Expand Japan (jp): penalty tables, CBN/medical context, 1950 hemp article

2018-0708-01

A law allowed doctors to prescribeLaw 33/2018, published on 18 July, took effect on the first day of the following month. It provides for authorised cannabis-based medicines, dispensed by pharmacies,preparations and substances prescribed when conventional treatment has failed. Very few products have been approved or causes significant adverse effects, though Portugal has become a major grower for exportwith dispensing through pharmacies. It does not authorise recreational growing.

Diário da República — Law 33/2018, Articles 5–9 and 13 Wikipedia — Cannabis in Portugal

Possession carries up to seven years, and since December 2024 use itself is a crime. The same reform allowed cannabis-derived pharmaceuticalsmedicines, though none has been approved yet; THC-free CBD is legal only within strict THC limits, and CBN was banned in June 2026.

Possession ofPossessing any amount of cannabis is a crime. Amendments, with up to seven years in force from 12 Decemberprison.[@narcotics] The 2024 reform moved cannabis underfrom the Cannabis Act into the narcotics law and raised the maximum for possession from five to seven years in prison.[@giq] Possession for profit carries one to ten years and a fine of up to 3 million yen.[@narcotics] First offenders with small amounts commonlyoften receive a suspended sentence, but arrest, weeks of detention and public naming are routine.[@giq]

giqnarcotics, diagiq

label Possession of any amount (since 2024) · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 7 years · note Maximum raisedRaised from five to seven years in December 2024; first small-amount offenders commonlyoften receive a suspended sentence, label Possession for profit · treatment criminal · term Possession for profit · prison min 1 year · prison 10 years · fine 3000000 · note Prison, or prison and a fine

Unauthorised cultivation is imprisonment ofGrowing cannabis without a licence carries not less than one year and not more than ten years in prison. Cultivation[@cannabis] Growing for profit iscarries the same range, with a separate offence: imprisonmentfine of up to 5 million yen.[@cannabis] Since March 2025 a Type 1 grower must use seed from plants with no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC; using stronger seed carries up to seven years, or not less than one year, or that imprisonment and not more than ten years and a fine of up to 53 million yen fine for profit.[@cannabis,mhlw_licensing] The Act licences cultivation for takinglaw also licenses growers producing pharmaceutical raw material and for research cannabis, both with health-ministry licences.[@cannabis] Knowingly providing land, equipment or seed for unlicensed growing carries up to five years.[@cannabis]

ccaegovcannabis, mhlw_licensing

label Unauthorised cultivation · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison min 1 year · prison 10 years, label Cultivation for profit · treatment criminal · term Cultivation for profit · prison min 1 year · prison 10 years · fine 5000000 · note At least onePrison, or prison and a fine, label Growing with seed above 0.3% THC (Type 1) · treatment criminal · term Seed-rule violation · prison 7 years, label Growing with seed above 0.3% THC for profit · treatment criminal · term Seed-rule violation for profit · prison min 1 year · prison 10 years · fine 3000000 · note Prison, or prison and/ a fine, label Providing land, equipment or up toseed for unlicensed growing · treatment criminal · term Facilitating cultivation · prison 5 million yenyears

Strict and consistently enforced, withPolice investigated a record arrest numbers among6,832 people for cannabis offences in 2025, 754 more than the year before.[@kyodo_investigations,mugglehead] More than 70% were under 30, including 3,633 in their twenties; 1,373 were under 20, the most since 1990.[@mugglehead,mainichi] About 700 were pursued under the new offence of use itself.[@mugglehead] Sentences are often suspended, but the process itself is punishingarrest, detention and public naming are punishment in themselves.[@giq]

kyodo_investigations, mugglehead, mainichi, giq

TransferPassing cannabis to another person carriesis a crime whether or not money changes hands, with up to seven years in prison.[@narcotics] Transfer for profit carries one to ten years and a fine of up to 3 million yen.[@narcotics] Importing, whetherexporting or notmanufacturing cannabis carries one to ten years; for paymentprofit, at least one year and a fine of up to 5 million yen.[@narcotics,mhlw_travel]

giqnarcotics, mhlw_travel

label Transfer, with or without payment · treatment criminal · term Transfer · prison 7 years, label Transfer for profit · treatment criminal · term Transfer for profit · prison min 1 year · prison 10 years · fine 3000000 · note Prison, or prison and a fine, label Import, export or manufacture · treatment criminal · term Import, export or manufacture · prison min 1 year · prison 10 years, label Import, export or manufacture for profit · treatment criminal · term Import, export or manufacture for profit · prison min 1 year · fine 5000000 · note Prison, or prison and a fine; no maximum prison term

