or both penalties simultaneously.
Do young offenders face milder penalties in Cyprus?
Yes, and this is the most important safety valve in the local structure. The general ceiling for possession of a Class B substance reaches eight years, while a person under the age of twenty-five without prior conviction, convicted for use, possession, or transportation for personal use, faces a maximum of two years.
Is smoking marijuana punishable in Cyprus?
Yes, and it is under a separate provision. Article 10 covers smoking or consuming cannabis in any form, being in a place used for smoking, and possessing pipes and devices intended for that purpose.
Is it allowed to import cannabis seeds into Cyprus?
No. A separate provision prohibits the importation of cannabis seeds into the territory of the Republic, as well as supplying, offering for sale, and selling to a person known to intend to cultivate them illegally.
Does Cyprus have a medical marijuana program?
Yes. The Office of Pharmaceutical Cannabis operates under the Pharmaceutical Services of the Ministry of Health, and the law allows the Council of Ministers to issue regulations permitting activities otherwise prohibited, under the conditions of a minister’s permit.
Are CBD products legal in Cyprus?
The read text of the law does not mention cannabidiol even once, so it cannot be derived from it either a prohibition or a permission. The law, however, excludes industrial hemp from control, the trade of which is regulated by a separate act.
Sources
| Act or document | Address | Checked | Degree of proof |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ο περί Ναρκωτικών Φαρμάκων και Ψυχοτρόπων Ουσιών Νόμος 29/1977, tekst skonsolidowany „Νόμοι του 1977 έως 2019” z bazy CyLaw prowadzonej dla Pancypryjskiego Stowarzyszenia Adwokatów, art. 6, 10, 30 i 30Α oraz Pierwszy Załącznik część II (leki klasy B) | cylaw.org | 2026-09-05 | text of the legal act |
| Ο περί Ναρκωτικών Φαρμάκων και Ψυχοτρόπων Ουσιών Νόμος 29/1977, tekst skonsolidowany „Νόμοι του 1977 έως 2019” z bazy CyLaw prowadzonej dla Pancypryjskiego Stowarzyszenia Adwokatów, art. 30Α i tabela domniemań, dodane ustawą 91(I)/2003 | cylaw.org | 2026-09-05 | text of the legal act |
| Ο περί Ναρκωτικών Φαρμάκων και Ψυχοτρόπων Ουσιών Νόμος 29/1977, tekst skonsolidowany „Νόμοι του 1977 έως 2019” z bazy CyLaw prowadzonej dla Pancypryjskiego Stowarzyszenia Adwokatów, Trzeci Załącznik (art. 30) oraz art. 30 ust. 2 i 4 | cylaw.org | 2026-09-05 | text of the legal act |
| Ο περί Ναρκωτικών Φαρμάκων και Ψυχοτρόπων Ουσιών Νόμος 29/1977, tekst skonsolidowany „Νόμοι του 1977 έως 2019” z bazy CyLaw prowadzonej dla Pancypryjskiego Stowarzyszenia Adwokatów, art. 8 ust. 1, 2, 2Α i 3, w brzmieniu nadanym ustawą 10(I)/2019; rozporządzenie Κ.Δ.Π. 73/2019 wydane na jego podstawie (nieodczytane); strona Biura Farmaceutycznej Konopi Służb Farmaceutycznych Ministerstwa Zdrowia | moh.gov.cy | 2026-09-05 | position of the office |
| Ο περί Ναρκωτικών Φαρμάκων και Ψυχοτρόπων Ουσιών Νόμος 29/1977, tekst skonsolidowany „Νόμοι του 1977 έως 2019” z bazy CyLaw prowadzonej dla Pancypryjskiego Stowarzyszenia Adwokatów, art. 7 i 7Α oraz art. 30Α | cylaw.org | 2026-09-05 | text of the legal act |
| Ο περί Ναρκωτικών Φαρμάκων και Ψυχοτρόπων Ουσιών Νόμος 29/1977, tekst skonsolidowany „Νόμοι του 1977 έως 2019” z bazy CyLaw prowadzonej dla Pancypryjskiego Stowarzyszenia Adwokatów: definicje „βιομηχανική κάνναβη” i „κάνναβις” oraz Pierwszy Załącznik; odesłanie do ustawy 57(I)/2016 o produkcji i obrocie konopiami przemysłowymi. UWAGA TECHNICZNA: strona jest kodowana w windows-1253, a nie UTF-8 - odczytana jako UTF-8 nie zawiera ani jednego greckiego słowa, więc wyszukiwanie w niej daje fałszywe „nie znaleziono”. | cylaw.org | 2026-09-05 | text of the legal act |
This article is for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. The legal status described in the article is valid as of the date of publication: regulations regarding cannabis may change. Before making a decision, consult a lawyer or current legal acts.
Author: Michał Waluk
