Cameroon countries/cm.yaml
Article 102 of [Law 97/019 of 7 August 1997](/history/cameroon-drug-law-1997/) sets a lighter tier for holding, buying or growing a small amount meant for personal use:.[@loi97] For a high-risk plant or substance, including cannabis oil, the penalty is 2 months to 1 year, in prison and a fine of 25,000 to 1,250,000 CFA francs, or both for a high-risk plant or substance, including cannabis oileither alone.[@loi97] A cannabis derivative other than oil carries 1 to 6 months, and a fine of 25,000 to 500,000 CFA francs, or botheither alone.[@loi97] The court may waive the penalty if the person solemnly promises not to reoffend.[@loi97] Larger amounts fall under Article 93 (10 to 20 years).[@loi97]
Article 8 bans growing the cannabis plant anywhere in the country, and landowners mustobliges landholders to destroy plantations that appear on their land.[@loi97] Article 91 punishes cultivation of high-risk drugs with 10 to 20 years, in prison and a fine of 250,000 to 1,250,000 CFA francs, or botheither alone; Article 102 gives the lighter personal-use tier for a small amount.[@loi97]
The statute allowsPersonal-use offences carry prison, a fine, or both for personal-use offences, and the main cultivation and trafficking offences. Courtscourts can waive personal-use punishment after a solemn promise not to reoffend.[@loi97] The main cultivation and trafficking offences run 10 to 20 years in prison.[@loi97] How often these options areeach option is used is not shown by the statute, but police describe systematic crop raids in the Northwest, Southwest and West and map production, transit and consumption zones.[@abena17]
loi97, abena17
Article 95 punishes giving or offering a high-risk drug to a person for their own use with 2 to 5 years, in prison and a fine of 50,000 to 2,500,000 CFA francs, or botheither alone.[@loi97] General selling and distributing offences allow 10 to 20 years, and a fine of 250,000 to 125,000,000 CFA francs, or botheither alone (Article 93).[@loi97]
Article 101 forbids using controlled drugs without a medical prescription and orders any drug found on a user seized.[@loi97] The penalty set for the user in the text is the possession tier of Article 102.[@loi97]
Cannabis and its resin are placed in Table I, according to the justice ministry's 2017 presentation.[@spm17] Article 9 prohibits ordinary handling of Table I drugs, subject to Article 77, which allows ministerial authorisation for medical or scientific research, training and forensic work in strictly necessary quantities. The retained sources establish no[@loi97] No operating cannabis treatmentpatient supply programme was found in the sources reviewed.[@loi97]
Reliable national information about lawfulNo licensed production exists: article 8 bans growing opium poppy, coca and cannabis anywhere, while ministerial authorisation under article 77 is limited to research, training and forensic work in strictly necessary quantities.[@loi97] What the country grows is illicit: police map production was not established byzones and raid plantations in the retained sourcesNorthwest, Southwest and West.[@abena17]
loi97, abena17
Reliable national information about legally available cannabis products was not established by the retained sources.
