Peru countries/pe.yaml
Article 299 of the Penal Code makes possession for one's own immediate use not punishable … y test is treatment need, rather than the ordinary 8 g/2 g ceilings.[@medical_possession] [The 8 g limit was fixed in 2003.](/history/peru-eight-grams-2003/) [The 1978 drug law is still the base.](/history/peru-decree-law-22095-1978/)
Growing for personal use is a crime: the Penal Code provides two to six years even where the crop does not exceed 100 plants.[@penal] The exceptions are licensed medical or scientific production and registered patient associations growing for their members.[@law31312] [The 2003 law set the 100-plant line.](/history/peru-eight-grams-2003/) [Association growing was allowed in 2021.](/history/peru-association-cultivation-law-2021/) [A 2008 ruling barred retroactive cultivation convictions.](/history/peru-isidro-murga-cultivation-ruling-2008/)
Small possession is not punished by law.[@penal] Unlicensed cultivation carries two to six years for up to 100 plants and eight to fifteen years otherwise; trafficking also carries prison.[@penal] [The 8 g limit was fixed in 2003.](/history/peru-eight-grams-2003/) [The 1991 Penal Code removed punishment for immediate use.](/history/peru-penal-code-1991/)
Any supply is trafficking.[@penal] [Consumers were separated from traffickers in 1972.](/history/peru-consumer-traffic-distinction-1972/) [The 1991 Penal Code reorganised the offences.](/history/peru-penal-code-1991/)
Use is not a separate offence, and Article 299 protects possession within the limits for one's own immediate consumption.[@penal] [The 8 g limit was fixed in 2003.](/history/peru-eight-grams-2003/)
No adult-use sales. Licensed pharmacies sell medical cannabis products on prescription to registered patients.[@digemid] A specialist medical-cannabis pharmacy was licensed in Lima in 2021.[@diris] [The medical law passed in 2017.](/history/peru-medical-2017/) [A specialist pharmacy was licensed in 2021.](/history/peru-first-dispensary-2021/)
digemid, diris
Licences exist for medical production, import and sale; patient associations can be authorised to cultivate.[@reg2023,law31312] Law 32195 created a separate framework for industrial hemp below 1% THC, but its implementing regulation remained at draft stage after public consultation.[@hemp_law,hemp_draft] [The medical regulation arrived in 2023.](/history/peru-medical-cannabis-regulation-2023/) [Association growing was allowed in 2021.](/history/peru-association-cultivation-law-2021/) [Industrial hemp was legislated in 2024.](/history/peru-industrial-hemp-law-2024/)
Registered medicines, exceptional patient imports and pharmacy-compounded preparations.
digemid
Legal since Law 30681 of 2017, on prescription with patients listed in a national registry; association growing was added to improve access and affordability.[@law30681,law31312] Registered medicines, exceptional patient imports and pharmacy-compounded preparations reach patients through licensed pharmacies.[@digemid] [The medical law passed in 2017.](/history/peru-medical-2017/) [Association growing was allowed in 2021.](/history/peru-association-cultivation-law-2021/)
Qualifying immediate personal possession within the 8 g marijuana/2 g derivative limits is not punishable; the two-drug exclusion applies to that ordinary exemption.[@penal] Separate protection covers medically necessary quantities for registered patients and qualifying caregivers under the prescribed conditions.[@medical_possession] [The 8 g limit was fixed in 2003.](/history/peru-eight-grams-2003/)
penal, medical_possession
Unlicensed transfer of cannabis seed is a crime under the Penal Code, while the medical regulation defines seed to include any botanical structure intended for sexual or asexual propagation.[@penal,reg2023] Licensed medical producers may acquire, propagate, store and transport seeds and seedlings.[@reg2023] Commercial seed sales are restricted to licensed cultivators and regulated under the General Seed Law;[@reg2023] licensed patient associations must obtain seed from an authorised producer.[@law31312] Seeds and clones are therefore confined to licensed or authorised medical and industrial-hemp cultivation and regulated supply channels; the detailed hemp rules remain pending.[@hemp_law,hemp_draft] [Industrial hemp was legislated in 2024.](/history/peru-industrial-hemp-law-2024/) [Hemp rules were drafted in 2025.](/history/peru-hemp-regulation-draft-2025/)
