San Marino: statutory penalties, medical production and four history entries

MedicalPersonal possession and use is permitted; recreational reform has been proposed by citizens' initiativeremain criminal, normally carrying six months to three years under the statutory scale, with a possible reduction for particularly minor personal cases. Medical cultivation and prescribing have separate authorisation rules.

Possession is a criminal offence. The statutory penalty for illicitUnauthorised possession or, including for personal use of narcotics is severe on paper — prison and, carries second-degree imprisonment: six months to three years.[@druglaw,code2026] A judge may reduce a fine — though smallparticularly minor personal amounts are dealt with more leniently in practice-use case by one grade, to three months–one year; the law sets no gram cutoff.[@druglaw,code2026]

canndruglaw, wikicode2026

Home growingUnauthorised cultivation or production remains punishable under the drug law; the ordinary second-degree range is illegalsix months to three years.[@druglaw,code2026,l113english] Particularly minor personal production may receive a one-grade reduction to three months–one year.[@druglaw,code2026] The [medical industry law](/history/san-marino-medical-cannabis-law-2021/) requires authorisation for its greenhouse cultivation route.[@l113english]

canndruglaw, code2026, l113english

Criminal penalties applyThe law gives judges discretion to reduce particularly minor personal cases and to impose probation, with leniencysupervision or treatment conditions.[@druglaw] Those possibilities do not create a fixed non-criminal allowance for small amountspossession or use.[@druglaw]

canndruglaw

Supply isSupplying cannabis for payment or free carries the ordinary six-month-to-three-year range.[@druglaw,code2026] Particularly serious cases can be increased by one to three grades, giving third-degree two–six years, fourth-degree four–ten years or fifth-degree six–fourteen years.[@druglaw,code2026] The aggravating grounds include quality and quantity, a crimepredominant profit motive or supplying someone aged twenty-one or younger.[@druglaw]

canndruglaw, code2026

UsePersonal use is covereditself criminal and carries six months to three years, with a possible reduction to three months–one year for particularly minor cases.[@druglaw,code2026] Use conforming to a prescription issued or recognised by the same offence as possessionSocial Security Institute is exempt.[@druglaw]

canndruglaw, code2026

Cannabis-based medicines are available through theMedical retail supply is reserved to state pharmacy onpharmacies against a medical prescription. There is no adult-use source; a proposal for 30 gthe legal categories include cannabis-derived medicines and four plants was shelvedpharmaceutical material.[@amend2023,asccfaq] The law authorises a patient route, while routine dispensing of flower has not been verified in 2020the reviewed sources.[@asccfaq]

l113amend2023, asccasccfaq

nonemedical

Since Law 113 of 2021Businesses can seek authorisation for medical cannabis may be grown in authorisedcultivation, processing and wholesale trade through the ASCC and Congress of State.[@amend2023] The rules require indoor technological greenhouses, security documentation and processed for medicines onlyqualified technical staff.[@licensing2023] In September 2026, under an authorisation froma local report said seven companies had obtained the health authoritygovernment’s preliminary clearance and one, Health Farm, had begun cultivation. Whether any authorisation[@industry2026] Those are reported production milestones, while the state-pharmacy retail route has been issued was not confirmedseparate requirements. There is no production for adult use.[@industry2026,asccfaq]

l113amend2023, licensing2023, industry2026, asccfaq

The authorised medical framework includes cannabis flower and preparations.[@l113english,ascc] State pharmacies may retail cannabis medicines and pharmaceutical-grade raw material; actual dispensing of flower has not been verified.[@asccfaq]

l113english, ascc, asccfaq

The 2021 framework permits prescribed medical cannabisPatients have a prescription-based route, including authorised flower and preparations. Retail supply is throughwith retail sales reserved to state pharmacies; home growing remains illegal. Actual[@amend2023,asccfaq] The authorised categories include flowers, preparations and pharmaceutical raw material, but routine availability of dispensed flower has not been verified.[@l113englishamend2023,asccfaq] The [1997 drug law](/history/san-marino-drugs-law-1997/) separately exempts personal use in accordance with a prescription issued or recognised by the Social Security Institute.[@druglaw]

l113englishamend2023, asccfaq, druglaw

In minor personal-use proceedings, a judge can order health checks, treatment, supervision or community activity.[@druglaw] The law also allows conditions on driving licences, passports and other permits.[@druglaw] A conviction isnon-resident foreigner may face an entry or stay prohibition during proceedings or the judicial measure; particularly aggravated trafficking has a criminal recordseparate expulsion rule after imprisonment.[@druglaw]

canndruglaw

The 2021 medical cannabis law counts the seeds as partMedical cultivation rules require certified seed or cuttings from certified seed, with records of the cannabis plant when THC exceeds 0.2%origin and allows seeds and plants totraceability.[@licensing2023] Plants must be grown only in authorisedapproved indoor technological greenhouses for medicinesthe authorised medicinal production route. Growing, processing[@licensing2023] The 2023 replacement definition includes seeds and trading all require an authorisation fromplant parts without the health authorityoriginal 0.2% THC wording.[@amend2023]

l113licensing2023, amend2023

No cannabis clubs are known, and theThe law leavesprovides no room for them: recreational collective-growing cannabisor gifting exception: free supply is punishable under the ordinary drug offence.[@druglaw] The Criminal Code also penalises providing a venue for drug consumption and supplying itattending such a venue to another person are both prohibitedconsume drugs.[@code2026] Medical retail supply is reserved to state pharmacies.[@asccfaq]

