Extend Curaçao history and clarify cannabis exemptions

thresholds, sentencing

Curaçao applies a new drug-prosecution guidelinerenews guidance to drop most cases involving up to 25 grams

Guideline 2018/01 took effect, replacing the July 2015Curaçao’s renewed prosecution guideline. Its cannabis table called for directs seizure and a dismissal, potentially conditional, dismissal for cannabis in theits 0–25 g band, with exceptions for other offencesand a fine request up to NAf 500 in its 25–50 g band.[@1] Exceptions cover minors, repeat offending, signs of dealing, minorsanother offence and specified circumstancessettings such as carnival parades, workplaces or government buildings.[@1] The 25–50 g band specified a fine demand upguideline replaced July 2015 instructions and leaves cultivation cases to NAF 500individual assessment; larger amounts used halfCuraçao’s later replacement law kept the cocaine/heroin demand. Cultivation remained prohibitedunderlying possession and required individual assessmentgrowing bans. These are prosecution instructions[@1, not a lawful possession allowance or mandatory court sentences.2]

Curaçao — Opiumlandsverordening 2024, Publicatieblad 2024 No. 74 1 unchanged

othertightening

Curaçao bringskeeps its replacement Opium Ordinance into forcecannabis ban and prohibits sales advertising

The Opiumlandsverordening 2024 replacedCuraçao’s replacement drug law kept the earlier ordinance. It retained a banbans on cannabis cultivation in Article 2agrowing, possession and restrictions on cannabisuse, resinand prohibited public messages promoting controlled-drug sales or supply, preparationsexcept purely medical or scientific information.[@1] It also gave the government a route to create exemptions by decree, extractssubject to prior parliamentary approval and tinctures in Articles 3a and 4, alongside statutory exceptiona 30-making powersday period in which Parliament can request legislation to govern commencement. This was a replacement legal framework rather than Curaçao's first cannabis prohibition.[@1] The gazette records issue on 5 July 2024law retained medical exceptions for licensed professionals and Article 18 specifies operation the following daylawfully obtained personal treatment supplies, establishingand took effect on 6 July commencement, the day after publication.[@1]

curacao-prosecution-guideline-2018, curacao-replacement-opium-law-1964, curacao-opium-exemptions-advice-2024

retail, trade, patients

The added advertising restriction concerns commercial promotion where recreational supply remains prohibited; a future exemption requires a separate decree. Neither changes a whole personal-freedom segment by itself.

On paper cannabis is treated like cocaineCannabis possession, with maximum penalties up to life imprisonmentuse, under an Opium Ordinance renewed in 2024growing and supply remain prohibited. In practiceProsecutors’ guidance calls for confiscation and dismissal in the prosecution guideline is mild: up to 0–25 g is confiscated and the case droppedband, and upsubject to 50 g ends inexceptions, and a fine. Medical cannabis was proposed request in 2019 and the ordinance lets doctors and pharmacists supply hemp25–50 g band. The law provides medical exemptions for authorised professionals and lawfully obtained treatment supplies. A proposed medical purposes, but no working programme has been confirmed-cannabis industry was still awaiting parliamentary approval in April 2023.

The Opium Ordinance 2024 bans importing, possessing and dealing in hemp andPossession of cannabis or resin, punishable, if is prohibited. For intentional offences the statute permits life imprisonment, bya fixed term up to 24 years or life in prison or, a fine of up to NAf 6.25 million, or the fixed term and fine together. The prosecution guideline in force since December 2018[@law] Prosecutors’ guidance is farmuch milder: up to 25 g is confiscatedconfiscation and a potentially conditional dismissal in the case dismissed, conditionally or not, and 0–25 to 50 g bringsband, and a fine ofrequest up to NAf 500 in the 25–50 g band. Exceptions are possession together with another offenceinclude minors, repeat offencesoffending, signs of dealing indications, minors,another offence and placesspecified settings such as carnival parades, workplaces or government buildingsworkplaces.[@guide]

opl24law, om18guide

Growing plantsany plant of the genus Cannabis is banned outrightprohibited. The guideline leaves sentencing for grows to case-by-case assessment[@law] Prosecutors assess grow cases individually, given the range ofconsidering plant numbers and, location, professionalism and involvement.[@guide] The government may create exemptions through a separate decree, subject to prior parliamentary approval; the ordinance itself sets no personal plant allowance.[@law]

