Bulgaria countries/bg.yaml
Cannabis is a high-risk drug.[@wiki] Ordinary possession carries one to six years and a fi … 0 tariffs, converted at BGN1.95583 per euro and rounded to cents.[@code,eurolaw,euro2026] There has been no personal dose since the [2004 single-dose repeal](/history/bulgaria-personal-dose-abolished-2004/).
label Possession of a high-risk drug · treatment criminal · term Possession · fine 5112.92 · prison min 1 year · prison 6 years · note Prison and a fine; legacy BGN tariff converted at the official rate · fine min 1022.58, label Minor possession case · treatment criminal · term Possession · fine 511.29 · note Fine instead of prison; still a criminal conviction
Cultivation is a crime with prison terms; the penal code has a separate offence for growing hemp-type plants.[@wiki] In 2014 a multiple sclerosis patient with two plants was fined 1,000 leva on appeal after a first acquittal.[@nr2007,dr]
Most small cases end in the minor-case fine, but prison sentences for possession do occur, and reform is described as a political taboo.[@dr]
Distribution carries two to eight years or more.[@wiki,dr14]
label Distribution · treatment criminal · term Distribution · prison min 2 years · prison 8 years · note Two to eight years or more
Use is not separately punished, but possession is.[@dr]
None. Production, import and sale are prohibited, and nothing containing THC is legally sold.[@wiki,cmsg]
There is no legal recreational supply. Cannabis is a class A high-risk drug with heroin an … he 2026 conversion at BGN1.95583 per euro and statutory cent rounding.[@euro2026,eurolaw] Nothing with THC is legally sold: CBD may be imported and sold, but a product with any THC trace counts as a controlled preparation.[@mondaq,nutra]
wiki, dr, nr2007, dr14, mondaq, nutra, euro2026, eurolaw
medicalhemp
A registered farmer who declares no conviction for a customs offence under articles 242 to … or a crop between the two figures. Parliament rejected a bill to allow hemp processing in [April 2024](/history/bulgaria-hemp-processing-bill-rejected-2024/).[@bta24] No other production.
CBD is not regulated as a drug: it cannot be produced in Bulgaria but may be imported and sold, and in May 2019 the food authorities certified one firm's CBD supplements for open sale. The risk lies in THC, for which the law sets no permitted trace amount, so a product containing any counts as a controlled preparation. Nothing with THC is legally sold.
mondaq, nutra
The retained sources do not establish collateral consequences beyond the penalties described above.[@dr,code]
dr, code
Driving after using drugs is an offence in itself, with no level set: police use a roadside test for seven drugs, marijuana among them, and a positive result opens criminal proceedings.[@ccee22] Since July 2023 the fine is €511.29–2,556.46, €1,022.58–5,112.92 for a repeat, and refusing a test after an accident brings up to a year in prison.[@sg23] The car is confiscated if the driver owns it, a rule the Constitutional Court upheld in July 2025.[@ccee22,sg23,bnr25] Euro amounts apply the 2026 conversion at BGN1.95583 per euro and statutory cent rounding.[@euro2026,eurolaw]
The only yearly series found ends in 2006. Convictions for drug crimes of all kinds rose from 232 people in 2000 to 525 in 2003, 921 in 2005 and 1,587 in 2006, the year the penal code was amended.[@nr2007] In 2006 prosecutors monitored 4,223 proceedings for acquiring or keeping drugs against 204 … t published, but cannabis was the most widely used. No recent national figures were found.[@nr2007]
No clubs are known. A Europe-wide survey of cannabis social clubs carried out in 2018 and 2019 found, after online searches and contact with people in the field, that there did not seem to be any active club in Bulgaria.[@pardal20] No law in Bulgaria provides for them; Malta (since 2021) and Germany (since 2024) license non-profit cannabis associations, but only under their own laws.[@de_cang,mt_cap628] Nothing more recent was found.[@pardal20]
The EU drugs agency's statistical bulletin records 10,759 kg of herbal cannabis and 5.4 kg of cannabis resin seized in Bulgaria in 2024, against 9,721 kg and 19 kg in 2023.[@euda_szr] Herbal cannabis was seized on 3,332 occasions and resin on 56. Plant seizures came to 34,558 plants. Countries record seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@euda_szr]
label Unlicensed growing · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · note Crime with prison terms; tariff not stated in retained sources, label Hemp-type plants · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · note Separate penal-code offence, label Licensed hemp · treatment legal · term Hemp · note Free three-year permit, below 0.3% THC
Bulgaria's CBD market belongs to the [CBD](/culture/language/cbd/) atlas entry: CBD cannot be produced domestically but certified supplements have been openly sold since May 2019.[@mondaq,nutra]
mondaq, nutra