canndruglaw, code2026, asccfaq

There isVisitors have no legal recreational supply for anyone. British travel advice describes a zero-tolerance policy towardsexception: possession, import and personal use of illegal drugs, withremain covered by the criminal law.[@druglaw] The medical-use exception depends on a prison sentenceprescription issued or a heavy finerecognised by the Social Security Institute.[@druglaw] A judge can impose an entry or stay prohibition on convictiona non-resident foreigner in the circumstances described by the personal-use procedure.[@druglaw]

wiki, vice, fcdodruglaw

Road Code article 57 criminalises drivingDriving with psychophysical alterationimpairment caused by narcoticdrugs or psychotropic substances or medication abuse. It permits objective evidence, non-invasive checks and portable instruments approved by decree; refusal to attend a health facility when the specified indications exist is also punishablecriminal under Road Code article 57.[@roadcodepublished] Article 63 provides immediate licence withdrawal. The reviewed, while the original statutetext uses graded criminal penalties, whose current fine and duration conversions havemonetary conversion was not been established hereverified in this review. Decree 170/2024 specifically approves the[@roadcodepublished] The Civil Police'’s Dräger DrugTest 5000 Analyzer and was approved in 2024 and its approval ratified without amendments on 16 January 2025. The[@drugtestapproval,drugtestratification] An April 2026 amendment to article 57 introducesadded a zero-alcohol rule for professional transport: it is not a numerical THC limit or a replacement of while leaving the drug-alterationimpairment requirement distinct. Its novice-driver suspension reduction applies only under stated non-criminal conditions and must not be assumed to halve a criminal drug-driving ban. Current consolidated penalties, confirmatory toxicology procedures and any prescription exception remain follow-up questions; no safe waiting interval is inferred.[@roadamendment2026]

Grand and General Council — Law 139 of 26 November 1997 Grand and General Council — Criminal Code, coordinated text updated 27 February 2026 San Marino — Delegated Decree 28 of 23 February 2023 San Marino — Delegated Decree 53 of 21 March 2023 Tribuna Politica Web — updated drug lists and cannabis production (14 September 2026) San Marino Health Secretariat — controlled-drug schedules update (16 September 2026) 12 unchanged

label Unauthorised possession · treatment criminal · term Prigionia di secondo grado · prison min 6 months · prison 3 years, label Particularly minor case for personal use; discretionary reduction · treatment criminal · term Prigionia di primo grado · prison min 3 months · prison 1 year · note A judge may reduce the ordinary penalty by one grade; no fixed gram threshold

label Unauthorised cultivation or production · treatment criminal · term Prigionia di secondo grado · prison min 6 months · prison 3 years, label Particularly minor personal production; discretionary reduction · treatment criminal · term Prigionia di primo grado · prison min 3 months · prison 1 year · note A judge may reduce the ordinary penalty by one grade; no fixed gram threshold

label Supply, including without payment · treatment criminal · term Prigionia di secondo grado · prison min 6 months · prison 3 years, label Particularly serious offence; one-grade increase · treatment criminal · term Prigionia di terzo grado · prison min 2 years · prison 6 years, label Particularly serious offence; two-grade increase · treatment criminal · term Prigionia di quarto grado · prison min 4 years · prison 10 years, label Particularly serious offence; three-grade increase · treatment criminal · term Prigionia di quinto grado · prison min 6 years · prison 14 years

label Unauthorised personal use · treatment criminal · term Prigionia di secondo grado · prison min 6 months · prison 3 years, label Particularly minor personal use; discretionary reduction · treatment criminal · term Prigionia di primo grado · prison min 3 months · prison 1 year · note A judge may reduce the ordinary penalty by one grade; no fixed gram threshold

Recreational possession and use remain criminal, including when the cannabis is solely for the holder.[@druglaw] A particularly minor personal case can receive a lower sentencing grade at the judge’s discretion.[@druglaw] Free supply is also punishable, so passing cannabis to a friend falls under the supply rule.[@druglaw]

druglaw

The medical cultivation system covers the plant and its parts, including seeds, flowers and resin.[@amend2023] The [2023 amendment](/history/san-marino-medical-definition-revised-2023/) removed the original medical law’s reference to THC above 0.2%.[@amend2023,l113english] That old definition therefore supplies no current general retail allowance for low-THC flower or CBD.[@amend2023] Cultivation under the medicinal route requires approved indoor facilities and authorisation.[@licensing2023]

amend2023, l113english, licensing2023

none

word cannabis · lang Italian · meaning the medical law’s term for the plant · sources amend2023, word marihuana · lang Italian · meaning herbal cannabis; spelling used in the drug list · sources druglaw, word hashish · lang Italian · meaning cannabis resin; listed in the drug law · sources druglaw, word sinsemilla · lang Italian · meaning a cannabis product named in the drug list · sources druglaw

Signed at the Captains Regent's residence on 10 March 1988 and in force fifteen days afte … thus the hinge of modern Sammarinese drug law: the moment simple possession joined supply atin the top of the penalty scalesame statutory sentencing range. The [San Marino profile](/country/sm/) shows the regime that grew out of it.