Maldives countries/mv.yaml
Cannabis is a Schedule 1 drug under the Drugs Act (17/2011). A person assessed as drug-dep … ng, which is five to ten years, and more than 14 g is presumed trafficking, which is life.[@da] A person who is not drug-dependent is presumed to be dealing even at 5 g or less, and dealing is fifteen years; more than 14 g is again presumed trafficking.[@da] Specified acts can raise a smaller amount to trafficking.[@da] The Drug Court can take a dependent person who pleads guilty to use or peddling and is not … er ratification and gazette publication, does not describe a change to these presumptions.
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upto 5 g · treatment criminal · term Use · prison 3 years · note Drug-dependent person presumed to possess for use; use is three years, label Non-dependent person with 5 g or less · treatment criminal · term Dealing · prison 15 years · note Presumed dealing; dealing is fifteen years, over 5 g · upto 14 g · treatment criminal · term Peddling · prison min 5 years · prison 10 years · note Presumed peddling, over 14 g · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · note Presumed trafficking, which is life imprisonment under the Act; see the trafficking table
The retained sources identifyAct has no standalone cultivation as an offence but do not give its sentenceand no plant-count ladder. Cultivating a plant from which a drug may be derived is an act that makes a dealer a trafficker, so life follows only where dealing is proved.[@da]
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The Third Amendment, ratified on 6 December 2025, adds the death penalty for bringing more than 350 g of cannabis into the country on entry, makes life mean the rest of the prisoner's life, and raises the penalty for importingattempting to import a Schedule 1 drug to 20 years. It takestook effect three months after ratificationin March 2026.[@po,mi] No execution has been carried out since 1954; 19 people were under sentence of death in October 2026, and gazette publicationthe implementation bill had not passed.[@wcadp,hrw26]
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Trafficking carries life imprisonment and a MVR 100, now defined as000–10,000,000 fine; from March 2026 life means the remainder of athe person's life, with no pardon or commutation.[@da,at] Bringing more than 350 g of cannabis into the country can carry the death penaltyor life, only on a unanimous full Supreme Court verdict after all appeals.[@po,mi]
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label Trafficking · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 25 years · fine min 100000 · fine 10000000 · note Life imprisonment, defined as; from March 2026 the remainder of life with no pardon or commutation, label Bringing more than 350 g of cannabis into the country · treatment criminal · term Import · death true · note Only on a unanimous full Supreme Court verdict; otherwise life
Use of cannabis is an offence of three years.[@da] The Drug Court can take a dependent person who pleads guilty to use or peddling and is not charged with trafficking.[@da]
No legal source.[@mi]
The Third Amendment, ratified on 6 December 2025, provides the death penalty where more than 350 g of cannabis is brought into the country on entry, and only if the full Supreme Court agrees unanimously. It takestook effect three months after ratification and gazette publicationin March 2026.[@po,mi]
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There is no legal way to get cannabis. Even 5 g or less makes a non-dependent person presumed to be dealing, at fifteen years; a dependent person with the same amount is presumed to hold it for use, at three years.[@da] British travel advice warnsHuman Rights Watch notes that even small quantities can lead to arrest, long sentences, whippingprison terms and, for the most serious offencesnew capital import tier remain, deathwhile executions have been suspended since 1954.[@fcdohrw26]
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No licensed production. Cultivation is annot a standalone offence, but growing a drug plant as part of dealing is trafficking.[@da]
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No patient programme is documented. Cannabis is a Schedule 1 drug and use is an offence of three years.[@da] Dronabinol is listed in Schedule 2 as a controlled medicine, but it is not on the approved drug list and no prescription route was found.[@mfda]
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Beyond prison, offenders can face whipping, and trafficking means life defined as the remainder of life with no pardon or commutation.[@fcdohrw26,at]
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No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited, and the law provides for the death penalty for the most serious drug offences.[@da,at]
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There is no legal recreational supply for anyone. British travel advice says even small quantities of cannabis can lead to arrest[@da] Possession, with long prison sentencesuse, whipping in some casesdealing and trafficking apply to visitors as to residents, and the death penalty for the most serious offencesimport cases can bring death or life. Travellers have been caught carrying controlled drugs in transit[@po, and the advice ismi] In January–July 2026 police handed 116 foreign nationals to carry none, even if legal in the country of departureImmigration for deportation.[@etruth26]
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Police told a press conference in May 2024 that so far that year they had arrested 260 Maldiviansreported 1,141 operations and 16 foreigners with drugs1,875 arrests in 56 operationsthe first seven months of 2026, investigated 257 drugwith 1,533 cases and, 634 sent 95 to the prosecutor general,Prosecutor General and seized about 19144 kg of drugs seized; the figures cover all drugs. No breakdown by[@r24_26] In 2024 they reported 12,000 raids and 137 drug was givencases decided by the Criminal Court, with 20 life sentences.[@xin25] No cannabis-only arrest count is published.[@stats26]
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Maldives Food and Drug Authority — Approved Drug List (March 2025) Statistics Maldives — Yearbook 2026, Table 8.9, drug seizures R24 — Police seize 144 kg of drugs and arrest 1,875 people in seven months (August 2026) Xinhua — Maldives reports 12,000 drug raids in 2024 (31 March 2025) eTruth — Police seize MVR 121 million in drugs and alcohol in seven-month crackdown (2026) World Coalition Against the Death Penalty — Maldives Human Rights Watch — Maldives withdraws proposed death-penalty bill (16 April 2026) Maldives Police Service — 15 kg cannabis seized at Velana airport (27 July 2024) MMTV — 40 kg of hashish oil found in chocolate-syrup bottles (25 December 2025) 6 unchanged
MVR
MVR
label Cultivating a drug plant as part of dealing · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · note No standalone cultivation offence; life where dealing is proved
MVR
MVR
label Use · treatment criminal · term Use · prison 3 years
none
No hemp or CBD regime and no THC threshold. "Cannabis" covers any part of any plant of the genus, and cannabis extracts and THC are Schedule 1.[@da] No industrial-hemp or consumer-CBD route was found.[@da]
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illegal
banned
illegal
banned
The Act defines cannabis as any part of any plant of the genus, with no seed exclusion, so seeds fall under the same dealing and trafficking offences; clones are living plants.[@da] No seed or clone market was found.[@da]
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unknown
No numerical THC limit or cannabis-specific driving offence was verified. The Act's urine-test presumption can prove use, not impaired driving, and the Road Traffic Act 2019 was not read.[@da]
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Statistics Maldives records 21,199 g of cannabis seized in 2024 and 57,954 g in 2025, without splitting herb from resin; the all-drug totals were 412,138 g and 368,804 g.[@stats26] Major cases include 15 kg at Velana airport in July 2024 and more than 40 kg of hashish oil in chocolate-syrup bottles in December 2025.[@police24,mmtv25] No national production estimate exists.[@stats26]
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