penal, reg2023, law31312, hemp_law, hemp_draft
Since July 2021 the law has allowed patient associations to grow medical cannabis together and make their own derivatives; there is no recreational club model.[@law31312] Every member must be on the national register of cannabis patients, the health ministry issues the licence and the anti-drug police set the security protocol.[@law31312] The law was passed at the request of patient groups, who had found that few pharmacies sto … of about 60 families, had been raided by police before medical use was legalised in 2017.[@efe21] Personal home growing, which the groups also asked for, was left out.[@efe21] [Association growing was allowed in 2021.](/history/peru-association-cultivation-law-2021/)
efe21, law31312
The Penal Code punishes driving 'under the effect of' toxic drugs, narcotics or psychotropic substances with six months to two years in prison, or 52 to 104 days of community service, and disqualification.[@cp274] For alcohol the same article gives a blood level; for drugs it gives none.[@cp274] Drivers of public transport and freight face one to three years.[@cp274]
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 56,327 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 38,704 kg in 2023.[@unodc_szr] The UN publishes them as kilogram equivalents, and countries count seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@unodc_szr]
The anti-drug directorate of the National Police, Dirandro, reported more than 11,700 people detained in over 18,700 operations in 2024 and 122 criminal organisations dismantled.[@panam25] It seized more than 165 tonnes of drugs, a record against 104.6 tonnes in 2023, of which more than 56 tonnes were marijuana.[@panam25] The detentions are counted for drug trafficking as a whole and are not split by drug.[@panam25]
DIRIS Lima Centro Resolution No. 510-2021-DMID-DIRIS-LC Transnational Institute — Reforma de la ley de drogas en Perú, guía básica (2014, updated June 2016) 12 unchanged
upto 8 g · treatment tolerated · term Immediate personal possession · note 8 g of marijuana or 2 g of derivatives for one's own immediate use; lost if two or more drug types held, label Registered-patient treatment needs · treatment tolerated · term Medical-needs possession · note Quantity set by treatment need for registered patients and qualifying caregivers
upto 100 plants · treatment criminal · prison 6 years · prison min 2 years · term Cannabis cultivation · note Even where the crop does not exceed 100 plants, over 100 plants · treatment criminal · prison 15 years · prison min 8 years · term Larger-scale cultivation · note Above the 100-plant line, label Licensed medical or association growing · treatment tolerated · term Authorised medical cultivation · note Licensed producers and registered patient associations for their members
Decriminalised but with no market: Article 299 leaves immediate personal possession unpunished up to 8 g, but any supply is trafficking and there are no legal sales.[@penal] Peruvians joined the Global Marijuana March in 2015 while the drug agency ruled out legalisation.[@tni] [The 8 g limit was fixed in 2003.](/history/peru-eight-grams-2003/) [Peru marched as legalisation was ruled out in 2015.](/history/peru-marijuana-march-2015/)
penal, tni
high
Law 32195 set the industrial-hemp line below 1% THC, a higher ceiling than the 0.3% standard elsewhere, but growing still needs authorisation and the implementing regulation was still a draft after public consultation.[@hemp_law,hemp_draft] There is no open unlicensed hemp regime.[@hemp_law] [Industrial hemp was legislated in 2024.](/history/peru-industrial-hemp-law-2024/) [Hemp rules were drafted in 2025.](/history/peru-hemp-regulation-draft-2025/)
hemp_law, hemp_draft
Peru's cannabis politics are patient-led. Groups of families of epileptic children pushed the 2017 medical law after police raided one 60-family collective, then won association growing in 2021 when pharmacies proved too few.[@efe21,law31312] Peruvians marched with the [Global Marijuana March](/culture/traditions/global-marijuana-march/) in 2015 while the drug agency ruled out legalisation.[@tni] [The medical law passed in 2017.](/history/peru-medical-2017/) [Association growing was allowed in 2021.](/history/peru-association-cultivation-law-2021/) [Peru marched as legalisation was ruled out in 2015.](/history/peru-marijuana-march-2015/)
efe21, law31312, tni