Using cannabis is a crime with up to seven years in prison, whether or not any is found on the person.[@narcotics] Until December 2024 Japan punished possession but not use — a quirk meant to protect hemp farmers. The; the amendment closed it: using cannabis is now itselfthat gap.[@giq] In the first year about 700 people were investigated under the new offence.[@mugglehead] Use for profit carries one to ten years and a crime withfine of up to seven years3 million yen.[@narcotics]

narcotics, giq, diamugglehead

label Use (since December 2024) · treatment criminal · term Use · prison 7 years, label Use for profit · treatment criminal · term Use for profit · prison min 1 year · prison 10 years · fine 3000000 · note Prison, or prison and a fine

NoThere is no legal source of THC cannabis for adults.[@narcotics,giq] The law now allows cannabis-derived medicines, but no cannabis medicine has been approved in Japan.[@dia,jazz_trial] CBD products are legal only if residual THC stays within strict limits: 10 ppm in oils and powders, 0.1 ppm in aqueous products and 1 ppm in other products.[@mhlw_cbd] CBN, another cannabinoid sold in some CBD products, was banned from 1 June 2026, with a narrow exception for patients who have no alternative treatment.[@mhlw_cbn]

emnarcotics, giq, dia, jazz_trial, mhlw_cbd, mhlw_cbn

All recreationalAdults have no legal way to buy cannabis for fun.[@narcotics] Possession and use is prohibited: possession of any amount bringscarry up to seven years, use itself has beenand transfer does too, even without payment.[@narcotics] Police investigated a crime since December 2024record 6,832 people in 2025; more than 40% of those under 30 said they had bought through apps such as X and transfer brings up to seven years whether or not money changes handsTelegram. Record arrests skew young[@mugglehead] Police seized 315 kg of concentrates in 2025, with app-based buying commonmore than three times the 2024 figure.[@giqmugglehead] CBD is the legal alternative,dia,mh26 but only within the residue limits.[@mhlw_cbd]

giqnarcotics, diamugglehead, mh26mhlw_cbd

The same reform replaced the old plant-part rule with THC thresholds and created licence categories forCommercial production is confined to licensed hemp and for pharmaceutical raw material; there is no adult-use market.[@cannabis] Type 1 licences from prefectural governors cover raw material for manufactured products, Type 2 licences from the health ministry cover pharmaceutical ingredients, and a separate licence covers research.[@cannabis,mhlw_licensing] The pharmaceutical route is still nascent: no cannabis medicine has been approved, and Jazz's April 2026 deal with Nippon Zoki is preparation for a future launch.[@nz] Hemp fibre and food production is small: 35 growers on 9 hectares in 2019, about 90% in Tochigi.[@usda]

diacannabis, emmhlw_licensing, nz, usda

The 2024 law lifted the ban onJapan allows cannabis-derived medicines in law, opening the way for anbut no cannabis medicine has been approved.[@dia] The 2024 reform created the approval route, and in June 2024 the health ministry gave orphan designation to Jazz's cannabidiol drug for severe epilepsyDravet syndrome, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and tuberous sclerosis complex. There is no[@jazz_orphan] The Japanese Phase 3 trial then missed its primary endpoint in August 2024, and Jazz and Nippon Zoki agreed in April 2026 to prepare a future introduction.[@jazz_trial,nz] Medical use means a licensed pharmaceutical, not herbal medical cannabis., and CBD products are legal and popular, subject to very strict residual-only within the THC residue limits set in parts per million; nothing.[@mhlw_cbd] CBN was banned from June 2026, except for patients with meaningful THC is lawfulno alternative.[@mhlw_cbn]

dia, giqjazz_orphan, emjazz_trial, nz, mhlw_cbd, mhlw_cbn

An arrest typically costs a person their job or university place, and foreigners.[@giq] Foreigners are deported after a cannabis conviction, and barredthe immigration law bars them from re-landing again for five years, or ten if they have been deported before.[@immigration] A cannabis penalty in any country is also a ground for refusing entry.[@immigration]

