Iran: anti-narcotics penalties, 2025 executions, 1961-2026 history

Iran's 1988 drug law sets the death penalty for five kilograms of hashish

The Law for Combating Illicit Drugs, the Islamic Republic's first drug law, was approved by the Expediency Council on 25 October 1988, set out a schedule of capital offences by drug and weight. It provided for execution for moreMore than five kilograms of hashish. Growing cannabis in order to make drugs was punished like growing the, hemp, opium poppyor opium juice brought death and confiscation of property; so did repeated offences whose amounts added up to more than five kilograms, withmore than thirty grams of heroin, morphine or methadone, armed smuggling, and helping someone become an addict a third time. It was not Iran's first drug law: a 1980 bill had already introduced death at, including for possession of five grams. Article 9 allowed execution in the extremeoffender's home town for offences amounting to "corruption on earth". Poppy growing was largely stamped out in the 1980s; cannabis proved harder to eliminate.

Library of Congress — Role of the Death Penalty in Punishing Drug Offenses: Iran (December 1995) Iran Human Rights and ECPM — Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran 2025 Wikipedia — Cannabis in Iran 2 unchanged

Possession is punished with fines and lashes; large-scale, and trafficking more than 5 kg of cannabis can carry the death penalty; 795 people were executed for drug offences in 2025. A 2017 amendment narrowed the capital threshold but did not stop the rise. Since October 2026 industrial hemp may be grown under permit, while medical cannabis still has no patient route.

Article 5 of the Anti-Narcotics Law grades buying, keeping, hiding or carrying bhang, hashish and the other drugs ofon its lighter list by weight.[@anl] Up to 50 g brings a fine of up to 3 million rials and up to 50 lashes, with no prison; 50 to 500 g a larger fine of 5 to 15 million rials and 10 to 74 lashes; prison begins above 500 g, with to 5 kg two to five years for 500 g, a fine of 15 to 60 million rials and 40 to 74 lashes; and 5 to 20 kg and five to ten years for 5, a fine of 60 to 200 million rials and 50 to 74 lashes.[@anl] A second conviction at 5 kg or more adds confiscation of property, and a third is capital.[@anl] Above 20 kg the law adds a fine of 2 million rials per kilogram and the Article 4 penalties; above 100 kg it imposes life imprisonment.[@anl] The tiersfines are those of the text as amended in the early 1990s; the fine amounts have since been raised and are not given herewritten into the 1997 text.[@anl] The 2017 amendment requires an aggravating factor before a death sentence, including more than 50 kg of cannabis.[@ecpm]

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The lawArticle 2 punishes growing poppy, coca or cannabis only when it is done to produce narcotics,.[@anl] The crop is destroyed and the fine rises with fineseach conviction: 10 to 100 million rials the first time, 50 to 500 million and flogging that escalate on repeat offences; growing30 to 70 lashes the plantsecond, 100 million to 1 billion, 1 to 70 lashes and two to five years the third, and death the fourth.[@anl] A landowner or tenant who orders the crop gets the same punishment as such is notthe grower.[@anl] The 2017 amendment requires an offenceaggravating factor before a death sentence. A 2021 study found[@ecpm] Growing cannabis grown across the countryside, mostly onwithout intent to produce drugs is not a small scale for local demandcrime, and websites selling seeds and growing equipment openlysince October 2026 industrial hemp may be grown under permit.[@hemp]

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Corporal punishment for small amounts andThe law is enforced most heavily at the death penalty for large onesborders and against traffickers. A 2017 amendment raisedIn the capital threshold for hashishIranian year 1403, which ended in March 2025, the anti-narcotics police reported 570,232 people arrested, including 375,438 addicts and opium from 5 kg to 50 kg and limited it mainly to armed194,794 traffickers or organised traffickingdistributors, though drug executions have since risen again. Practice towards users is far milder thanand 372 tonnes of drugs seized; the text: fieldwork publishedfigures cover all drugs and give no cannabis breakdown.[@irna] Fieldwork in 2021Tehran found few police interventions over cannabis use itself rarely prosecuted, with arrestspolice attention concentrated on heroin, methamphetamine and alcohol.[@cgh] Drug executions, and described the laxity as deliberate policyhowever, rose to 795 in 2025, 48.5% of all executions recorded that year.[@ecpm] The score follows the law, which still provides for flogging and death, so the score stays at the floor.[@anl]

