Expand Curacao: products fold, 2019/2023/2024 articles, penalty terms

upto 25 g · treatment criminal · note Prosecution guidance — confiscationterm Confiscation and a potentially (conditional) dismissal · note Prosecution guidance, subject to exceptions, label 25 to 50 g · treatment criminal · term Fine of up to Cg 500 · fine 500 · note Prosecutors' request a fine of up to Cg 500, subject to exceptions, label Intentional possession (statutory maximum) · treatment criminal · fine 6250000 · prison 24 years · noteterm Life imprisonment, a fixed term of up to 24 years, a fine of up toor Cg 6.25 million, or term fine · life possible · fine 6250000 · prison 24 years · note Term and fine may be imposed together; statute retains far higher maxima than the guidance

There is no legal recreational supply. Prosecutors confiscate and may conditionally dismis … uilders; the Caribbean guilder replaced that currency one for one in 2025.[@currency2025] The lineage runs back to the Netherlands Antilles' ordinance of 30 July 1929.(/history/curacao-first-drug-ordinance-1929/)

The ordinance controls herbal cannabis and resin separately from extracts and tinctures. Medical professionals’ handling of extracts and tinctures, and lawfully obtained amounts needed for personal treatment, fall within specified exemptions.[@law] Public messages promoting controlled-drug sales or supply are prohibited, with an exception for purely medical or scientific information.[@law]

law

Authorised pharmacists and dispensing doctors have medical-purpose exemptions for handling … ablish their need for lawfully obtained personal treatment supplies also have an exemption; the ordinance controls herbal cannabis and resin separately from those extracts and tinctures.[@law] The 2019 industry proposal concerned a bureau working with growers and sellers;(/history/curacao-medical-cannabis-bill-2019/) it remained a bill awaiting approval in the April 2023 reporting.[@bill19,opposition](/history/curacao-medical-cannabis-opposition-2023/)

The 2024 replacement law retained the cannabis prohibitions and medical exceptions, added a sales-advertising restriction and provided a route for future exemptions requiring parliamentary approval.[@law](/history/curacao-opium-exemptions-advice-2024/) The earlier medical-production bill had stalled after two parliamentary discussions, prompting opposition calls for answers in April 2023.[@opposition]