Marijuana in Greece: what is allowed and what are the risks (2026)

Greece is a country that breaks the instinct of a reader looking for numbers. The law does not specify a single gram, yet it has a separate, clearly milder provision for a person who has purchased the drug for personal use.

Below is what directly follows from the text of the Greek drug law and the position of the Greek drug agency. Where sources are silent, we do not add anything: the lack of a section on transporting the drug across borders means that the applicable acts do not regulate this, not that we forgot about it.

Legal status checked on September 5, 2026, in the text of the law and in the note from the Greek drug agency. This is a description of the regulations, not legal advice.

Is possession of marijuana in Greece punishable?

Yes, but the Greek law provides the user with a separate, clearly milder provision. Article 29 paragraph 1 covers in one sentence the acquisition and possession of the drug solely for personal use, its use, and the cultivation of hemp in a size justified only by personal use. All three acts carry the same penalty: imprisonment for up to five months.

The structure is different from countries that have decriminalized possession. A Greek who has cannabis for personal use still commits a crime. What changes is not the qualification of the act, but its weight and what happens with the sentence afterwards.

The law provides for two valves. The court may consider the perpetrator not punishable if, after assessing the circumstances of the act and the personality of the perpetrator, it concludes that the act was completely occasional and that its repetition is not likely. The second valve operates after the sentence: convictions under this paragraph are not recorded in criminal record extracts, so they do not appear in the certificate of no criminal record.

For a traveler, this means that Greek law distinguishes between users and dealers much more sharply than is suggested by popular compilations, but it does not create a zone where possession ceases to be a prohibited act. How this same boundary looks in other countries is shown by our map of marijuana legality.

How much marijuana is allowed in Greece?

There is no number, and this is not a gap in our study. The Greek law speaks of quantities justified solely for personal use and deliberately does not specify any weight. Instead of a threshold, the provision lists the circumstances that the court must examine in a specific case.

The law requires consideration of the type of drug, its purity and quantity, as well as the frequency of use, duration of use, daily dose, and special needs of the user. The same weight may therefore be personal use for one person and not for another.

In cultivation, the test looks similar, only two things count at once: the number of plants and the area on which they grow. Here too, the provision does not specify a single threshold number.

The practical conclusion is uncomfortable but honest. Any compilation providing a specific weight for Greece adds it from the outside, because in the text of article 29 it is not present. If you are looking for a country where the threshold is a number, Greece is not it, and it is better to know this before traveling than after a check.

What are the consequences of exceeding the threshold in Greece?

Up to five months of imprisonment, and the same penalty applies to possession, use, and cultivation for personal use. This is one threat for three acts, which in most legal systems are separated into separate provisions of varying severity, usually treating cultivation and possession as completely separate matters.

Alongside the penalty, two mitigating mechanisms operate, described above: the possibility of considering the perpetrator not punishable in the case of a completely occasional act and the lack of entry in criminal record extracts. The latter is significant long after the case, as it determines whether the conviction will appear in the certificate of no criminal record.

The law punishes separately the forgery of a prescription for drugs, its alteration, or the use of a forged prescription to use the drug oneself. Here the threat reaches two years, which is clearly higher than for mere possession.

Dependent individuals who cannot independently overcome their addiction enter a separate procedure under articles 30 to 35. Addiction is established there based on certificates from facilities, psychological and social data, and laboratory test results, and the court may additionally order an expert opinion. This is a therapeutic path, not a shortcut to avoid responsibility.

Does Greece have a medical marijuana program?

Yes, although it was built around production, not around a patient bringing cannabis from abroad. Law 4523/2018 was the first to open the Greek drug law to pharmaceutical cannabis and introduced one consent covering several activities at once, instead of a separate permit for each stage of the raw material’s journey to the pharmacy.

This consent covers the production, possession, transport, storage, and delivery of raw materials and substances from Cannabis Sativa L varieties with THC content above 0.2 percent. It also includes the construction and operation of a processing facility that produces finished products from pharmaceutical cannabis.

