Marshall Islands: complete sections, penalty tables and four history entries

A code compilation recording the law already in force, not a dated 1980 change; no score step.

For a first marijuana offence involving one ounce or less, the statutory range is a $1,000 … e or less after a previous conviction, carries $5,000–25,000 or one to five years, or both; a repeat over an ounce carries $25,000–50,000 or five to fifteen years.[@law] Marijuana concentrate is treated separately: under a quarter of an ounce carries $5,000–50,000 or one to fifteen years, and half an ounce or more carries at least $100,000 or at least twenty-five years.[@law]

Knowingly planting or cultivating a prohibited drug is an offence. Marijuana includes growing cannabis plants, seeds and resin; the law provides no ordinary personal plant allowance and grades cultivation by the amount of drug involved, not by plant count.[@law]

Planting, cultivation, production and manufacture are prohibited outside the Act’s exceptions. Practitioners handling drugs forThe Act allows licensed professional work,handling and approved research, or teaching, but creates no commercial cannabis cultivation or analysis require licences specifyingmanufacturing licence; the druggovernment is the sole importer and quantitydistributor of narcotic drugs.[@law]

The law separates marijuana from marijuana concentrate, including hashish and THC, with different penalty bands. Both are expressly included in the current prohibited-drug definition.[@law]

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TheA doctor may prescribe a narcotic drug, and the Act expressly extendsdeems marijuana a narcotic for its medical and professional exceptions to marijuana and concentrates. It recognises licensed professional handling andsections, so possession under a valid prescription is exempt from the ban. Practitioner licences identify[@law] The Act creates no medical cannabis programme: no product list, patient registry or pharmacy supply route was found, and the government is the sole importer of narcotic drugs and exact quantities and last.[@law] A practitioner needs a one-year; receipt licence from the Board of Health Professions naming the drug and dispensing recordsquantity, and must be retainedkeep records for two years.[@law]

Global Organized Crime Index — Marshall Islands 2025 Marshall Islands — Driving Under the Influence Act 1993 (13 MIRC Ch. 3) Marshall Islands — Motor Traffic Act 1986 Marshall Islands Police Department — Annual Report 2024 Marshall Islands High Court — 2024 Annual Report Marshall Islands High Court — 2025 Annual Report UNODC Data Portal — Drug seizures, reported seizures in kilogram equivalents 5 unchanged

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label Herb, one ounce or less, first offence · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 6 months · prison 1 year · fine min 1000 · fine 5000, label Herb, over one ounce, first offence · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 1 year · prison 5 years · fine min 5000 · fine 25000, label Herb, over one ounce, repeat · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 5 years · prison 15 years · fine min 25000 · fine 50000, label Concentrate, under a quarter ounce, first offence · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 1 year · prison 15 years · fine min 5000 · fine 50000, label Concentrate, half an ounce or more · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 25 years · fine min 100000 · note No statutory maximum for this band

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label Cultivation graded by quantity · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison min 6 months · prison 15 years · fine min 1000 · fine 50000 · note Section 909 herb bands; concentrate can reach at least twenty-five years

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label Herb, one ounce or less, first offence · treatment criminal · term Distribution · prison min 6 months · prison 1 year · fine min 1000 · fine 5000, label Herb, over one ounce, first offence · treatment criminal · term Distribution · prison min 1 year · prison 5 years · fine min 5000 · fine 25000, label Supply to a minor, herb · treatment criminal · term Distribution to a minor · prison min 5 years · prison 15 years · fine min 25000 · fine 50000 · note Additional to the section 909 penalty, label Supply to a minor, concentrate · treatment criminal · term Distribution to a minor · prison min 25 years · fine min 100000 · note Additional to the section 909 penalty; no statutory maximum

There is no legal way for an adult to buy cannabis, and growing a plant at home is a crime.[@law] The market is small and local, with no licensed shops or clubs.[@ocindex] Cannabis is the illicit drug most often reported by young people: 13.8% of high school students in the 2022 survey had used it in the past 30 days, against 1.0% for meth or cocaine.[@survey] Police and court reports describe small quantities found alongside methamphetamine and crack, not a large commercial trade.[@journal,courts2025]

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The Act has no THC threshold for hemp. “Marijuana” covers any part of the cannabis plant, growing or not, including seeds and resin, and “marijuana concentrate” covers hashish and THC; the only exceptions are medical, professional and research licences.[@law] No hemp licensing scheme or CBD rule was found.[@law]

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impairment

Driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, including marijuana, is a crime when it makes you unable to drive with the caution of a sober person.[@dui] There is no THC limit: a breath test is taken if police ask, a blood test if breath testing is unavailable, and refusing a test costs the licence for six months.[@dui] A first conviction carries 3 days to 1 year in jail, a $100–$1,000 fine and a 30-day to 6-month licence suspension.[@dui] The Motor Traffic Act’s definition of “drug” expressly includes marijuana.[@motor]

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The cannabis market is small and local. The Global Organized Crime Index rates the cannabis trade 2.5 out of 10 and says low profit margins keep large criminal actors out, while cocaine and methamphetamine dominate trafficking.[@ocindex] Police reports describe small quantities mixed with other drugs: a 2024 jail raid found marijuana and meth in the same cells, and a 2024 home search found marijuana, meth and crack.[@journal] The Marshall Islands reports no cannabis seizure data to UNODC, so there is no national series of kilograms seized for 2015–2024.[@unodc_szr]

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Police recorded charges in two possession-of-illegal-substance cases and five selling-or-distribution cases in 2024, up from none of either in 2023; the figures cover all drugs and do not separate cannabis.[@mipd] The High Court counted two “narcotic drugs” cases among 21 criminal filings in Majuro in 2024, and in 2025 five drug-possession cases among 26 Majuro filings and one marijuana-selling case among five Ebeye filings.[@courts2024,courts2025] The court reports give case counts, not arrest numbers, and the possession figures mix cannabis with methamphetamine and cocaine.[@courts2025]

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No cannabis offence carries death. The Prohibited Drugs Act provides fines or imprisonment for marijuana and concentrate offences; none of its penalty provisions provides a death sentence.[@law]

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