The retained sources do not establish whether a medical cannabisCannabis and its resin sit in Table I of high-risk drugs, and article 9 prohibits ordinary handling, leaving only the narrow route of article 77: ministerial authorisation for research, training or forensic work in strictly necessary quantities.[@loi97,spm17] No patient programme operates under that route in the sources reviewed.[@loi97]
loi97, spm17
For offences listed in Articles 91–99, courts may impose a country ban on foreigners lasti … rights, travel, driving or professional work; the professional ban can also be permanent.[@loi97] Article 113 permits treatment instead of or alongside punishment for convicted people with drug dependence in the specified cases.[@loi97] Evading treatment carries two to five years, a fine, or both.[@loi97]
Article 8 of Law 97/019 bans growing the cannabis plant anywhere in the country and obliges landholders to destroy plantations that appear on their land.[@loi97] The law speaks of plants and substances and does not mention seeds.[@loi97]
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@loi97]
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone.[@spm17,loi97] For convictions under Articles 91–99 of the drug law, Article 111 allows courts to bar a foreigner from Cameroon for two to ten years or permanently.[@loi97] The personal-use offence in Article 102 is outside that stated list.[@loi97]
Article 103 of the drug law punishes driving under the influence of cannabis with the penalties the Penal Code sets for driving while drunk or intoxicated, given by the.[@loi97] The justice ministry gives those as six months to ten years in prison and a fine of 20,000 to 1,000,000 CFA francs, or one of the two.[@spm17] Where someone is killed or injured the penalties for that offence are doubled.[@loi97] No measured limit is mentioned.[@loi97]
spm17, loi97
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 6,861 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 6,639 kg in 2023.[@unodc_szr] The UN publishes them as kilogram equivalents, and countries count seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@unodc_szr] Police describe the Northwest, Southwest and West as proven cannabis-growing basins hit by punch crop raids, with mixed impact.[@abena17]
unodc_szr, abena17
Cameroon, Prime Minister's Office — presentation by police commissioner Armand Abena on action against cannabis, 23 August 2017 (PDF) Journal du Cameroun — La gendarmerie intercepte 50 sacs de chanvre indien dans le Noun (29 March 2025) 3 unchanged
XAF
label Cannabis oil, small amount for personal use · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison min 2 months · prison 1 year · fine min 25000 · fine 1250000 · note Prison or a fine, or both, label Other cannabis derivatives, small amount for personal use · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison min 1 month · prison 6 months · fine min 25000 · fine 500000 · note Prison or a fine, or both, label Above personal use (trafficking, article 93) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 10 years · prison 20 years · fine min 250000 · fine 125000000 · note Prison or a fine, or both
XAF
label Growing high-risk drugs (article 91) · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison min 10 years · prison 20 years · fine min 250000 · fine 1250000 · note Prison or a fine, or both. Growers must destroy volunteer plantations, label Cannabis oil, small amount for personal use (article 102) · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison min 2 months · prison 1 year · fine min 25000 · fine 1250000 · note Prison or a fine, or both. Same tier as possession, label Other derivatives, small amount for personal use (article 102) · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison min 1 month · prison 6 months · fine min 25000 · fine 500000 · note Prison or a fine, or both. Same tier as possession
XAF
label Giving or offering for another person's own use (article 95) · treatment criminal · term Supply to a user · prison min 2 years · prison 5 years · fine min 50000 · fine 2500000 · note Prison or a fine, or both, label Selling or distributing (trafficking, article 93) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 10 years · prison 20 years · fine min 250000 · fine 125000000 · note Prison or a fine, or both
XAF
label Cannabis oil, use without a prescription · treatment criminal · term Use without prescription · prison min 2 months · prison 1 year · fine min 25000 · fine 1250000 · note Penalty is the possession tier (article 102). Prison or a fine, or both, label Other derivatives, use without a prescription · treatment criminal · term Use without prescription · prison min 1 month · prison 6 months · fine min 25000 · fine 500000 · note Penalty is the possession tier (article 102). Prison or a fine, or both
The justice ministry calls cannabis one of the most produced and consumed drugs in Cameroon, trafficked by several networks and hitting young users hard.[@spm17] Growing, selling, holding and using it are all prohibited, with personal use punished more lightly than trafficking under the [1997 drug law](/history/cameroon-drug-law-1997/).[@loi97] Police map production, transit and consumption zones and raid crops in the Northwest, Southwest and West, though they admit the impact is mixed.[@abena17] Trafficking methods keep evolving: in March 2025 gendarmes at Manki in the Noun department seized 50 sacks hidden with soap cartons, detaining three men while the defence ministry hunted the rest of the network, as [that seizure](/history/cameroon-noun-seizure-2025/) records.[@jdc25]
spm17, loi97, abena17, jdc25
none
The drug law makes no hemp exception: cannabis and its resin sit in Table I of high-risk drugs, and article 8 bans growing the plant anywhere in the country.[@spm17,loi97] No separate fibre, food or CBD regime appears in the sources reviewed.[@loi97]
loi97, spm17