Finished products can go to pharmacies, pharmaceutical wholesalers, therapeutic facilities, private clinics, and public hospitals, under the supervision of the Greek National Organization for Medicines, or be exported. In both cases, exclusively for medical purposes.

Details cannot be found in one place, and this is the biggest difficulty in reading Greek regulations. After a series of amendments, the rules are found in articles 2Α to 2ΙΖ of the drug law, while the conditions for cultivation, processing, trading, and exporting are in ministerial decisions, including decision 40642/2024 and decision 27462/2022 issued under article 18 of law 4801/2021 and amended by decision 97673/2023.

Is it allowed to cultivate hemp for personal use in Greece?

In Greece, cultivation for personal use is not treated as production, but as possession. It stands in the same article 29 paragraph 1, carries the same threat of up to five months, and is subject to the same test: whether the number of plants or the area of cultivation can be explained solely by personal use.

This is a rare solution. In most countries in this compilation, cultivation has a separate provision, usually stricter than possession, as the legislator treats it as a stage of production. The Greek legislator went the other way and equated it with possession, as long as the scale remains domestic.

The consequence is that qualification is determined by scale, not by the mere fact of cultivation. Exceeding what can be explained by personal use moves the act out of article 29 and transfers it under much stricter trading regulations.

It is worth separating two things that blend into one in discussions about cultivation. Industrial hemp with low active substance content and psychoactive hemp are different categories in Greek law, and products from the former group, such as hemp oils, are described in a separate section below.

What is the status of CBD in Greece?

The boundary is the THC content at the level of 0.2 percent. Above it, raw materials and substances from Cannabis Sativa L varieties fall under the regime of consents for pharmaceutical cannabis, described in the section on the medical program. Below this threshold, Greek law becomes unclear, and the drug agency itself admits this.

The Greek National Organization for Medicines explicitly states that for products with cannabinoids such as CBD, CBDa, or CBC with THC content up to 0.2 percent, there are no legal frameworks defining the conditions for their introduction into circulation. The agency states this about both European regulations and its own national ones.

The lack of a framework is not the same as a ban and not the same as consent. It means that there is no document that tells the seller what product can be placed on the shelf and under what conditions. The assessment of a specific product then belongs to the authority that examines it.

For a traveler, the conclusion is cautious: that a product is legally on the shelf in Poland does not automatically transfer to Greek control. The declared content of active substances on the packaging is more important here than the product’s trade name.

Frequently asked questions

How much marijuana is allowed in Greece for personal use?

The Greek law does not specify any weight. Instead of a threshold, it indicates the circumstances that the court examines in a specific case: the type and purity of the drug, its quantity, frequency and duration of use, daily dose, and special needs of the user.

Is possession of marijuana in Greece decriminalized?

No. Possession for personal use remains a crime under article 29 paragraph 1, punishable by up to five months of imprisonment. The law mitigates the consequences but does not remove this act from criminal law.

Does a conviction for possession in Greece appear in the certificate of no criminal record?

Convictions under this paragraph are not recorded in criminal record extracts, so they do not appear in the certificate of no criminal record. However, the conviction itself is made and remains a judgment of the criminal court.

Is it allowed to cultivate hemp at home in Greece?

Cultivation for personal use is in the same provision as possession and is punishable by up to five months. The court examines the number of plants and the area of cultivation and checks whether the scale can be explained solely by personal use.

Does Greece have legal medical marijuana?

Yes, based on law 4523/2018 and subsequent amendments. The program was built around national production and processing under the supervision of the Greek drug agency, and finished products go to pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics or for export.

Are CBD products legal in Greece?

The Greek drug agency states that for products with cannabinoids with THC content up to 0.2 percent, there are no legal frameworks defining the conditions for trading. The lack of a framework is neither a ban nor consent, so the assessment belongs to the authority examining the product.

Sources

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