opl24law, om18guide

Small amounts are confiscated withoutThe prosecution, guideline calls for confiscation and only larger quantities lead to prison demandsdismissal in the 0–25 g band, set atsubject to exceptions; from 50 g upwards it uses half those forthe cocaine/heroin sentencing request. First[@guide] Its general instructions favour partly suspended requests for first offenders who are residents are usually given partly suspended sentences, with a three years'-year probation period.[@guide] These are prosecutors’ instructions; the statute retains much higher maximum penalties.[@law]

om18guide, law

SupplyingThe law prohibits supplying cannabis is dealing underextracts and tinctures without the ordinancerelevant authorisation, with no exception for sharing without payment; signsand prohibits possessing or using herbal cannabis and resin outside its exceptions.[@law] The prosecution guideline removes its small-quantity dismissal approach where there are indications of dealing remove the leniency for small amounts.[@guide]

opl24law, om18guide

The ordinance bansexpressly prohibits using (aanwenden) cannabis as well as possessing it, but small personal amounts are not prosecutedresin and extracts outside its exceptions. There is no legal place to use[@law] Prosecutors’ cannabis table provides a small-quantity dismissal approach, but excludes minors and possession atcircumstances including carnival parades or in public, workplaces, government buildings is excluded from the leniencyand detention facilities.[@guide]

om18law, guide

No legal adult-use source. The ordinancelaw exempts authorised pharmacists and dispensing doctors who supply hemphandling extracts and tinctures for medical purposes, and patientssubject to the applicable medicines rules. It also exempts people who need itcan show that lawfully obtained amounts are needed for their own medical use and obtained it lawfully. A 2019 bill to set up a medical cannabis system with a Medicinal Cannabis Curaçao Office went to parliament, but a working programme has[@law] Recreational possession and use remain prohibited; the prosecution guideline’s small-quantity dismissal policy does not been confirmedprovide a licensed retail route.[@law,guide]

opl24law, cc19guide

No licensed cannabis productionCannabis cultivation is knownprohibited. The minister may grant licenceslaw provides permissions for specified scientific purposesor medicines-related activities and a separate route for exemptions by decree, to wholesale medicine tradersrequiring prior parliamentary approval.[@law] The 2019 bill proposed a dedicated medical-cannabis bureau and to manufacturers of medicinesgrower system; opposition lawmakers were still seeking approval in April 2023.[@bill19,opposition]

opl24law, bill19, opposition

No legalThe ordinance controls herbal cannabis products. Extracts and resin separately from extracts and tinctures. Medical professionals’ handling of hempextracts and tinctures, and lawfully obtained amounts needed for personal treatment, fall within specified exemptions.[@law] Public messages promoting controlled-drug sales or supply are banned under a separate article of the ordinanceprohibited, with an exception for purely medical or scientific information.[@law]

opl24law

Under the 2024 ordinance,Authorised pharmacists and dispensing doctors may prepare, hold and dispense hemp forhave medical purposes,-purpose exemptions for handling extracts and patients may hold what theytinctures, subject to medicines rules. People who establish their need for their own medical use if obtained lawfully obtained personal treatment supplies also have an exemption. In September[@law] The 2019 industry proposal concerned a bill went to parliament to build a medical cannabis system,bureau working with a Medicinal Cannabis Curaçao Office to deal with growers and sellers; whether patients can actually obtain cannabis could not be confirmedit remained a bill awaiting approval in the April 2023 reporting.[@bill19,opposition]

opl24law, cc19bill19, opposition

The 2024 ordinance replacedreplacement law retained the 1960 Opium Ordinance to implement the UN conventionscannabis prohibitions and to ban recreational use of nitrous oxide. Minors found withmedical exceptions, added a user amount of cannabis are prosecutedsales-advertising restriction and provided a route for future exemptions requiring parliamentary approval.[@law] The earlier medical-production bill had stalled after two parliamentary discussions, so that treatment can be imposedprompting opposition calls for answers in April 2023.[@opposition]

opl24law, om18opposition

NoThe ordinance provides no recreational club exemption from the cannabis clubs are known,possession and there is no coffeeshop toleranceuse bans.[@law] Prosecutors’ small-quantity dismissal policy excludes cases with signs of dealing.[@guide]

om18law, guide

There is no legal supply for anyone. Importing cannabis is an offence under the ordinanceUnauthorised importation, possession and theuse remain prohibited.[@law] The prosecution guideline treats’s preference for partly suspended requests concerns resident first offenders; it generally does not seek a probation report for non-residents differently when it comes to suspended sentences.[@guide]

opl24law, om18guide

Curaçao Chronicle — Opposition parties want approval of medical cannabis bill, 7 April 2023 3 unchanged

