Lebanon countries/lb.yaml
A 2020 law legalised licensed cultivation for medical and industrial purposesuse, with slow implementationbut no licence had been issued by August 2026. Recreational use isremains illegal despite the Bekaa Valley's famous hashish: a small quantity for personal use brings three months to three years, while other possession or supply can bring life.
Personal use and possession are crimes under theLaw 673 of 16 March 1998 narcotics lawbans possession of cannabis, punishable bywhich is in Table 1 of highly dangerous drugs with no medical use.[@law673] A small quantity for personal use carries three months to three years in prison and a fine. The of LBP 2–5 million under article 127; the law allows treatment as an alternativesets no gram threshold, leaving the boundary to the court.[@law673] Any other possession carries life imprisonment with hard labour and a fine of LBP 25–100 million under article 125, read with article 13.[@law673] Treatment can replace prosecution in some cases, but arreststhe Drug Addiction Committee handles fewer than 10% of users remain commoneligible cases.[@law673,hri26]
idpclaw673, hri26
label PersonalSmall quantity for personal use and possession · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison min 3 months · prison 3 years · note Three months to three years in prison and a fine, min 2000000 · fine amount not stated in the retained text5000000 · note Article 127; no statutory quantity threshold, label Possession outside personal use · treatment available as an alternative to prosecutioncriminal · term Possession · fine min 25000000 · fine 100000000 · note Life imprisonment with hard labour and a fine of LBP 25–100 million
UnlicensedArticle 11 bans cultivating cannabis, including seeds and plants at any stage, and article 125 punishes unlicensed cultivation iswith life imprisonment with hard labour and LBP 25–100 million.[@law673] Law 178 of 2020 created a crimelicensing exception for medical, yet hashish farmingtherapeutic, scientific and industrial cultivation, but it did not reschedule cannabis or legalise recreational growing.[@law178] The Cannabis Regulatory Authority was appointed only in the Bekaa Valley is a decades-old open secretJuly 2025, periodically raidedand no cultivation licence had been issued by August 2026.[@olj26,beiruter26] Licensed growers who break the area or application rules face one to three years and LBP 20–50 million under article 33 of Law 178.[@law178]
idpclaw673, mjblaw178, olj26, beiruter26
UsersEnforcement is uneven: users are jailed, often in pre-trial detention, while large growers have historically enjoyed political protection.[@jied] In 2023, 790 people were sentenced for substance use, down from 1,202 in 2021, and 87% of prisoners were held without trial.[@hri26] The army destroyed cannabis fields in the Bekaa in 2024–2025 and the interior ministry announced a network bust with 720 kg of hashish in September 2025.[@lorient25,arabnews25]
idpcjied, hri26, lorient25, arabnews25
Trafficking carries long prison sentencesArticle 126 punishes selling or offering cannabis for personal consumption, facilitating its use free or for payment, keeping a place for use, or supplying a minor with life imprisonment with hard labour and LBP 25–100 million; there is no quantity threshold.[@law673] Article 125 covers transport, import, export, brokerage and other supply on the same terms.[@law673] The law does not distinguish small-scale sharing from trafficking.[@law673]
idpclaw673
Use isArticle 127 punishes use of a criminal offencesmall quantity for personal consumption with three months to three years and LBP 2–5 million.[@law673] Article 197 applies the same penalties when treatment is refused.[@law673] Treatment before prosecution can exempt an addicted person on certified recovery, but the committee is underused.[@law673,hri26]
idpclaw673, hri26
None. Cannabis is Table 1 with no medical use, and Law 178 licenses production for export and industrial use, not patient access.[@law673,law178] No legal sourcedomestic medical-cannabis programme, pharmacy product or CBD consumer market was verified.[@idpc,beiruter26]
mjblaw673, law178, idpc, beiruter26
There is no legal recreational supply. PersonalA small quantity for personal use and possession bringbrings three months to three years and a fine, though treatment can replace prosecutionLBP 2–5 million; arrests of users remain commonany other possession or supply can bring life.[@idpclaw673] Bekaa hashish farming is a decades-old open secret, periodically raided, whileand users face jail — often pre-trial — and traffickers long sentenceswhile large growers have historically been protected.[@idpc,mjbjied]
idpclaw673, mjbjied
Law 178 of April 2020 legalisedallows licensed cultivation for medical, therapeutic, scientific and industrial purposes, aimed at export and recommended by consultants as a way to revive the economy. Implementation stalled for years; a regulatory authority[@law178] The regulator was only appointed in July 2025, but no licence had been issued by August 2026 and its chairman said the timetable was too tight for a 2026 harvest.[@olj26,beiruter26]
lawlaw178, mjbolj26, beiruter26
No legal consumer products.
