Pakistan countries/pk.yaml
Section 6 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act forbids possessing any narcotic, and Section 9 sets the sentence by drug and weight.[@cnsa23] In the consolidated text, up to 499 g of charas (hashish) carries ten months to five years in prison and a fine of up to 40,000 rupees, and 500 to 999 g five to nine years; up.[@cnsa23] Up to 999 g of bhang, the herbal form, carries six months to three years and a fine of up to 10,000 rupees.[@cnsa23] Hashish oil has its own higher scale, starting at fourteen months to seven years for up to 499 g.[@cnsa23] Charas is nonetheless smoked widely and police often ignore it or take a bribe, so the law's severity and daily reality diverge sharply.[@shc]
cnsa23, shc, wiki
label UpBhang up to 499999 g charas · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 106 months · prison 53 years · fine 40000 · note Ten months to five years and up to 4010000,000 rupees, label 500Charas up to 999499 g charas · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 5 years10 months · prison 95 years · fine 40000, label UpHashish oil up to 999499 g bhang · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 614 months · prison 37 years · fine 1000040000 · note Six months toHigher bands for all three years and up to 10,000 rupeesdrugs are on the sharing table
Section 4 forbids cultivating any cannabis plant, letting land for it, or gathering any part of the plant; under Section 5 as amended in 2022 the penalty is one to seven years in prison and a fine.[@cnsa23] The federal government, or a province it authorises, may license cultivation for medical, scientific or industrial purposes only.[@cnsa23] Cannabis nonetheless grows wild across the north and is farmed in the tribal districts.[@wiki]
Mandatory minimum prison terms apply on paper, with uneven enforcement that falls hardest on the poor.[@shc] The Anti-Narcotics Force reported 1,652 arrests in 1,678 cases in the twelve months to mid-2023, and 157.5 tonnes of drugs seized, of which 61.8 tonnes were hashish.[@dt23] No national cannabis-specific arrest figures for 2024–2026 were found.
shc, wikidt23
Supply is trafficking under Sections 6 to 8, with sentencesand Section 9 applies the same weight table as possession. For bhang, the bands run from six months to three years for up to 999 g, to a minimum of fourteen years and possible life imprisonment from 20 kg. Charas starts at ten months to five years for the largest quantitiesup to 499 g and reaches a minimum of twenty years and possible life imprisonment from 10 kg. Hashish oil starts at fourteen months to seven years and reaches a minimum of twenty years and possible life from 5 kg.[@cnsa23]
shc, na23, hri24cnsa23
The Act deals with users through registration and treatment: each province is to register addicts, who must carry a registration card, and the federal government pays for a first compulsory detoxification.[@cnsa23] Holding the drug to use it is punished as possession.[@cnsa23] Use is culturally embedded, particularly at Sufi shrines, and bhang drinks are consumed at festivals.[@malang20]
cnsa23, wikimalang20
No legal source for adults: Section 6 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act forbids possessing any narcotic and Section 4 forbids cultivating any cannabis plant without a government licence.[@cnsa23] The Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority licenses medical and industrial production, but no patient or adult retail supply was found.[@ccra_scope]
cnsa23, ccra_scope
Illegal on paper, widely used in practice: charas is smoked widely and police often ignore it, and use is culturally embedded at Sufi shrines and festivals.[@shc] Minimum prison terms apply to possession of any amount, but no legal adult-use source exists.[@cnsa23,wiki,shc] No price or purity data were found.
cnsa23, wiki, shc
The cannabis regulator now publishes an application route for industrial-hemp cultivation, controlled and open-field … individuals, while other activities have their own documentary requirements.[@ccra_scope]
No working medicalpatient programme yet and noor legal consumer products; the 2024product was found. The Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority is meant to license medicallicenses medicinal cultivation, extraction and industrial cannabispharmaceutical manufacturing, but the licensing scheme is still being built and no prescription or pharmacy supply route was verified.[@ccra_scope] Medical status stays limited.
