Myanmar: 1891 article, threshold correction and 4 history entries

1891-07-16

tighteningdebate

An MP's question is mistaken for Burma's cannabis ban is dated to 1891

Histories of drug control giveIn July 1891 asMark Stewart asked the year cannabis was banned in Burma. InHouse of Commons whether Britain would extend Lower Burma's cannabis prohibition to the rest of India. The ban itself was older: in July 1891 an MP told the HouseGovernment of Commons that possession and saleIndia had been prohibited there "for many years past"ganja in British Burma from 1873–74, banned imports by sea in 1874, and put the province's excise report forpolicy on a statutory footing in 1881-82 had already praised. The exchange produced no new law; it helped bring about the resultIndian Hemp Drugs Commission, which recommended keeping the ban for Burmans while licensing sales to Indians. What changed inHistories that date Burma's ban to 1891 is not recorded inhave mistaken the sources read herequestion for the law.

Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol. 355 — Sale of Ganja, 16 July 1891 Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94, Volume I John Collins — A Brief History of Cannabis and the Drug Conventions, AJIL Unbound 114 (2020) Wikipedia — Cannabis in Myanmar Cannabis Britannica: Empire, Trade, and Prohibition, 1800–1928

A parliamentary question and a later inquiry; the prohibition it discussed had been in force since 1873–74, so no score moves.

treatment, sentencing

TheMyanmar's National Defence and Security Council enacted the second amendment to the narcotics law on 31 December 2025. The; the English text, published on 7 January 2026, contains no separate commencement date. A court must now send a drug user to a rehabilitation centre for three months, down from six, when the user does not enter the required bond or breaches its conditions. A user sent there who flagrantly breaks the centre's rules must do unpaid manual work for 45 to 90 hours a week, replacing a 240–360-hour community-service order. Life imprisonment, the upper term in the sale provisions, is defined as incarceration until death. More than, and the 100 grams of-gram threshold for deeming marijuana, marijuana extract, or both is deemed possession to be for sale, first set in 2018, is restated.

myanmar-drug-law-amended-2018

Law Amending the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law 6/2018 1 unchanged

Compulsory treatment and the same possession and sale penalties remain; the shorter rehabilitation and revised community-service hours do not change a whole scoring point.

Possession remains a serious crime under the 1993 narcotics law: a person caught with even … that would have spared small amounts, and softened only the treatment of use.[@tni18] The 20252018 amendment deems possession ofset the threshold at more than 100 grams of marijuana, marijuana extract, or both to be possession for sale; the 2025 amendment kept it.[@law,gnlm26]

ndps93, tni18, law, gnlm26

label Small quantity for personal use, Section 16 · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 5 years · prison 10 years · note A fine may also be imposed, label Over 100 g, deemed for sale (2018; kept 2025) · treatment criminal · term Possession for sale · note Moves to the ten-years-to-life sale tier under Section 19

Possession and cultivation carry five to ten years; sale and production carry ten years to … port fifteen years to life or death.[@ndps93,gnlm26] Police reported 3,832 drug cases and the prosecution of 5,286 prosecutionspeople in January–August 2024; the figures cover all drugs.[@incsr25] Since the 2021 coup, enforcement has become more arbitrarybeen uneven: the regime has burned fields and seized drugs, while cultivation has expanded in resistance-held areas.[@tni,idpcirrawaddy25]

ndps93, gnlm26, incsr25, tni, idpcirrawaddy25

label Possession or transport for sale · treatment criminal · term Possession for sale · prison min 10 years · note Ten years to life imprisonment· life possible, label Production, sale, import or export · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 15 years · death true · note Fifteen years to life imprisonment, or death; life means incarceration until death · life possible

Police reported 3,832 drug cases and the prosecution of 5,286 prosecutionspeople in January–August 2024; the figures cover all drugs.[@incsr25] Seizures from June 2024 to … lued at about US$600 million.[@ap26] No cannabis-only arrest count is published.[@incsr25]

Myanmar Trade Portal — Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law (Amendment), 2018 Wiktionary — ဆေးခြောက် (Burmese), citing Myanmar–English Dictionary (1993) Wiktionary — ဂန်ဂျာ (Burmese), citing Myanmar–English Dictionary (1993) Wiktionary — ဘင်း (Burmese), citing Myanmar–English Dictionary (1993) Myanmar Trade Portal — Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law (Amendment), 2018 12 unchanged

word ဆေးခြောက် · lang Burmese · say hse:gyauk · meaning literally 'dried medicine'; the ordinary word for marijuana, hemp and ganja · sources wikt_hce, word ဂန်ဂျာ · lang Burmese · say gan-gya · meaning ganja; from Hindi, used for cannabis and hemp · sources wikt_ganja, word ဘင်း · lang Burmese · say bin · meaning bhang; a borrowed word for hashish, marijuana and ganja · sources wikt_bhang