Ukraine countries/ua.yaml
The narcotics law's definition of cannabis excludes seeds, and the general seed law exempts an individual's non-commercial storage and use of seed.[@narcotics, seed_law] Germinating cannabis is nevertheless unlawful outside the authorised medical, scientific or industrial channels.[@narcotics] Commercial seed and planting material must be certified; medical growers must obtain certified seed from a registered seed or nursery operator.[@seed_order, seed_law] A cutting is planting material and also a cannabis plant, so clones are confined to authorised cultivation and regulated trade.[@narcotics, seed_law]
Administrative Code article 130(1) covers driving in a state of drug intoxication and refusal of the prescribed examination.[@kupap] Official 2026 appellate case summaries confirm a UAH17,000 fine and one year's loss of driving rights for the ordinary first-offence provision.[@drugappeal2026] A February case upheld a drug-driving conviction, treating the intoxication finding, rather than drug type or quantity, as decisive.[@drugappeal2026] A September ruling set aside another conviction: a positive rapid test lacked mandatory laboratory confirmation and the medical report had other procedural defects.[@drugtesting2026] These case outcomes should not be read as a universal rule that any positive screening result proves the offence.[@drugtesting2026] Suspected drug intoxication is examined at a health facility under article 266 and the joint 2015 Instruction; testing and medical evidence matter.[@drugtesting2026] A July appellate summary separately confirms that a properly established refusal can attract article 130 liability without proving intoxication.[@refusal2026] No numeric THC allowance, general medical-cannabis defence or complete repeat-offence tariff was established here.[@drugappeal2026, drugtesting2026, refusal2026]
kupap, drugappeal2026, drugtesting2026, refusal2026
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 2,061 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 1,794 kg in 2023, and 1 kg of cannabis resin seized in 2024, against 3.1 kg in 2023.[@unodc_szr] The UN publishes them as kilogram equivalents, and countries count seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@unodc_szr]
A data analysis by Texty.org.ua, drawing on court statistics and the National Police's ann … Code, possession without intent to sell, against about 17,000 under article 307 for sale.[@texty25] Over 2014 to 2024 about 106,000 people were convicted under article 309, of whom more than … is a fine, and convictions for possession were almost eight times as frequent as for sale.[@texty25] One in four servicemen convicted in 2024 was convicted of a drug offence, 95 per cent of them under article 309.[@texty25] The figures cover all drugs.[@texty25]
Wikipedia — Scythians Early Diffusion and Folk Uses of Hemp USSR — decree of 27 October 1934 on prohibiting opium-poppy and Indian-hemp crops (Istmat reproduction) Wiktionary — трава (colloquial: a natural drug, cannabis) 31 unchanged
word Конопля · say konoplya · lang Ukrainian · meaning the standard word; the law's term for the plant · sources narcotics, word Канабіс · say kanabis · lang Ukrainian · meaning the medical law's loanword · sources dispensing2026, word Трава · say trava · lang Ukrainian · meaning literally grass; colloquial for a natural drug (cannabis) · sources wiktionary-trava
Herodotus, writing about 440 BCE, described the Scythians of the Black Sea steppe raising cannabis smoke in felt tents — the oldest account of taking the plant for its effect.[@wiki-scythians] See [the Scythian vapour bath](/culture/traditions/the-scythian-vapour-bath/). Folk custom kept hemp close: unmarried Ukrainian girls sowed hemp seed on St Andrew's Eve to dream of their future husbands.[@benet75] See [the hemp dance](/culture/traditions/the-hemp-dance/). The Soviet Union banned unauthorised growing in [1934](/history/ukraine-soviet-ban-1934/), though the republic's hemp fields stayed vast into the 1950s.[@istmat34] [Hemp peaked under Soviet rule in 1940.](/history/ukraine-soviet-hemp-1940/)
wiki-scythians, benet75, istmat34