giq, immigration

The Act defines cannabis as the plant excluding its seed and mature stalk. Knowingly providing raw materials, includingso an adult can buy and hold hemp seed without committing a cannabis seedsoffence.[@cannabis] Sowing it without a licence is cultivation, and a seller who knowingly provides seed for unlicensed cultivation isgrowing can be jailed for up to five years. A licensed cultivator who transfers seeds without making them unable to[@cannabis] Licensed growers must treat seed so it cannot germinate before passing it on, except to another licensed cultivator or in a casegrower; untreated germinable seed needs the ministry sets, commits a separate offence of uphealth minister's permission to three years or a fine of up to 500import.[@cannabis] Clones are plants,000 yen, so keeping or bothtrading them without a licence is illegal.[@cannabis]

ccaegovcannabis

Police investigated a record 6,832 people for cannabis offences in 2025, 754 more than the year before, according to the National Police Agency2024. About 700 of them[@kyodo_investigations,mugglehead] More than 70% were pursued under the new offence of use itself30, which took effectincluding 3,633 in December 2024their twenties. Young people stand out:[@mugglehead,mainichi] Of the 1,373 of those investigated were under-20 cases, up more than a fifth173 were for use, and the mostunder-20 total was the highest since 1990.[@mainichi] About 700 people were investigated under the new use offence, and more than 40%police seized 315 kg of those under 30 said they had bought through apps such as X and Telegram. Seizures of cannabis concentrates rose, more than 300% to 315 kgthree times the 2024 amount.[@mugglehead]

mh26kyodo_investigations, mugglehead, mainichi

No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another personcannabis are both prohibitedcrimes.[@cannabis,giq]

giqcannabis, diagiq

BringingNo visitor can buy cannabis intolegally in Japan.[@narcotics] Bringing it in is a separatean import offence carrying one to ten years in prison; export, and manufacture have the same ordinary rangepossession carries up to seven.[@mhlwtravelmhlw_travel] The Health Ministryhealth ministry warns travellers aboutthat cannabis cookies, chocolate and vape cartridges bought legally overseasabroad are still illegal in Japan.[@mhlwtravelmhlw_travel] Simple possession separately carries up to seven years.[@mhlwtravel] First offenders with small possession amounts commonly receive a suspended sentence, but arrest, weeksA foreigner convicted of detentiona cannabis offence is deported and public naming are routinebarred from re-entry for five years, or ten after a previous deportation.[@giqimmigration]

mhlwtravelnarcotics, giqmhlw_travel, immigration

The Road Traffic Act forbids driving in a state in whichwhen normal driving may not be possible because of overworkdrugs, illness, drugsoverwork or other reasonsanother reason.[@rta66] The law sets no THC level; the test is the driver's condition.[@rta66] Where thatthe condition comes from narcotics, cannabis, narcotics, opium or stimulants, the penalty is up to five years in prison or a fine of up to one1 million yen.[@rta66]

Figures reported by thePolice and customs count seizures separately. The government to the UN drugs office recordreported 452 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, againstdown from 850 kg in 2023, and 11.8 kg of cannabis resin, up from 1 kg.[@unodc_szr] Customs seized a record 1,531 kg in 2025, 3.5 times the 2024 figure, againstafter a 1 kg.046-tonne container from Vietnam was found in 2023June.[@jt_customs,kyodo_seizure] The United States supplied 43% of detected cannabis cases, Thailand 27% and Vietnam 8%.[@jt_customs] UN publishes them asfigures are kilogram equivalents, reported by governments and countries count seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@unodc_szr]

