Papua New Guinea: correct the two-track drug law and add 10 history entries

Papua New Guinea briefly raises its old drug-law maximum to 40 years

The Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2021 replaced the old Act'’s three-month-to-two-year penalty with a fine of up to K1,000,000 or imprisonment for up t … commenced when the Speaker certified it on 13 January 2022. The Controlled Substance Act replaced the old Actcame into force eleven weeks later but did not repeal the Dangerous Drugs Act, which remained on the statute book and was still used for cannabis cases in 2024 and 2025.

Replaced byStill in force alongside the 2021 Act; the overlapping Controlled Substance Act eleven weeks after it commencedentry carries the score movement.

The Controlled Substance Act put cannabis, resin, oil and cannabis plants in Schedule I an … p to 15 years, and more than 20 from 16 years to life. The Act commenced on 31 March 2022 and replacedalongside the Dangerous Drugs Act, which remained in force; the Controlled Substance Act says it prevails where the two conflict.

Cannabis possession and cultivation are prohibited. The Controlled Substance Act has quantity tiers, including up to two years for 10 g or less and life for more than 2 kg or more than 20 plants. A separateThe Dangerous Drugs Act charge has been used for cannabis andremains in force alongside it, carries a maximum of forty years and/or K1 million, and is still used for cannabis; the quantity tiers are not a guarantee of the only charge or penalty.

The Controlled Substance Act prohibits Schedule I cultivation and has quantity tiers of up to two years, up to fifteen years and sixteen years to life, with fines also possible.[@csa21] Section 59 covers medium-to-large and commercial cultivation; the Schedule VII “fewer than five plants” line is a simple-possession tier, and the Act does not clearly create a one-plant offence.[@csa21] Dangerous Drugs Act section 3 separately covers knowing unauthorised cultivation, with a m … arge; plant tiers alone do not exhaust the reported enforcement framework.[@dda2021,csa21]

label Fewer than five plants (Controlled Substance Act) · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison 2 years · note Schedule VII simple-possession tier; the Act does not clearly create a one-plant offence, label More than five plants · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison … ensed cultivation · prison 40 years · fine 1000000 · note Maximum; separate charging route

Facilitating another person's use, whether free or for consideration, carries up to 12 mon … aterial benefit is trafficking and is punished under the quantity-based Schedule VII tiers, but section 68 applies at medium-to-large or commercial quantities; the Act does not clearly create a standalone small-scale sale offence, so small sales may be charged as possession or facilitation.[@csa21]

Sentences runThe RPNGC annual report recorded 1,021 drug offences in 2024, up from street level to decades: eighteen months for nine packets763 in 2023, and 499 in 2021; the figures cover all drugs.[@small_caserpngc24] K15Reported cannabis cases include 12 Gulf convictions in April 2024,000 (three with several 30-year terms and a combined 281 years in default), a six-year term for 14.35 kg in November 2024,[@dda_case] twenty and the Madang 25-five years for 14–20 kgyear terms in 2025,.[@gulf24,tabubil24,long_case] and K30,000 or twenty years for 4No national cannabis-specific arrest count is published.7 kg in 2026.[@policerpngc24] Maximum penalties are not typical sentences.

small_caserpngc24, dda_casegulf24, long_casetabubil24, policelong_case

Road Traffic Act section 42 criminalises driving on a public street under the influence of … istered impairment test; their numerical alcohol rules are not THC limits.[@trafficrules] Controlled Substance Act section 69 separately covers driving under the influence of a controlled drug, with up to 12 months and/or K12,000; its medical defence applies only to Schedules II–IV, so it does not cover Schedule I cannabis.[@csa21] The Road Traffic Act's definition of “drug” still points to the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.[@traffic2014] No quantified THC allowance or general prescribed-cannabis defence was verified.[@traffic2014,trafficrules]

traffic2014, trafficrules, csa21

Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary — Annual Management Report 2024 PNG Haus Bung — Gulf police success with Controlled Substance Act (16 April 2024) RPNGC — Tabubil court sentences a man to six years for marijuana (14 November 2024) Monash University Eleos — The PNG Parliament abolishes the death penalty for the second time 11 unchanged

Papua New Guinea abolished the death penalty on 20 January 2022, replacing it with life imprisonment. No cannabis offence carries death; the Controlled Substance Act allows life for more than 2 kg or more than 20 plants, but not a capital sentence.[@csa21,death22]

csa21, death22

On 31 March 2022 Papua New Guinea's Controlled Substance Act commenced, replacing alongside the Dangerous Drugs Act as the country's drug law, which remained in force. Cannabis, its resin, its oil and cannabis plants went into Schedule I — described as hav … to fifteen, more than twenty from sixteen years to life.[@1] ## Two charging routes The replacement wasnew regime did not cleanreplace the old one cleanly. Weeks before commencement, a January 2022 amendment had rewritten Dangerous Drugs Act se … ry/papua-new-guinea-controlled-substance-act-2022/) and the old maximum that survived it.