wikiccra_scope
A narcotics conviction carries a criminal record.[@shc] The Act sets mandatory minimum prison terms for possession and trafficking, and the 2023 amendment removed death from the remaining federal drug-law rows while leaving life imprisonment as the maximum.[@na23]
shc, na23
The Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997 defines cannabis as the resin and the flowering or fruiting tops, "excluding the seed and leaves when not accompanied by the tops", so loose seed is not a narcotic drug.[@cnsa] Section 4 forbids cultivating any cannabis plant or gathering any portion of one, unless the government licenses it for medical, scientific or industrial purposes.[@cnsa]
The whole market is illegal, and hashish (charas) is the drug the Anti-Narcotics Force sei … 43.2 tonnes of opium and 9.3 tonnes of heroin; 1,652 people were arrested in 1,678 cases.[@dt23] Eight operations at sea in 2023, run with foreign agencies on the force's intelligence, took another 13.3 tonnes of charas, which points to a large export trade as well as a domestic one.[@dt23]
No cannabis clubs in the modern sense are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing and supplying cannabis are prohibited.[@cnsa23] The collective use that does exist is religious and much older. Malangs, the wandering mendicants found in large numbers at Sufi shrines such as that of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, commonly smoke charas and drink bhang, which they regard as part of their devotion and an aid to ecstatic dance and trance, according to a 2020 study in a Lahore university journal.[@malang20] That is a devotional custom outside respectable society, not a members' association.
wikicnsa23, shc, malang20
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone. The narcotics act sets minimum prison te … up to 499 g of charas and at least six months for up to 999 g of bhang, each with a fine.[@cnsa23] The law makes no exception for visitors.[@cnsa23]
The Provincial Motor Vehicles Ordinance's section 100 prohibits driving or attempting to drive while drink or drugs prevent proper vehicle control.[@motortraffic] The version published by Pakistan's Ministry of Lawversion provides up to six months' imprisonment or a fine or both for a first offence, and up to two years or a fine or both for a repeat. Section; section 18(2) provides at least six months' disqualification on conviction under section 100. This describes the published baseline Ordinance:[@motortraffic] No numeric THC threshold is stated, and provincial amendments and separate highway legislation mean itsthe fine figures shouldare not be treated as a current uniform nationwide tariff. No numeric THC threshold is stated in section 100. Current provincial ticket schedules, testing procedures and any special rules for medical patients remain to be verified.[@motortraffic]
Harm Reduction International — The Death Penalty for Drug Offences, Global Overview 2024
9 unchanged
PKR
label Unauthorised cultivation · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison min 1 year · prison 7 years · note Fine also imposed; a government licence is possible for medical, scientific or industrial purposes
PKR
label Bhang up to 999 g · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 6 months · prison 3 years · fine 10000, label Bhang 1,000–9,999 g · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 3 years · prison 7 years · fine min 10000 · fine 100000, label Bhang 10,000–19,999 g · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 7 years · prison 14 years · fine min 100000 · fine 200000, label Bhang 20,000 g or more · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 14 years · fine min 200000 · note Life imprisonment available, label Charas up to 499 g · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 10 months · prison 5 years · fine 40000, label Charas 500–999 g · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 5 years · prison 9 years · fine min 40000 · fine 80000, label Charas 1,000–4,999 g · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 9 years · prison 14 years · fine min 80000 · fine 400000, label Charas 5,000–9,999 g · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 14 years · prison 20 years · fine min 400000 · fine 800000, label Charas 10,000 g or more · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 20 years · fine min 800000 · note Life imprisonment available, label Hashish oil up to 499 g · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 14 months · prison 7 years · fine 40000, label Hashish oil 500–999 g · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 7 years · prison 14 years · fine min 40000 · fine 80000, label Hashish oil 1,000–4,999 g · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 14 years · prison 20 years · fine min 80000 · fine 400000, label Hashish oil 5,000 g or more · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 20 years · fine min 400000 · note Life imprisonment available
strict
Industrial hemp is a licensed category. The regulator issues cultivation licences in three size classes, from up to 50 acres to more than 250 acres, with police clearance, tax registration and site-security conditions.[@ccra_scope] No published THC ceiling was found in the sources read, so the licence conditions are the relevant limit.[@ccra_scope]
ccra_scope
In the twelve months to mid-2023 the Anti-Narcotics Force reported 1,652 arrests in 1,678 cases and 157.5 tonnes of drugs seized, including 61.8 tonnes of hashish.[@dt23] No official arrest or prosecution figures for 2024–2026 were found in the sources read.
dt23
Pakistan's cannabis culture centres on [charas](/culture/language/charas/), the hand-rubbed resin, and [hashish](/culture/language/hashish/) more broadly. The Hindu Kush gave its name to [kush](/culture/language/kush/), and the old farmers' populations of the region are [landraces](/culture/language/landrace/); the botanical split between [indica and sativa](/culture/language/indica-and-sativa/) also drew on South Asian drug types.[@wiki] At Sufi shrines, malangs smoke charas and drink bhang as part of their devotion.[@malang20]
wiki, malang20