On 1 December 2018, a regional Curaçao renewed its drug-prosecution guideline took effect for Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the Caribbean Netherlandsguidance on 1 December 2018. ItsFor cannabis table combined seizure within the possibility of dismissal for small quantities0–25 g band, while retaining exceptionsit directs confiscation and a separate approach to cultivationdismissal that may carry conditions. It replaced a guideline dated 1 July 2015. The 2018 document therefore records next band, 25–50 g, calls for prosecutors to seek a particular versionfine of prosecution policyup to NAf 500, rather than proving the first introduction of leniency in these jurisdictionswith exceptions for circumstances including minors, repeat offending and suspected dealing.[@1] ## A shared instructionpolicy for the Dutch Caribbean The prosecutor-general addressed the chief prosecutors of Curaçao, [Sint Maarten](/history/sint-maarten-prosecution-guideline-2018/) and Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. The new document identified itself as an instruction under the statutory framework for the public prosecution service. Its tables concerned the demandsreplaced instructions dated 1 July 2015 and set out how prosecutors should make. They should be distinguished from the underlying offencesapproach drug cases and from the sentences courts ultimately imposesentencing requests. The general discussion described quantity as[@1] Quantity was a guide that could be supplemented by evidence about, alongside matters such as a person’s role, the duration of dealing and other the money earned. For repeat offending within five years, the requested penalty could increase by 50–100%, depending on the circumstances.[@1] ## Small quantities could end with dismissal The cannabis table In the 0–25 g band, the table called for seizure provided confiscation and dismissal, which could bepotentially conditional. The next dismissal in its lowest band, 25–50 g, specifiedthen a fine demand up to NAF 500, with a corresponding US-dollar figure forrequest in the jurisdictions using that currencynext. From 50 g upwards, it referred toused half the demandsentencing request in the cocaine/heroin table.[@1] These were enforcement bands operated within a prohibition frameworkcriminal drug law. They did not create a lawful retail market or a legal allowanceCuraçao’s later consolidated ordinance continued to keepprohibit cannabis without possession and use, while containing specified medical exceptions.[@2] The guideline also began its general case-handling section with instructions to arrest and hold people found with controlled drugs, subject to decisions required by the risk of seizureparticular circumstances. A dismissal could therefore follow an encounter with the criminal-justice system.[@1] ## Circumstances could overrideExceptions changed the tableresponse The smalllow-quantity responses had express exceptions. These includedcannabis approach excluded cases involving another offence, repeat offending, indications of dealing and cases involvingor minors. The footnote It also named special settings, includinglisted possession during carnival processionsparades, workplaces at work, in government buildings andor in detention facilities. The document's broader provisions allowed increased demands for repeat offences. Consequently[@1] For minors, weight alone did not settle how prosecutors should handleeven a case. ## Cultivation remained separate A dedicated passage stated that cannabis cultivation0–5 g user quantity was prohibited and that growto be prosecuted to support assistance from addiction-care or other services. Grow cases required individual assessment. It identified, taking account of plant numbers, location, professionalism and involvement as relevant considerations.[@1] ## Prosecutors’ requests remained distinct from the law The personalguidance favoured partly suspended sentencing requests for resident first offenders, with a three-quantity table therefore supplied no equivalent small-plant allowanceyear probation period. Nor should it be assumed that a kilogram or gram category could simply be converted into a permitted number of plants. For [Curaçao's timeline](/country/cw/)It generally did not seek probation reports for non-residents, while allowing the event documentsdefence to put relevant personal circumstances before the rules governing prosecution decisions from a verified commencement datecourt. The later [@1] Curaçao’s [2024 replacement ordinancelaw](/history/curacao-opium-ordinance-2024/) is a separate legislative development within kept its cannabis prohibitions, medical exceptions and high statutory maxima. The [country profile](/country/cw/) explains that historylaw alongside the separate instructions governing prosecutors’ requests.[@3]

gpt-6

Curaçao — Opiumlandsverordening 1960, consolidated text published 15 May 2019 Curaçao — Opiumlandsverordening 2024, Publicatieblad 2024 No. 74 1 unchanged