French Polynesia: current penalties, hemp pilot, enforcement and 1924-2026 history

Law 890 prohibits possessing, using, growingPersonal possession and selling cannabis and its derivativesindividual use of controlled drugs carried six months to three years in prison, CBD includeda fine, or either penalty alone. It is still theThe original law applied in Monacoput supply, facilitating another person's courtsuse and group use in a three-to-ten-year range, replacing parts of the 1918 poisonous-substances law. Later amendments separated and increased trafficking penalties.

Possessing and using cannabis are offences. In June 2024 the court in Papeete convicted th … ion to Bora Bora in 2024, a passenger carrying 21.8 g of herb was fined 11,000 CFP francs.[@tntv24,bora24] The sources consulted do not show whether police there issue France's fixed fine for drug use.[@code]

code, tntv24, bora24

label Laliberté case, possession and use (June 2024) · treatment criminal · term Possession · fine 2000000 · note Prosecutor had also asked for a six-month suspended sentence, upto 21.8 g · treatment criminal · term Possession · fine 11000 · note Bora Bora customs case, 21.8 g of herb

Growing cannabis is prohibited even for therapeutic use; only the low-THC hemp pilot under … his epileptic son was acquitted, after the prosecutor asked the court to waive punishment.[@relaxe24] Only the low-THC hemp pilot is licensed; ordinary cultivation remains an offence under the 1978 territorial law.[@pf1978,law2024]

tntv24, relaxe24, pf1978, law2024

label 93 plants, guilty plea (2024) · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · fine 150000, label About 100 plants for a sick child's oil (2024) · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · note Acquitted after the prosecutor asked the court to waive punishment

Drug offences are a priority for the State. In 2025 drug-law offences rose by 32.9%, made … itant. Gendarmes destroyed 25,000 cannabis plants and seized more than 1.5 tonnes of herb.[@bilan25,ops25] Users who reach court mostly receive fines, though prosecutors sometimes ask for suspended prison terms.[@tntv24]

Outside the activities the 2024 law licenses, cannabis remains prohibited, and passing it to someone else is not treated differently from supply.[@code,pf1978] Recreational use was left out of the reform as a matter for a later debate.[@law2024]

lnc23bcode, pf1978, law2024

Use itself is an offence and was part of the conviction in the Laliberté case.[@tntv24] Use is common among the young: in a 2009 survey of pupils, 29.3% had ever smoked paka and 20.4% had done so in the past year.[@spf]

There is no lawful source for adults. The 2024 law provides for doctors to prescribe and p … oducts to be set by arrêté, but the sources consulted show no such medicine available yet.[@law2024,lnc25] In February 2025 CBD oil still awaited further arrêtés.[@lnc25]

lnc23blaw2024, lnc25

Cannabis is known as paka and grows widely across the islands.[@spf] It was explicitly banned by the [1978 territorial law](/history/french-polynesia-cannabis-prohibition-adopted-1978/). Use is common among the young: in a 2009 pupil survey 29.3% had ever smoked paka and 20.4% had done so in the past year.[@spf]

The only licensed growing is a pilot under the law of 23 August 2024.[@law2024] Arrêtés published in February 2025 allow at most ten approved growers on 1.5 hectares in all: 0.15 hectares each, two per archipelago, and only for people resident for more than ten years.[@lnc25] Plants must stay at or below 0.3% THC, and sites must be screened from view and kept away from schools and roads.[@lnc25] In August 2026 nine growers were chosen for a one-year pilot, with first harvests expected in April 2027.[@cann26] Illegal outdoor growing is widespread across the islands.[@ops25]

law2024, lnc25, cann26, ops25

The Assembly first adopted a law on poisonous substances in November 2022, promulgated on 5 January 2023.[@pa22] It would have allowed cannabis medicines and licensed growing, but needed about fifteen implementing decisions.[@pa22] The new government had it repealed on 20 November 2023 as too complicated, which restored rules dating from 1978.[@lnc23a] A narrower law, adopted on 9 July 2024 by 41 votes with 16 abstentions, covers non-intoxicating cannabis and medicines containing cannabis or cannabinoids.[@law2024] No authorised product or implementing list was found.[@law2024]

law2024, pa22, lnc23a, tntv24b

The father acquitted in June 2024 had been prosecuted for two years, and the ruling did no … called his client one of the last to be convicted of an offence that would soon disappear.[@relaxe24,tntv24]

No cannabis clubs are known. Supplying cannabis is an offence, and the 2024 reform left recreational use out.[@code,law2024]

lnc23bcode, law2024

There is no legal supply for anyone. A prescription from home does not help: in the Laliberté case the prosecutor argued that he could not rely on Canadian law, and the court convicted him.[@tntv24]

France — Code pénal, articles 222-34 to 222-39-1, and Code de la santé publique, article L3421-1 French Polynesia — Délibération 78-137 of 18 August 1978 French Polynesia — Loi du pays 2024-19 of 23 August 2024 France — Code de la route, article L235-1 Tahiti Presse — Coup de filet historique à Matai Rorofai (18 February 2025) TNTV — Une demi-tonne de paka saisie à Huahine (27 August 2026) 13 unchanged

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regulated

licensed

regulated

The hemp pilot allows approved growers to use five listed low-THC varieties and registered seed, inside quota'd plots.[@law2024,cann26] Outside that pilot, planting cannabis is cultivation under the 1978 territorial ban, with no personal seed or clone exception.[@pf1978]

law2024, cann26, pf1978

zero

Driving after using narcotics is an offence under Code de la route L235-1, with up to three years and a €9,000 fine, six licence points, suspension for up to five years and possible confiscation.[@road] Gendarmes carry out about 5,000 drug tests a year, with roughly 500 positive, and drugs or alcohol featured in 60% of 2025 fatal crashes.[@bilan25] There is no THC cut-off in the cited provisions; the offence follows a positive drug test.[@road]

road, bilan25

Cannabis is locally produced in mountain valleys and fa'aapu, with inter-island traffic such as the Huahine-to-Tahiti plane route.[@bilan25] In 2025 gendarmes destroyed 25,000 plants and seized more than 1.5 tonnes of herb, officially valued at 1.46 billion XPF.[@bilan25] In February 2025 Operation Matai Rorofai destroyed 7,419 plants and implicated 395 people, and in August 2026 customs seized 513 kg of plants and cuttings in Huahine.[@matai25,huahine26] No reliable retail price per gram was found.[@bilan25]

bilan25, matai25, huahine26

French Polynesia recorded 3,400 drug-law offences in 2025, up 32.9%, or 12.2 per 1,000 inhabitants against 5.34 nationally; trafficking was nearly a quarter of all offences.[@bilan25] Operation Matai Rorofai in February 2025 implicated 395 people and held 45 in custody.[@matai25] No cannabis-only arrest series is published.[@bilan25]

bilan25, matai25