Uganda countries/ug.yaml
Section 4 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances [2024 narcotics law](Control/history/uganda-narcotics-commencement-2025/) Act 2024 makes possession ofpossessing a narcotic drug an offence with: a fine of up to 50,000 currency points, a billion shillings, or three times the drug's market value if that is more, up to twenty years in prison, or both.[@gaz24] No lesser tier is set for a small amount or for personal use.[@gaz24] The Actlaw was re-enacted after the Constitutional Court annulled the 2016 lawversion for lack of a quorum.[@ugstd23]
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Section 11 forbids knowingly cultivating or gathering a prohibited plant without a licence from the health minister.[@gaz24] The penalty is a fine of up to 120 currency points, 2.4 million shillings, or three times … to five years in prison, or both; a second or later offence brings imprisonment for life.[@gaz24] Courts must order any prohibited plants found destroyed on conviction.[@gaz24]
One of East Africa's stricter laws, combiningThe 2024 Act pairs long sentences, largeprison terms with fines up to a billion shillings and asset forfeitureorders property linked to offences forfeited.[@gaz24,ugstd23] Researchers describe a strict criminal-justice approach that pushes users away from health and social support.[@ml]
abgaz24, ugstd23, ml
Trafficking carries a fine of up to 50,000 currency points, a billion shillings, or three times the drug's market value if that is more, imprisonment for life, or both (Section 5).[@gaz24] The Act's definition of trafficking includes giving and supplying, so passing cannabis to another person unpaid is treated the same way.[@gaz24]
Section 6 makes it an offence to smoke, inhale, sniff, chew or otherwise use a narcotic dr … tensil for it: a fine of up to 50,000 currency points, up to ten years in prison, or both.[@gaz24]
No legal sourceThere is no recreational route: the [2024 narcotics law](/history/uganda-narcotics-commencement-2025/) bans possession, use and unlicensed growing outright, with medical licences the only exception.[@gaz24] Section 14 allows the drug authority to license medical sale, manufacture, production and distribution, and growers are licensed case by case by the health ministry.[@gaz24,ugstd23] The sources reviewed describe an export-oriented licensed sector, not a patient supply.[@gaz24,mmj26]
abgaz24, ugstd23, mmj26
The 2024 Act allows licensedhealth minister may license cultivation strictly for medical useor gathering of prohibited plants, with all licences issuedprocedures set by regulation; the health ministrydrug authority licenses medical production and exports. A few[@gaz24] Licensed growers serve the export-oriented projects have operated market, which ministers promote as export diversification while warning against diversion.[@mmj26]
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No legal consumer products.
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Medical use is permitted in principle under licence; there: section 14 provides for licences for medical sale, manufacture, production and distribution, and growers need health-ministry licences.[@gaz24,ugstd23] In practice the licensed sector serves exports, which ministers promote as export diversification while warning holders against diverting crops to the street.[@mmj26] There is no accessible patient programme in the sources reviewed.[@gaz24,mmj26]
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A conviction isbrings a criminal record; property can be, and the Act orders conveyances, equipment and proceeds linked to offences forfeited.[@gaz24,ugstd23]
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The 2024 narcotics actAct defines cannabis as the flowering or fruiting tops of the plant, "excluding the seeds", so loose seed is not itself a narcotic drug.[@gaz24] Cultivating is defined to include "sowing or scattering the seed", and growing the plant without a licence is an offence.[@gaz24]
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No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@gaz24]
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There is no legal recreational supply for anyone.[@gaz24] The 2024 Act sets up to twenty years in prison for possession, up to ten for using a drug or being found where it is used, and life for trafficking.[@gaz24]
Section 112 of the Traffic and Road Safety Act prohibits driving or attempting to drive under drug influence.[@trafficact] It expressly includes pharmaceutical and prescribed drugs, with no numerical THC allowance stated.[@trafficact] Conviction carries up to 300 currency points (UGX6 million), up to three years' imprisonment, or both.[@trafficact] Section 113 permits blood or urine testing on reasonable suspicion; refusal of a required blood specimen carries up to 100 currency points and is prima facie evidence of drug influence or excess alcohol.[@trafficact] The 2023 Regulations allow police to escort a suspected drug-influenced driver for a medical test and impound the vehicle.[@drugtraffic2023] A fixed cannabis-specific licence-ban duration was not established: the consolidated Act's … eference to section 112, which must not be presented as an unconditional drug-driving ban.[@trafficact]
UG Standard — Parliament passes new strict narcotics law after court setback (23 August 2023)
MMJ Daily — Uganda warns medical cannabis licence holders against diverting crop to the illicit market (5 October 2026)
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, 2024, section 2 (Uganda Legal Information Institute)
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, 2024 (ULII)
African Business — Uganda: House passes new strict narcotics law after court ruling
4 unchanged
UGX
label Possession of a narcotic drug · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 20 years · fine 1000000000 · note Fine is 50,000 points or three times the market value if more. Prison, a fine, or both
UGX
label Growing a prohibited plant without a licence · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison 5 years · fine 2400000 · note Fine is 120 points or three times the market value if more. Repeat offence brings life, label Second or later offence · treatment criminal · term Repeat cultivation · note Life imprisonment
UGX
label Trafficking, including giving and supplying (section 5) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · fine 1000000000 · note Life imprisonment. Fine is 50,000 points or three times the market value if more
UGX
label Use, dens and pipes (section 6) · treatment criminal · term Use of a narcotic drug · prison 10 years · fine 1000000000 · note Prison or a fine, or both
Cannabis is manufactured within Uganda and smoking it (sada) is practised alongside khat chewing, though exact user numbers are unknown.[@ml] Use clusters in Kampala slum hotspots such as Kisenyi, and prisons report drug use.[@ml] The law treats every user as a criminal: up to ten years for use and twenty for possession under the [2024 law](/history/uganda-narcotics-commencement-2025/), with no small-amount tier.[@gaz24] Researchers say the criminal-justice approach pushes users away from health and social support.[@ml]
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The Act sets no THC line for hemp: it lists cannabis and cannabis resin as narcotics and cannabis among prohibited plants, banning unlicensed growing outright.[@gaz24] Ministers court medical cannabis and industrial hemp investors under that same licensing regime.[@mmj26]
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Uganda is a transit country: drugs move overland through less-supervised borders such as Busia and Bunagana, and Entebbe airport is described as a major trafficking route.[@ml] Cannabis is manufactured within the country, and most use-and-dealing hotspots sit in Kampala slums such as Kisenyi, Katwe and Bwaise.[@ml] The 2024 Act answers trafficking with life imprisonment and property forfeiture.[@gaz24]
ml, gaz24