Ireland countries/ie.yaml
Possession remains a crime. For offences from 1 September 2026, Gardaí may refer people over 18 with small quantities for personal use to the Health Referral Scheme.[@hrs2026] It requires a first drug offence, no previous drug-use conviction or adult caution, an admission of possession and consent.[@hrs2026] Referral is discretionary; declining it leads to prosecution.[@hrs2026] Outside diversion, the first two cannabis possession offences are fine-only and a third can bring prison.[@costings,lrc,oe] [Health referrals began in September 2026.](/history/ireland-health-referral-scheme-2026/) [Warnings gave way to adult cautions in 2020.](/history/ireland-adult-caution-2020/)
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label First cannabis possession offence (summary) · treatment criminal · term Possession of a controlled drug · fine 1000 · note Class D fine (max €1,000), label Second cannabis possession offence (summary) · repeat 2 · treatment criminal · term Possession of a controlled drug · fine 1000 · note Class D fine, label Third or later cannabis possession offence (summary) · repeat 3 · treatment criminal · term Possession of a controlled drug · fine 2500 · prison 12 months · note Class C fine (max €2,500) and/or up to 12 months
Cultivation is a criminal offence, with prison possible even for a few plants.[@gov] Growing any cannabis plant without a ministerial licence is an offence under section 17 of the 1977 Act.[@mda77]
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Gardaí can offer eligible first-time offenders a health referral instead of prosecution or an adult caution.[@hrs2026] The nationwide pilot began on 1 September 2026; possession remains criminal and later cannabis offences can bring prison.[@hrs2026,ll] Early caution statistics do not measure the new scheme’s outcomes.[@ll] [Health referrals began in September 2026.](/history/ireland-health-referral-scheme-2026/)
Supply, including unpaid sharing, is an offence under section 15:[@gov] on summary conviction a fine and/or up to twelve months, on indictment an unlimited fine and/or up to life imprisonment.[@lrc] [Supply has been an offence since the 1977 Act.](/history/ireland-misuse-of-drugs-1977/)
label Supply (summary conviction) · treatment criminal · term Supply of a controlled drug · prison 12 months · note Fine and/or up to twelve months, label Supply (conviction on indictment) · treatment criminal · term Supply of a controlled drug · note Unlimited fine and/or up to life imprisonment
Use is prosecuted through the possession offence.[@gov,ll]
No legal adult-use source. The Medical Cannabis Access Programme and individual ministerial licences provide limited medical routes.[@gov] The Health Referral Scheme changes the response to eligible possession cases, without creating a lawful retail supply.[@hrs2026] [The first medical licence was issued in 2016.](/history/ireland-first-medical-licence-2016/) [Health referrals began in September 2026.](/history/ireland-health-referral-scheme-2026/)
There is no legal way to buy cannabis. Adults buy illegally and use in private: possession … ses can instead be referred to the Health Referral Scheme, at Garda discretion.[@hrs2026] [Health referrals began in September 2026.](/history/ireland-health-referral-scheme-2026/)
No licensed cannabis production exists: growing any cannabis plant without a ministerial licence is an offence under section 17 of the 1977 Act.[@mda77]
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The Medical Cannabis Access Programme covers only three conditions where standard treatment has failed, prescribed by consultants; other patients need an individual ministerial licence.[@gov] In an October 2026 parliamentary answer, the minister said a review of access, possible additional conditions and individual licences was expected to take about twelve months from its first meeting on 27 May 2026.[@review2026] This review has not itself expanded eligibility.[@review2026] [The first medical licence was issued in 2016.](/history/ireland-first-medical-licence-2016/)
A conviction can affect travel and employment.[@gov] Eligible first-time offenders may instead receive a Health Referral Scheme referral, or an adult caution; neither is a criminal conviction.[@hrs2026] [Health referrals began in September 2026.](/history/ireland-health-referral-scheme-2026/)
Since 1984 the Misuse of Drugs Act has defined cannabis as any plant of the genus Cannabis or any part of it, but not seed separated from the plant.[@mda84] Seeds are therefore not a controlled drug.[@mda84] Growing any cannabis plant without a ministerial licence is an offence under section 17, and a cutting is itself a plant.[@mda77] [Ireland widened the legal definition of cannabis in 1984.](/history/ireland-cannabis-redefined-1984/)
Ireland sets two limits in whole blood, measured within three hours of driving: 1 nanogram of THC per millilitre, and 5 nanograms per millilitre of the metabolite 11-nor-9-carboxy-THC.[@rta2016,rta2010] Reaching either level is an offence without proof of impairment.[@rta2016] A medical exemption certificate in the prescribed form, signed by the prescribing doctor and stating that THC was lawfully prescribed at that time, takes the driver outside those two limits.[@si158] Driving while impaired remains a separate offence.[@rta2010] Police may stop at random at designated checkpoints and test on suspicion, with roadside oral-fluid tests since April 2017 and blood taken at a police station.[@rsa,euda_dd] The threshold offence brings a ban of at least one year, or two years for a later offence. … offence and six for later ones. The fine is up to 5,000 euros and prison up to six months.[@rsa]
Clubs exist without any legal basis. A Europe-wide survey of cannabis social clubs carried out in 2018 and 2019 received answers from one club in Ireland, and its authors could not say how many more were active.[@pardal20] The study notes that clubs sit in a legally sensitive position and that many have been dissolved after court decisions or police raids.[@pardal20] No law in Ireland provides for them; Malta (since 2021) and Germany (since 2024) license non-profit cannabis associations, but only under their own laws.[@mt_cap628,de_cang] Nothing more recent was found.[@pardal20]
There is no legal recreational supply.[@hrs2026] The Health Referral Scheme can apply to eligible personal-possession offences committed from 1 September 2026, subject to Garda discretion and the first-offence, age, admission and consent requirements.[@hrs2026] Possession remains a crime.[@hrs2026] [Health referrals began in September 2026.](/history/ireland-health-referral-scheme-2026/)
The EU drugs agency's statistical bulletin records 2,916 kg of herbal cannabis and 171 kg of cannabis resin seized in Ireland in 2024.[@euda_szr] Herbal cannabis was seized on 6,118 occasions and resin on 374.[@euda_szr] Countries record seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@euda_szr]
The Central Statistics Office recorded 16,119 controlled drug incidents in 2024, 7 per cent fewer than in 2023, a fall it put largely down to fewer incidents of possession for sale or supply and for personal use.[@cso_rc24] A breakdown of the same series published by the community drugs network Citywide gives 10, … irds of the total, against 4,551 for sale or supply and 85 for cultivation or manufacture.[@citywide_le] The figures cover all drugs and are not split by substance.[@citywide_le]
label Cultivation without a ministerial licence (section 17) · treatment criminal · term Cultivation of a controlled drug · note Prison possible even for a few plants
A health appointment instead of a prosecution