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Supply is trafficking under Article 4 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which covers importing, exporting, producing, distributing and, dealing in or selling: up bhang, hashish and the other drugs on its list.[@anl] Up to 50 g brings a fine of up to 4 million rials and up to 50 lashes,; 50 to 500 g a fine of 4 to 50 million rials, 20 to 74 lashes and up to three years in prison whereif the court sees fit, andthinks prison necessary; 500 g to 5 kg a fine of 50 to 200 million rials, 50 to 74 lashes and three to fifteen years.[@anl] More than 5 kg carries death and confiscation, but if the drugs were not distributed and weighed 20 kg or less, life imprisonment and 74 lashes.[@anl] The 2017 amendment requires an aggravating factor, including more than 50 kg of cannabis, before a death sentence; atwithout one the top end the penaltymaximum is execution30 years.[@ecpm] The law has no separate offence for giving cannabis away; distribution falls under the same Article 4 ladder.[@anl]

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UseUsing cannabis is a crime for anyone who is not an addict: Article 19 imposes 20 to 74 lashes and a fine of 1 to 5 million rials for the drugs on the Article 4 list, which includes bhang and hashish.[@anl] Addicts also commit an offence, but dependent users who enter treatment are exemptArticle 15 protects them from punishment. Hashish use is common and,prosecution while they are in treatment, and Article 16 sets a fine of 1 to 8 million rials and up to 30 lashes.[@anl] In private, use is often overlooked. A 2021 study calls; Ghiabi's fieldwork describes toleration of cannabis usein the normcircles he studied, including in a few places known for it, such as the village of Qalat near Shiraz, where itcannabis is smoked in cafes.[@cgh] A systematic review put past-year use at 1.3% among men and 0.2% among women, rising to 4.9% among young men in 2016–2020.[@plos]

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NoneThere is no legal source of cannabis for adults or patients.[@anl] The Anti-Narcotics Law authorisesallows prohibited substances only exceptionally, for medical and industrial purposes with the permission of the Ministry of Health.[@anl] A 2021 systematic review found no licit or medical production of cannabis in Iran.[@plos] The October 2026 hemp directive allows industrial hemp with no more than 0.3% THC and leaves a licensed route for cannabis above that level for medicine under the poppy rules, but no medicine or patient programme has been approved.[@hemp]

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The Anti-Narcotics Law makes death penalty applies to large quantities. A 2017 amendment raised the capital thresholdpunishment for hashish and opium frommore than 5 kg to 50 kgof cannabis, and limited it mainly to armedfor a third conviction at 5 kg or organisedmore.[@anl] A 2017 amendment narrowed it: a court may impose death only where the trafficking involved weapons, thougha leadership or financing role, a prior serious drug executionsconviction, or more than 50 kg of cannabis (2 kg of heroin, 3 kg of other hard drugs).[@ecpm] Without one of those factors the maximum is 30 years.[@ecpm] In practice the courts have since risen againmoved the other way: 795 people were executed for drug offences in 2025, 48.5% of all executions, up from 503 in 2024 and an average of 26 a year in 2018–2020.[@ecpm] Only three of the 795 were announced by the authorities.[@ecpm] In October 2025 a parliamentary commission spokesperson proposed removing death from eight drug offences, but no text or timetable was published.[@ecpm]

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nonehemp

NoneThe legal commercial route that has been announced is industrial hemp.[@hemp] The October 2026 directive allows fibre, seed, oil and CBD production under permit, and leaves a licensed route for cannabis above 0.3% THC for medicine under the poppy rules.[@hemp] There is no adult-use market and no approved medical product.[@anl,plos] In June 2026 the drug control headquarters said no permits had been issued for narcotic-plant cultivation.[@tasnim]

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None.

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NoThere is no approved medical cannabis programme.[@plos] A 2021 systematic review found no licit or medical production of cannabis, and the law treats cannabis as a prohibited drug.[@plos] Researchers argued in 2024 that medical cannabis production and legalisation should be on the agenda, because the objections to recreational legalisation do not apply to medicine; the article is a proposal, not a change in the law.[@ajp] The October 2026 hemp directive says cannabis above 0.3% THC for medicine would follow the rules for Iranian poppy, but no patient route or approved medicine has been announced.[@hemp]

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A drug conviction is a criminal record, and flogging sentences are carried out.[@anl] The law also provides for confiscation of property in the most serious trafficking cases.[@anl] A government employee convicted under Articles 4 or 5 is dismissed for six months on a first offence, a year on a second, and permanently on a third.[@anl] A drug offence can also lead to the death penalty, which the authorities carry out.[@ecpm]

