Solomon Islands: correct first restriction and pending bill, add 8 history entries

A parliamentary committee examined the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2025, No. 9 of 2025. Its officialClause 4 would substitute section 39(2)(a), raising the assessor-court maximum for offences without a specific penalty to 15 million penalty units or life, or both; it creates no new possession, supply or manufacturing offence. The committee’s call for submissions set a deadline and announced an inquiry start of 17 February 2026; contemporary reporting on 20 February described proposed life sentences, and larger finesthe bill remained before Parliament on 28 October 2026. The proposal is not counted as enacted law. Existing section 8 already expressly criminalises cannabis possession, growing and giving; reports of wider gaps in drug legislation should not be read as an absence of cannabis offences.

The High Commissioner for the Western Pacific made the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Regulation 1949, published and exhibited on 27 October 1949, amending section 39 of the 1941 Regulation.[@1] The change only widened amendment inserted “any of the provisions of this Regulation or” after “to comply with” in section 39(1)(a court compliance-order power), adding cases of failurewidening the general offence to meetbreach of any provision of the regulation; it altered. It changed no drug definition or cannabis penalty.[@1]

A procedural amendment to the court's compliance-order powergeneral offence; no cannabis rule changes.

otherban

Solomon Islands’ Dangerous Drugs ActRegulation commences

The Attorney-General’s authorised reprint identifies ActDangerous Drugs Regulation, 1941 (No. 4 of 1941 as constituent legislation, commencing) commenced on 14 April 1941 under the Pacific Order in Council 1893. The inherited framework now includes express cannabis cultivationIt is the earliest located local drug instrument, possession and transfer offences. Its endnotes also list amendments from 1949 onwardbut its original text was not read, so this reprint alone doesit is not prove which presentproven that cannabis provisions were already inwas covered from the original 1941 enactmentstart; later reprints list amendments from 1949 to 1968. The firstcurrent Chapter 98 text contains the cannabis offences, and the first restriction remains estimated pendingis therefore dated here as an estimate within 1925–1941 rather than at the original text1925 Geneva convention.

possession 10 · cultivation 10 · enforcement 10 · sharing 10 · consumption 10 · access 10

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1925, 1941

Section 8(b) makes possession of Indian hemp an offence. Section 39(2) of the authorised r … must not be read as dollars.[@act] The government catalogue lists this reprint as current; a. The Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2025 amendment bill was under parliamentary inquiry in Februaryremained before Parliament on 28 October 2026, and; its later enactment or commencement wastext would raise only the assessor-court maximum in section 39(2)(a) to life and 15 million penalty units, not establishedcreate new cannabis offences.[@inquiry2026bill2025] The bill is traced in the [2026 bill entry](/history/solomon-islands-dangerous-drugs-bill-2026/).

act, inquiry2026bill2025

Sections 13–20 contemplate regulated cannabis extracts and tinctures within the controlled-medicines system, including prescription rules, storage and authorised withdrawal by medical and pharmacy professionals.[@act] A broad patient programmeThe route is on paper only: no cannabis-specific rules, product list, issued cannabis licences andlicence, patient register or dispensing availability were not verifiedservice was found.[@act] The Act covers the cannabis plant and resin under Part I and extracts or tinctures under Part III — statutory product categories, not a verified list of products currently available to patients.[@act]

The published Act haslaw leaves no recreational collective-growing exemptionroom for clubs: sections 7–8 prohibit private cultivation and giving cannabis to another person, and no club exemption was found. That statutory restriction does not establish whether informal associations existNo clubs are known.[@act]

Reported plant seizures reach commercial scale: a marijuana haul valued near SBD 1 million was reported by the Solomon Timesmore than 5,500 plants were cleared at Mbarande in October 2019, and more than 300 at Ngalimera in August 2026.[@stst2019,rsipf26] No national kilogram or resin series is published.[@st2019]

stst2019, rsipf26

The retained 2016 Magistrates' Court judgment on marijuana possessionPolice reported a 27-year-old charged over plants and the Solomon Times cropdried cannabis at Taro in March 2025, and a 25-seizure reportyear-old remanded at Auki in May 2025; both are individual observations;cases, not a representative current sentencing account remains a research gapnational series.[@case,strsipf25] No cannabis-specific arrest or prosecution totals are published.[@rsipf25]

case, strsipf25

Solomon Islands Parliament — Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2025, No. 9 of 2025 RSIPF — Choiseul cannabis charges (6 March 2025) and Auki dried-cannabis arrest (15 May 2025) RSIPF — Tetere police uproot more than 300 cannabis plants (4 August 2026) Solomon Times — Marijuana bust in North East Guadalcanal (24 October 2019) PacLII — Solomon Islands Magistrates' Court judgment on marijuana possession (2016) Solomon Times — Marijuana haul worth close to SBD 1 million Solomon Islands Parliament — Bills and Legislation Committee call for submissions on Bill 9 of 2025 3 unchanged

The official reprint of Solomon Islands' Dangerous Drugs Act traces its legislative foundation to Actthe Dangerous Drugs Regulation, 1941 (No. 4 of 1941), which commenced on 14 April 1941. That is a verified date in the Actlaw's history. It is not, by itself, proof that every present cannabis offence appeared in the original enactmentregulation. The endnotes also list amendments from 1949, 1953, 1967 and 1968 and legal notices from 1978. Until the original enactmentregulation and relevant amendments are compared, the first cannabis restriction remains estimated in … announced inquiry start of 17 February 2026. The proposal is retained as a debate event: later enactmentit remained before Parliament on 28 October 2026, and commencement were not establishedits text would raise only the general assessor-court maximum in this reviewsection 39(2)(a), not create new cannabis offences.

A Solomon Islands parliamentary committee began examining the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2025 on 20 February 2026. The proposalbill would close gaps identified raise the general assessor-court maximum in section 39 of the existing Dangerous Drugs Act and sharply increase the maximum punishment where, a ceiling that Act did not already specify onealso applies to existing cannabis offences. It creates no new cannabis offence. ## A broad newhigher general maximum The bill would amendsubstitute section 39(2)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act. For offences without a specific punishment, a court sitting with assessors could impose a fine of up to 15 million penalty units, life imprisonment, or both. That c … cretion, allowing courts to distinguish between different categories of offender. ## The loopholes behind the billgap was not about cannabis The government's urgency followed warnings about the wordingPart III of the existing lawAct, the schedule for prepared opium and later synthetic drugs. Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele had said it the law criminalised importing, exporting and transporting dangerousthose scheduled drugs but did not expressly criminalise their possession, supply, manufacturing or production. Director of Public Prosecutions Andrew Kelesi had raised the problem publicly after a foreign national was allegedly found with methamphetamine. The gap meant that possession or manufacture of that drugCannabis was technically not illegal under the existing provisions described togap: section 8 already expressly criminalises possessing, growing, selling and giving Indian hemp. The bill does not add cannabis offences; it raises the committee general penalty that a court sitting with assessors may impose on the existing ones. Cabinet then fast-tracked reform. Chief Magistrate Ricky Iomea told the committee that the amendment would make the law more consistent by expressly covering possession, supply, distribution and manufacturingfor scheduled drugs. He said courts would consider the drug and quantity, the person's role, the harm caused … d in Parliament, while the committee's hearing was due to continue the following week. It remained before Parliament on 28 October 2026 and had therefore not become law at the time of the inquiry. ## In the index Committee scrutiny did not move the [Solomon Islands'](/country/sb/) s … it proposed; it does not treat those penalties or newly explicit offences as enacted law.