Réunion countries/re.yaml
label Ordinary illicit use · treatment criminal · term Drug use · prison 1 year · fine 3750 · note National fixed-fine procedure applies to ordinary use cases
Growing cannabis is treated as production of narcotics,: up to 20 years imprisonment and a serious crime with sentences far above those for use€7.5 million fine, even for a few plants.[@cidj] In practice courts impose far lower sentences for small personal grows.[@cidj]
CBD flower and products under 0.3% THC are lawful to sell under the national French regime; there is no other lawful cannabis product on the island.[@cx]
cx
OFDT — Élodie Auzole, Tendances récentes et nouvelles drogues, La Réunion, résultats 2021 (November 2022) 6 unchanged
word Zamal · lang Réunion Creole · meaning cannabis; the island's Creole word, probably of Malagasy origin · sources benoist
EUR
label Growing cannabis (production of narcotics) · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison 20 years · fine 7500000 · note Courts impose far lower sentences for small personal grows
none
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: cultivation is a production offence and giving cannabis to another person is a specific supply offence.[@cidj]
cidj
grey
unclear
illegal
banned
Zamal is planted in cane fields and gardens, all of it outside any legal regime.[@benoist] A widespread belief that one or two plants for personal use are legal is false: growing is a production offence whatever the number of plants.[@ofdt21,cidj] Seed commerce is not separately addressed in the reviewed sources.
benoist, ofdt21, cidj
Trafficking runs on small networks built on mutual acquaintance, with local production and no transformation into resin — resin arrives imported, by post or by mules.[@ofdt21] Local zamal quality has declined over the last decade while its price rose from about €0.50 to €5 a gram; imported hybrids fill the gap.[@ofdt21]
ofdt21