Mauritius countries/mu.yaml
label Simple possession or use · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 2 years · fine 50000 · note Since November 2022, small amounts may be referred to rehabilitation instead of prosecution
Cultivation isSection 5 bans cultivating the cannabis plant, and police may uproot any plant found growing.[@dda] As a seriousdrug dealing offence with long prison terms; seeds are also bannedunder section 30, cultivation of Part I cannabis herb carries penal servitude of up to 25 years and a fine of up to one million rupees.[@dda] The general tier for contravening the Act's Part II provisions, which include cultivation, runs to fifteen years and 500,000 rupees under section 29.[@dda]
Still strict: prisons hold many drug offenders, which is why a 2025 proposal to depenalise cannabis was framed as a way to relieve overcrowding.[@aa] In 2024 the judiciary convicted 1,747 drug offences, 81.2% for possession, 8.2% for consumption, 6.0% for cannabis cultivation and 4.0% for dealing.[@ndo24]
aa, ndo24
Dealing carries heavy sentencesDrug dealing offences under section 30 — including sale, distribution, transport and cultivation — carry penal servitude of up to decades25 years and a fine of up to one million rupees for traffickingPart I cannabis herb.[@dda] Cannabis resin sits in Part II, whose dealing tier runs from five to twenty-five years.[@dda]
Use is an offence under section 34, with the rehabilitation route available since 2022.[@dda,leaf]
leaf, dda
No adult-use source. Authorised patients can receive medical cannabis through public hospitals.[@mondaq]
There is no legal recreational market.[@leaf] Use is an offence, with a rehabilitation route for small amounts since November 2022.[@leaf] Cannabis ('gandia') remains prohibited under the 2000 Act, and prisons hold many drug offenders.[@dda,aa]
No domestic production was established; medical products are imported with health-ministry authorisation.[@mondaq]
Medical cannabis is narrowly defined: capsules, oil solutions or mouth sprays with no more than 30 mg of THC per millilitre. No flower.
mondaq
Legal since the 2022 amendment, but only with individual authorisation from the Ministry of Health, for a short list of conditions.[@mondaq] Medical cannabis is narrowly defined as capsules, oil solutions or mouth sprays with no more than 30 mg of THC per millilitre, with no flower.[@mondaq]
A conviction is a criminal record affecting employment; a certificate of character is required for many jobs.[@aa]
The Dangerous Drugs Act defines gandia as "all the parts of the plant" Cannabis sativa or indica, with no exception for seed, and section 5 says no person shall cultivate the cannabis plant.[@dda] Police may uproot any plant found growing.[@dda]
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone.[@dda] Under section 34 of the Dangerous Drugs Act, using or possessing any dangerous drug carrie … ay order treatment instead of prison for a person who undertakes to be cured of addiction.[@dda]
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@dda]
The Road Traffic Act's drug schedule lists delta-9-THC (cannabis) among drugs with zero tolerance, separately from medicines with specified blood limits.[@traffic19] Section 123E covers driving, attempting to drive, being in charge and supervising a learner while under the influence of a listed drug.[@traffic19] Section 123G distinguishes a saliva or urine preliminary drug test from laboratory blood o … ed warning can be prima facie evidence, rather than an automatically confirmed THC result.[@traffic19] The 2022 amendment corrected the drug list to the Thirteenth Schedule and the field assessment to the Fourteenth.[@traffic22] The government's 2024–25 performance report confirms that its forensic laboratory began reporting drug-driving cases in July 2022, and the drug observatory counted 1,104 drug-driving tests in 2024.[@traffic_performance,ndo24] The 2026 Act changes interim licence orders and creates vehicle seizure provisions, but different sections require proclamation on different dates.[@traffic26] The complete current penalty and licence regime, commencement of the seizure provisions an … ied here; the older ministry reprint must not be used as a complete current consolidation.
traffic19, traffic22, traffic26, traffic_performance, ndo24
Mauritius National Drug Observatory Report 2024 MRA press release — 55 kg of cannabis seized at SSR airport (25 February 2025) MRA customs seizure log (2025 monthly figures) MRA press release — cannabis worth Rs 22.5M seized (31 December 2025) 8 unchanged
word Gandia · lang English (Mauritius) · meaning cannabis; the Act's name for bhang, babzi, siddhi and all parts of the cannabis plant · sources dda
MUR
label Cultivation as a drug dealing offence (section 30, Part I herb) · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison 25 years · fine 1000000 · note Penal servitude; cannabis herb (gandia) is a Part I drug, label Contravening the Act's Part II provisions including cultivation (section 29) · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison 15 years · fine 500000 · note General tier; the dealing tier above applies to cultivation as a section 30 offence
MUR
label Drug dealing offence, Part I cannabis herb (section 30) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison 25 years · fine 1000000 · note Penal servitude; sale, distribution, transport, cultivation, label Drug dealing offence, Part II cannabis resin (section 30) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 5 years · prison 25 years · fine 1000000 · note Five-to-twenty-five-year band for Part II drugs
none
No industrial-hemp exception was verified: the Dangerous Drugs Act covers the cannabis plant with no low-THC distinction, and medical cannabis is narrowly defined as capsules, oil solutions or mouth sprays with no more than 30 mg of THC per millilitre — no flower.[@dda,mondaq]
dda, mondaq
In 2024 the police Anti-Drug Smuggling Unit reported 3,451 drug cases with 2,520 arrests; cannabis (gandia, hashish and cannabis oil) accounted for 37.2% of ADSU arrests, behind synthetic cannabinoids at 37.4%.[@ndo24] Of 4,373 drug offences registered nationally, 40.9% were cannabis-related.[@ndo24]
ndo24
Cannabis dominates seizures: in 2024 the forensic laboratory confirmed cannabis in 46.1% of 3,268 illicit-substance cases, and cannabis products made up 74.0% (Rs 1.2 billion) of the Rs 1.6 billion street value seized by the Anti-Drug Smuggling Unit.[@ndo24] Customs interceptions continue: 55 kg seized at the airport from two Thailand arrivals in February 2025, 10.2 kg aboard a cargo vessel in August 2025, and 18 kg from an Alabama arrival in December 2025.[@mra25a,mra25b,mra26]
ndo24, mra25a, mra25b, mra26