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The Anti-Narcotics Law punishes growing cannabis only when it is done "for the purpose of producing narcotic drugs" (Article 2).[@anl] Article 3 punishes storing or carrying the seeds of the poppy and the flowering or fruiting tops of cannabis, and for cannabis requires proof of intent to produce narcotics; cannabis seed is not named. This is the text as amended in 1997[@anl] The 1961 Single Convention leaves seeds out of its definition of cannabis.[@single] Seeds are sold openly online, and growers buy them; clones are plants, so keeping or trading them falls under the 2010 and 2017 amendments were not readcultivation offence.[@cgh,anl]

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The whole market is illegal and, by a 2021 study based onGhiabi's fieldwork, easy to reach: officials said the time needed to obtain hashish or cannabis anywhere in Tehran had fallen from fifteen minutes to seven.[@cgh] Hashish is mass-produced in Afghanistan and Pakistan and comes in along the opiate routes. Herbal; cannabis is widely grown inindoors and outdoors across Iran, mostlythough there are no precise figures on a small scale, and sold as gol ("flower"), a high-THC product that took over the market from about 2000how much.[@cgh,plos] Dealers advertise through Instagram stories and deliver to the door. Dealers[@cgh] The United States government estimates that about 9,000 tonnes of drugs transit Iran each year and users in Tehran put gol atthat Iran seizes about 501,000 tuman a gramtonnes, roughly 0.mostly on the eastern borders; opiates make up 80 US dollars, with imported hashish cheaper% of seizures.[@incsr]

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No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited, and the law provides for the death penalty for the.[@anl] The most serious drug offences carry death.[@ecpm]

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There is no legal recreational supply for anyone. Under the Anti-Narcotics Law, possessing[@anl] A visitor who carries a small quantityamount of cannabis or hashish, roughly under 50 g, is punished withfaces a fine and up to 50 lashes rather than prison; penalties climbthe penalty rises steeply with quantity, to long imprisonment and death.[@anl] The law makes no exception for visitors.[@anl]

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Iran Human Rights and ECPM — Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran 2025 US Department of State — 2025 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, Volume 1: Drug and Chemical Control Evidence for an increase in cannabis use in Iran – A systematic review and trend analysis Islam and cannabis: Legalisation and religious debate in Iran IRNA — 372 tonnes of drugs seized last year; more than 570,000 defendants arrested (2 June 2025) Iran — Traffic Violations Law (قانون رسیدگی به تخلفات رانندگی), Article 10(b) Hamshahri Online — Industrial hemp cultivation allowed in Iran: the details (21 Mehr 1405 / 13 October 2026) Tasnim News Agency — No permits have been issued for cultivating narcotic plants (28 Khordad 1405 / 18 June 2026) United Nations Treaty Collection — Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961: status of participants Considerations before the legalization of recreational and medical cannabis in Iran Iran — Anti-Narcotics Law, Articles 4 and 5, text with the amendments of 1989–1993 (Persian Wikisource) Wikipedia — Cannabis in Iran Iran Human Rights — Execution trends six months after the new Anti-Narcotics Law LegalClarity — Is weed legal in Iran? Laws and penalties 2 unchanged

IRR

upto 50 g · treatment criminal · term Keeping or carrying · fine 3000000 · caning 1, 50 · note Fine and lashes; no prison, over 50 g · upto 500 g · treatment criminal · term Keeping or carrying · fine min 5000000 · fine 15000000 · caning 10, 74 · note No prison on a first offence, over 500 g · upto 5 kg · treatment criminal · term Keeping or carrying · prison min 2 years · prison 5 years · fine min 15000000 · fine 60000000 · caning 40, 74, over 5 kg · upto 20 kg · treatment criminal · term Keeping or carrying · prison min 5 years · prison 10 years · fine min 60000000 · fine 200000000 · caning 50, 74 · note Property confiscated on a second conviction; a third is capital, over 20 kg · upto 100 kg · treatment criminal · term Keeping or carrying · death true · note Death available above 50 kg or with another aggravating factor; otherwise up to 30 years, label More than 100 kg · treatment criminal · term Keeping or carrying · fine min 60000000 · fine 200000000 · caning 50, 74 · note Life imprisonment, 2 million rials per kilogram and the fines and lashes above; a further conviction is capital

