Latvia countries/lv.yaml
Supply is a crime. Section 253.1 of the Criminal Law sets two to eight years in prison for … large amounts, organised groups or supply to minors or in schools, bars and public events.[@kl] Selling a small amount carries up to three years under Section 253.2.[@kl]
Use is an administrative offence the first time and a crime if repeated within a year.[@euda,wiki]
No legal source: Section 253.2 of the Criminal Law covers acquiring or storing even a small amount, and unauthorised use.[@kl]
No legal THC products.
wiki
No medical cannabis programme and no legal THC products. In 2018 the health minister said there were more important things to discuss; in April 2 … e letting doctors prescribe cannabis medicines, saying patients now obtain them illegally.[@wiki,lsm18,bt25]
A repeat offence brings a criminal record.[@euda]
In 2019 Latvia registered 3,159 drug crimes, 7.9% of all recorded crime, most of them use or possession of small amounts.[@spkc20] Courts convicted 1,370 people and 3,203 received administrative penalties; since 2018 the … onvicted has fallen. Marijuana is the drug most often seized. The figures cover all drugs.[@spkc20]
The agriculture ministry stated in 2017 that the narcotics law does not apply to seeds, so … ing and growing those plants is banned and punished under section 256 of the Criminal Law.[@zm17] The same answer also cites the Criminal Law's section on trade, so the position on selling is less clear than its headline, and it is given as informative, not binding.[@zm17]
Criminal Law section 262(1¹) makes it a crime to drive a vehicle, or to instruct a learner, while under the influence of narcotic, psychotropic, toxic or other intoxicating substances.[@kl262] The Latvian text sets the punishment at up to one year in prison, short-term deprivation o … years for serious injury or one death, and three to fifteen years for two or more deaths.[@kl262] Road Traffic Law section 62(5) keeps an administrative fine for a cyclist, an electric-sco … ts (€1,200 to €2,000) for a moped, with the moped rider losing the licence for five years.[@kl262,csl] One fine unit is €5. The, and the Administrative Liability Law lists a warning, a fine, loss of a right, and a ban on using a right.[@csl,aal] Cabinet Regulation No. 719 has the doctor record clinical symptoms and laboratory tests, and it allows a finding that a substance was used when influence is not found.[@mk719] That regulation sets no THC figure.[@mk719]
No clubs are known. A Europe-wide survey of cannabis social clubs carried out in 2018 and 2019 found, after online searches and contact with people in the field, that there did not seem to be any active club in Latvia.[@pardal20] No law in Latvia provides for them; Malta (since 2021) and Germany (since 2024) license non-profit cannabis associations, but only under their own laws.[@de_cang,mt_cap628] Nothing more recent was found.[@pardal20]
There is no legal recreational supply, and acquiring any amount is an offence.[@kl] The 1 g small-quantity ceiling is for dried marijuana only; undried marijuana has 5 g, hashish 0.1 g, and cannabis resin, oil, extracts and tinctures 0.05 g.[@quantities] Exceeding the relevant ceiling can bring a criminal charge immediately; first-offence small possession can attract an administrative fine and repeating within twelve months after warning can be criminal.[@quantities,kl,euda,lvp14]
The EU drugs agency's statistical bulletin records 158 kg of herbal cannabis and 186 kg of cannabis resin seized in Latvia in 2024, against 190 kg and 2.7 kg in 2023.[@euda_szr] Herbal cannabis was seized on 1,039 occasions and resin on 102. Countries record seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@euda_szr]
Sowing hemp may be grown for industry and gardening in open fields; indoor growing and gre … ministry describes this crop under the below-0.3% THC standard.[@control,agriculture2024] Farmers sowed 114 hectares again in 2009 in the [hemp revival](/history/latvia-hemp-revival-2009/), when growers still feared having to prove their plants harmless at a police station.[@lvp10]
control, agriculture2024, lvp10
Astra Spalvēna — kaņepju sviests, Latvian National Encyclopedia (updated 3 August 2026) 23 unchanged
EUR
label First small possession · treatment civil · term Misdemeanour · fine 280 · note Administrative fine up to €280 and a written warning, label Repeat within twelve months · treatment criminal · term Possession · note Short imprisonment, community service or a fine, label Above the product ceiling · treatment criminal · term Possession · note Criminal from the outset (1 g dried, 5 g undried, 0.1 g hashish, 0.05 g resin/oil/extracts)
label Unauthorised sowing or growing · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison 2 years · note Fine, detention, probation, community service, or up to two years, label Large area, organised group · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison 5 years · note Up to five years, label Outdoor industrial or garden hemp · treatment legal · term Hemp · note Permitted under Article 6(2); EU-listed seed
There is no legal recreational supply. First-offence small possession brings an administrative fine up to €280 and a warning; repeating within twelve months, or exceeding the product ceiling, can bring a criminal charge.[@euda,lvp14] Use is an administrative offence the first time and a crime if repeated.[@euda]
euda, lvp14
Latvia's hemp food is traced in [hemp-seed butter](/culture/traditions/latvian-hemp-seed-butter/): roasted, ground hemp seeds eaten with rye bread, a household fat when dairy was scarce.[@butter] The same crop returned to the fields in 2009, when farmers around Krāslava sowed 114 hectares of fibre hemp.[@lvp10]
butter, lvp10