Belgium countries/be.yaml
Cannabis possession remains an offence. Adults with up to 3 g for personal use, without ag … lowest prosecution priority. Prosecutors may still bring charges with reasons.[@justice] [Belgium limited police reporting for adult personal possession in 2003.](/history/belgium-law-2003/) [Belgium restored uniform low-priority handling in 2005.](/history/belgium-three-grams-2005/)
upto 3 g · treatment criminal · term Possession · fine min 120 · fine 200 · note Simplified police report and lowest prosecution priority; fines andno immunity, label Exceeding the user amount, nuisance or aggravating circumstances · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 3 months · prison 1 year · fine min 8000 · fine 800000 · note Full prosecution remain possibleunder the 2005 directive
One plant for adult personal use receives the same low prosecution priority as 3 g, subject to the other conditions. Growing remains unlawful; the policy gives no immunity from prosecution.[@justice] [Belgium limited police reporting for adult personal possession in 2003.](/history/belgium-law-2003/)
Police normally send a simplified report for eligible small adult possession. Prosecutors … e low-priority threshold.[@justice] Larger quantities and dealing can bring prison.[@cms] [Belgium restored uniform low-priority handling in 2005.](/history/belgium-three-grams-2005/)
Supply is an offence.[@cms] Cannabis social clubs that tried to pool members' one-plant allowances have been prosecuted and convicted.[@wiki,cms] [Belgium limited police reporting for adult personal possession in 2003.](/history/belgium-law-2003/)
Use in public or in the presence of minors takes a case out of the low-priority category and leads to prosecution.[@dpf] Private use by adults is in practice left alone.[@dpf,wiki]
Medical access is lawful but narrow: a specialist may prescribe Sativex for multiple-sclerosis spasticity and a pharmacy may dispense it.[@fagg] There are no legal adult-use shops or tolerated clubs.[@fagg] [Belgium permitted prescription Sativex in 2015.](/history/belgium-sativex-2015/)
Very limited: a 2015 royal decree allows cannabis-based medicines, in practice one mouth spray for multiple-sclerosis spasticity.[@fagg] Pharmacies may not dispense herbal cannabis.[@fagg] [Belgium permitted prescription Sativex in 2015.](/history/belgium-sativex-2015/)
The police record made for small possession is not a conviction.[@dpf] Roadside saliva tests apply a very low THC threshold.[@dpf,wiki]
The 2017 royal decree says growing cannabis plants "is prohibited and cannot be authorised", apart from hemp grown under EU farm rules, and it does not mention seeds.[@ar2017] Growing for personal use falls under the lighter penalties of the drug law, and one plant is treated with the same low priority as three grams.[@ar2017] [Belgium restored uniform low-priority handling in 2005.](/history/belgium-three-grams-2005/)
Clubs have no legal basis; they lean on the directive that gives lowest priority to an adult's possession of 3 g or one plant, arguing that members may pool their one plant each.[@leafly20] The first, Trekt Uw Plant in Antwerp, was founded in 2006, went to court twice and was acquitted in 2010; others followed in Hasselt, Liège, Andenne and Namur.[@leafly20] In 2020 there were five registered clubs, the largest with about 400 members.[@wikibe] The courts have not accepted the model: organisers of the Mambo Social Club, raided in 201 … nal possession cannot be stretched to a shared growing room, and the club stopped growing.[@leafly20,wikibe] [Antwerp activists founded Trekt Uw Plant in 2006.](/history/belgium-trekt-uw-plant-2006/)
The roadside THC saliva screen uses 25 ng/mL; evidentiary saliva analysis uses 10 ng/mL.[@trafficlaw] Blood analysis, where saliva testing or analysis cannot be performed under article 63, measures THC in plasma at a 1 ng/mL threshold.[@trafficlaw] These specimen-specific values are distinct from proof of actual impairment.[@trafficlaw] The driving ban runs from one month to five years and the fine from 1,000 to 10,000 euros.[@euda_dd]
The EU drugs agency's statistical bulletin records 45,123 cannabis-related drug law offences in Belgium in 2024, against 37,940 in 2023.[@euda_dlo] Of the 2024 total, 34,294 were for use or possession for use.[@euda_dlo] That is the highest figure in the series, which starts in 2007.[@euda_dlo] Countries count these differently (offences or offenders, criminal or administrative), so the figure is not comparable across borders.[@euda_dlo]
No legal recreational supply exists. The adult 3 g/one-plant policy is a low prosecution priority, with no guaranteed immunity; fines and prosecution remain possible.[@justice] [Belgium restored uniform low-priority handling in 2005.](/history/belgium-three-grams-2005/)
The EU drugs agency's statistical bulletin records 9,983 kg of herbal cannabis and 711 kg of cannabis resin seized in Belgium in 2024, against 850 kg and 4,515 kg in 2023.[@euda_szr] Herbal cannabis was seized on 886 occasions and resin on 17.[@euda_szr] Countries record seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@euda_szr]
Cannabis Freedom Index — Joep Oomen (atlas) 14 unchanged
EUR
label One plant for adult personal use · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · note Same low priority as 3 g; no immunity from prosecution, label Growing beyond one plant · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · note Prosecuted as production; the one-plant tolerance does not cover it
One plant became a movement. Dutch-born Antwerp activist [Joep Oomen](/culture/people/joep-oomen/) read the one-plant rule and asked whether someone else could tend the plant — the answer was Trekt Uw Plant, founded in 2006, Belgium's first cannabis social club, twice taken to court.[@oomen] The courts never accepted the model: organisers pooling members' plants were convicted, the tolerance for personal possession unable to stretch to a shared growing room.[@leafly20,wikibe] [Antwerp activists founded Trekt Uw Plant in 2006.](/history/belgium-trekt-uw-plant-2006/) [Belgium restored uniform low-priority handling in 2005.](/history/belgium-three-grams-2005/)
oomen, leafly20, wikibe