IRR

label First cultivation offence · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · fine min 10000000 · fine 100000000, label Second cultivation offence · repeat 2 · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · fine min 50000000 · fine 500000000 · caning 30, 70, label Third cultivation offence · repeat 3 · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison min 2 years · prison 5 years · fine min 100000000 · fine 1000000000 · caning 1, 70, label Fourth cultivation offence · repeat 4 · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · death true

IRR

upto 50 g · treatment criminal · term Distribution or sale · fine 4000000 · caning 1, 50 · note Fine and lashes; no prison, over 50 g · upto 500 g · treatment criminal · term Distribution or sale · fine min 4000000 · fine 50000000 · caning 20, 74 · prison 3 years · note Prison only if the court considers it necessary, over 500 g · upto 5 kg · treatment criminal · term Distribution or sale · prison min 3 years · prison 15 years · fine min 50000000 · fine 200000000 · caning 50, 74, over 5 kg · treatment criminal · term Distribution or sale · death true · note Life and 74 lashes if not distributed and 20 kg or less; death needs an aggravating factor

IRR

label Use by a non-addict · treatment criminal · term Use · fine min 1000000 · fine 5000000 · caning 20, 74, label Use by an addict · treatment criminal · term Use · fine min 1000000 · fine 8000000 · caning 1, 30 · note Prosecution suspended while the person is in treatment

Adults have no legal way to buy cannabis.[@anl] Possession up to 50 g is punished with a fine and lashes rather than prison, but the amount, the lashes and the risk of a custodial sentence rise steeply with weight.[@anl] The market is illegal and easy to reach: Ghiabi's fieldwork found that the time needed to obtain hashish or cannabis anywhere in Tehran had fallen from fifteen minutes to seven, and that dealers advertised through Instagram stories and delivered to the door.[@cgh] Herbal cannabis is sold as gol ('flower'), a product marketed as stronger and more modern than hashish, which took over from resin around 2000.[@cgh] Dealers and users in Tehran put gol at about 50,000 tuman a gram at the time of the fieldwork, roughly 0.80 US dollars.[@cgh] The state counts 2.8 to 4.4 million regular users of illicit drugs, with opiates still the main drug.[@incsr]

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standard

Hemp may be grown only under a permit, under a directive communicated in October 2026.[@hemp] The rule allows farmers to grow certified seed with less than 0.3% THC and a CBD-dominant profile, with a licence from the provincial Jihad Agriculture organisation.[@hemp] The legal basis is Article 28 of the 1961 Single Convention and Article 2 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, which makes cultivation a crime only when it is done to produce narcotics.[@single,anl] Cannabis above 0.3% THC for medicine falls under the rules for Iranian poppy.[@hemp] In June 2026 the drug control headquarters said no permits had been issued for narcotic-plant cultivation; the October directive covers industrial hemp, not narcotic plants.[@tasnim,hemp]

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impairment

Driving after using cannabis is an offence when the police can show intoxication or incapacity from narcotics.[@traffic] Article 10(b) of the 2011 Traffic Violations Law requires officers to use equipment to establish the condition; if it is proved, they stop the driver, issue a fine of 2 million rials, seize the licence for six months and refer the case to court.[@traffic] The law sets no THC limit; the test is the driver's condition.[@traffic]

traffic

In the Iranian year 1403 (March 2024–March 2025), the anti-narcotics police reported 570,232 people arrested: 375,438 addicts and 194,794 traffickers or distributors.[@irna] They also reported 372 tonnes of drugs seized.[@irna] The figures cover all drugs and give no breakdown for cannabis.[@irna] A separate US report estimates 2.8 to 4.4 million regular users and 1.3 to 1.6 million treatment seekers a year.[@incsr]

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Cannabis has been part of Persian life for centuries: hashish was used by Sufi orders and prescribed by physicians, and jurists argued for centuries over whether it was forbidden.[@ghiabi2018] In the twentieth century, [bang](/culture/language/bhang/) and [charas](/culture/language/charas/) were the older names; from about 2000, herbal cannabis sold as [gol](/culture/language/gol/) ('flower') spread in Tehran's universities and arts circles, presented as cleaner and more modern than [hashish](/culture/language/hashish/).[@cgh] Ghiabi's fieldwork describes a vocabulary that separates gol from hashish and the social identities attached to each.[@cgh] The 2018 survey of senior Shia clerics found that six of the eight who replied treated cannabis as lawful only under conditions, and most favoured supervised medical use.[@ghiabi2018]

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