Benin countries/bj.yaml
Cannabis is illegal for all purposes under the 1997 drug-control Act and the 2018 Penal Code.[@wiki] Unauthorised possession of a narcotic is reported to carry two to five years in prison and a fine of 500,000 to 5 million CFA francs.[@wiki] There is some informal tolerance in parts of the country, but raids and arrests are active in Cotonou and at borders.[@wiki]
label Unauthorised possession of a narcotic · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 2 years · prison 5 years · fine 5000000 · note Reported figures; fine of 500,000–5,000,000 CFA francs
Cultivation is a crime with heavy sentencesArticle 8 of Law 97-025 bans growing the cannabis plant anywhere in the country and obliges landowners and occupiers to destroy plants that come up.[@l97025] No cultivation-specific sentence was verified in the retained sources.
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A 2017 review of the 1997 Act found that it fixes minimum fines and prison terms which judges must stay within, offers no alternatives to prison and contains no public health or human rights protections.[@idpc17] The death penalty, abolished in 2016, no longer applies to any drug offence.[@idpc17,wiki]
The 1997 Act punishes export, import and international transport of drugs with five to ten years in prison and a fine of three times the value of the drugs seized (Article 96).[@idpc17] Benin serves increasingly as a transit point: seizures of cannabis rose from 82 kg in 2006 to 2,444 kg in 2021.[@wiki]
label Export, import and international transport (Article 96) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 5 years · prison 10 years · note Fine of three times the value seized
Use is prohibited, but a 2017 review of the 1997 Act found that the law does not state a penalty for it; it only says that using drugs is forbidden.[@idpc17]
No legal source: the 1997 Act forbids using drugs and punishes import, export and transport.[@idpc17]
There is no legal way to get cannabis. Possession is reported to carry two to five years a … ce outside the cities, but raids and arrests are active in Cotonou and at borders.[@wiki] The 1997 drug-control law is traced in the [1997 law](/history/benin-drug-law-1997/).
No licensed production. Article 8 of Law 97-025 bans growing the cannabis plant anywhere in the country.[@l97025]
Article 8 of Law 97-025 bans growing the cannabis plant anywhere in the country and obliges whoever owns or occupies land to destroy any plants that come up.[@l97025] The law does not mention seeds; it classifies substances by reference to the international conventions.[@l97025]
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@wiki]
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone.[@idpc17] The 1997 Act prohibits drug use, and importing or carrying drugs across the border brings five to ten years in prison and a fine of three times their value.[@idpc17]
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 1,209 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 13,705 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]
word Cannabis · lang French · meaning cannabis; the law's word in Law 97-025 · sources l97025
label Unauthorised cultivation (Article 8 ban) · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · note Article 8 bans growing and requires destruction; no cultivation-specific sentence verified in the retained sources
none
No industrial-hemp exception was verified: Law 97-025 bans growing the cannabis plant anywhere in the country with no low-THC distinction, and no hemp production is documented.[@l97025]
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