mjb
The 2020 law concerns production for exportNo patient route. Cannabis remains Table 1 "no medical use"; Law 178 licenses production, not consumption, and does not reschedule the plant.[@law673,law178] Patients have no domestic patient programme is operatinglegal pathway to medical cannabis, and no product or prescription route was verified.[@idpc,beiruter26]
mjblaw673, law178, idpc, beiruter26
A drug conviction is a criminal record affects employment. Article 152 requires permanent expulsion for a foreign national convicted of a felony or repeat misdemeanour, and travelremoval for one to five years for a misdemeanour; article 161 bars early release during the first two-thirds of a sentence of a year or more.[@law673] The currency collapse has made the fines nominal while the life sentence remains.[@jied,cms]
idpclaw673, jied, cms
Under Law 178 of 2020article 3 lets the regulator license cannabis regulatory authority may authorise cultivation of the plant "whether in the form of seeds orfor industrial hemp and seedlings" at any growth stage for medical use; outside a licence, pharmaceuticalplanting is cultivation under article 11 and industrial productscarries life. Outside such an authorisation cultivation remains a crime[@law178,law673] There is no personal seed or clone exception.[@law673]
cmsglaw178, law673
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@law673] Law 178 is a production licensing route, not a members' club.[@law178]
idpclaw673, mjblaw178
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone. A small quantity for personal use brings three months to three years and LBP 2–5 million; other possession or supply can bring life.[@law673] A foreign national convicted of a felony or repeat misdemeanour faces permanent expulsion, soand a visitor has no lawful waymisdemeanour can bring removal for one to buy cannabisfive years. The sources behind this profile describe no separate rule for visitors.[@law673]
mjblaw673
Hashish from the Bekaa valleyNo consolidated official cannabis seizure series is grown entirely outside the law, because the legal industry promised in 2020 has not startedpublished. The Cannabis Regulatory Authority was formally set up only in the summerReported cases include 6.4 kg of 2025hashish at Beirut airport in June 2024, five years afterarmy destruction of fields in the law that created it; its head, appointedBekaa in JulyAugust and September 2025, saidand 720 kg of hashish in February 2026 that the timetable was too tighta September 2025 network bust.[@lorient24,lorient25,arabnews25] The Bekaa has produced hashish for a first legal harvest that yearcentury: a 1928 estimate put output at 60 tonnes, while farmersand a 2022 estimate put cultivation at 20,000–40,000 hectares.[@jied] Fines in growing areas such as Saideh were pressing forLaw 673 have been eroded by the season to begincurrency collapse, while the life sentence remains.[@jied,cms]
olj26lorient24, lorient25, arabnews25, jied, cms
Lebanon — Law No. 673 of 16 March 1998 on narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors
Lebanon — Law No. 178 of 28 May 2020 on licensing cannabis cultivation for medical and industrial use
JIED — Michelle Wazan, The Show Must Go On: A Brief History of Lebanon's Drug Control Politics (2023)
Harm Reduction International — Lebanon's Shift Toward Health-Centred Drug Policy (July 2026)
The Beiruter — The crop Lebanon legalized but never built (17 August 2026)
IDPC/Skoun — The legalization of the cultivation of cannabis in Lebanon (10 May 2023)
Lebanon Debate — 6.4 kg of hashish seized at Beirut airport (18 June 2024)
L'Orient Today — Army destroys cannabis fields in North Bekaa (21 August 2025)
Arab News — Lebanon says it busts international drug network (September 2025)
IDPC — Lebanon set to legalise medical, industrial cannabis cultivation
MJBizDaily — Lebanon legalizes medical cannabis production
TNI — Lebanon passes legislation legalizing medical marijuana cultivation
2 unchanged
LBP
LBP
label Unlicensed cultivation · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · fine min 25000000 · fine 100000000 · note Life imprisonment with hard labour and a fine of LBP 25–100 million, label Licensed cultivation outside the authorised area · treatment criminal · term Licensed cultivation · prison min 1 year · prison 2 years · fine min 20000000 · fine 40000000 · note Licence withdrawal under Law 178 article 33, label False statement in a licence application · treatment criminal · term Licence application · prison min 1 year · prison 3 years · fine min 30000000 · fine 50000000 · note Licence withdrawal under Law 178 article 33, label Violence or resistance to an inspector · treatment criminal · term Obstruction · prison min 3 months · prison 2 years · fine min 10000000 · fine 20000000
LBP
label Sale, supply or brokerage · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · fine min 25000000 · fine 100000000 · note Life imprisonment with hard labour and a fine of LBP 25–100 million, label Giving or facilitating use · treatment criminal · term Facilitation · fine min 25000000 · fine 100000000 · note Includes free supply; life imprisonment with hard labour and a fine, label Supplying a minor · treatment criminal · term Supply to a minor · fine min 25000000 · fine 100000000 · note Life imprisonment; aggravating circumstances can double the maximum
LBP
label Personal consumption · treatment criminal · term Use · prison min 3 months · prison 3 years · fine min 2000000 · fine 5000000 · note Article 127; no statutory quantity threshold
strict
Law 178 includes industrial hemp among the licensed cannabis uses and lets the regulator license seeds for industrial hemp, but it leaves the THC limit to the authority; a 1% figure appears in ministry guidance, not the law.[@law178,cms] No hemp licence or legal hemp market existed by August 2026, and CBD remains a controlled substance.[@beiruter26,cms]
law178, cms, beiruter26
impairment
Article 143 punishes driving a land vehicle under the influence of an illegally used highly dangerous narcotic with three months to two years and LBP 2–5 million; the court may withdraw the licence for three months to three years, permanently after a mass-casualty accident.[@law673] Article 144 applies the same penalty for refusing the health ministry's test or continuing to drive.[@law673] There is no per-se THC limit.[@law673]
law673
Cannabis in Lebanon is known as [hashish](/culture/language/hashish/), and the Bekaa Valley has been the centre of [hashish production](/culture/traditions/hashish-in-the-bekaa/) for a century.[@jied] The trade shaped village economies and political networks, and the 2020 licensing law was presented as a way to bring it into the legal economy.[@jied,law178] No public cannabis culture is visible today; the crop remains illegal and periodically eradicated.[@jied,lorient25]
jied, law178, lorient25
In 2023, 790 people were sentenced for substance use, down 35% from 1,202 in 2021, and 2,518 people were questioned and released without charge in 2021.[@hri26] About 87% of prisoners were held without trial in 2023, with prisons at almost 200% capacity, partly because of low-level drug offences.[@hri26] A 2018 study estimated that about 77% of annual drug arrests targeted users and 15% low- or mid-level supply, with kingpins rarely prosecuted.[@jied] No consolidated 2024–2026 cannabis arrest series was found.[@hri26]
hri26, jied