unodc_szr, jt_customs, kyodo_seizure

Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act (Act No. 14 of 1953), current text on e-Gov Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — Part of the Act amending the Cannabis Control Act and the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act comes into force on 1 March 2025 Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — Interpretation and examples of products under the Cabinet Order designating narcotics, cannabis and psychotropics Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — Designation of CBN as a designated drug The Japan Times — Japan to ban cannabis ingredient CBN from June Pharma Japan — Japan grants orphan tag to cannabidiol, 6 more APIs Jazz Pharmaceuticals — Provides update on cannabidiol oral solution Phase 3 trial in Japan in treatment-resistant epilepsies Pharma Japan — Jazz, Nippon Zoki ink deal to bring cannabis-derived epilepsy drug to Japan Kyodo News — Japan sees record cannabis-related police probes in 2025 The Mainichi — Cannabis investigations hit record high in Japan in 2025 The Japan Times — Japan's customs seized second-highest amount of illegal drugs in 2025 Kyodo News — Record 1 ton of cannabis, worth $35 mil., seized in Japan The Asahi Shimbun — Health ministry eyes all-out ban on HHCH-like substances JMA Journal — Challenges in regulating synthetic new psychoactive substances: lessons from Japan's generic scheduling against hexahydrocannabihexol USDA Foreign Agricultural Service — The Japanese market for hemp fiber Deutsche Welle — Japan hemp business wants to distance itself from image of narcotics Stripes Japan — Weed in Japan: history of hemp in the Land of the Rising Sun Ganjapreneur — Japanese prefecture ends hemp growing program after cannabis arrests Japan — Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (Act No. 319 of 1951), English translation The Origin and Use of Cannabis in Eastern Asia: Their Linguistic-Cultural Implications Wikipedia (Japanese) — 七味唐辛子 (Shichimi tōgarashi) Wikipedia — Global Marijuana March OpenAlex — works mentioning cannabis or cannabinoids, by author country (datasets/openalex-cannabis-papers.csv) ClinicalTrials.gov — registered studies with a cannabis or cannabinoid intervention, as of 26 October 2026 (datasets/clinicaltrials-cannabis.csv) Pharma Japan — Japan consortium to promote domestic R&D of cannabis-derived meds 8 unchanged

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standard

Hemp may be grown only under licence, and [since March 2025](/history/japan-cannabis-cultivation-licences-2025/) the legal line for Type 1 growers is seed from plants with no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC.[@cannabis,mhlw_licensing] The plant's seeds and mature stalks are outside the definition of cannabis, which is why hemp seed can be sold for food; but a licensed grower must treat seed so it cannot germinate before passing it on, except to another grower.[@cannabis] Production is tiny: 35 growers on 9 hectares in 2019, about 90% of it in Tochigi, down from more than [25,000 farms before the 1948 law](/history/japan-cannabis-control-act-1948/).[@usda,stripes] Tottori prefecture [banned hemp growing in 2016](/history/japan-tottori-hemp-ban-2016/) after arrests at a licensed firm.[@tottori] CBD products are legal only within residual-THC limits of 10 ppm in oils and powders, 0.1 ppm in aqueous products and 1 ppm in other products; CBN was [banned from June 2026](/history/japan-cbn-ban-2026/).[@mhlw_cbd,mhlw_cbn]

cannabis, mhlw_licensing, usda, stripes, tottori, mhlw_cbd, mhlw_cbn

Hemp sits deep in Japanese life: the character [*ma*](/culture/language/ma/) names the plant and carries the sense of numbness, and the word *taima* is still the everyday name for cannabis.[@li] In Shinto, hemp fibre stands for purity: priests wave an [ōnusa](/culture/traditions/hemp-in-shinto/) hung with hemp, shrine ropes were once made of it, and the Ise shrine's talisman began as a hemp wand.[@stripes] Hemp seed has been one of the seven spices in [shichimi](/culture/traditions/hemp-seed-in-shichimi/) since the shops of Edo mixed it in the seventeenth century.[@stripes,shichimi_wiki] Modern protest is small but persistent: [Marijuana March Tokyo](/culture/traditions/global-marijuana-march/) has been held yearly since 2001.[@gmm_wiki] The 1948 law and the 2024 use ban did not erase these customs, but they pushed most hemp production and public ritual onto a narrow licensed footing.[@cannabis,dw]

li, stripes, shichimi_wiki, gmm_wiki, cannabis, dw

licensed

Cannabis research needs a health-ministry licence to grow the plant, and the law sets a separate research-grower category.[@cannabis] Japanese authors published 87 cannabis papers in 2025, up from 59 in 2024, and two cannabis trials were registered in the country as of October 2026.[@openalex,ctgov] The most visible recent work is clinical: Jazz ran a 62-patient Phase 3 trial in Japanese children with severe epilepsies, and Japanese clinicians documented the HHCH gummy poisonings that led to the 2023 ban.[@jazz_trial,jma_hhch] In May 2025 a national Hemp Cannabinoid Consortium was set up to promote domestic research on cannabis-derived medicines.[@pj_consortium]

cannabis, openalex, ctgov, jazz_trial, jma_hhch, pj_consortium

Cannabis offences carry imprisonment or fines under the Cannabis Act and the Narcotics Act; neither provides a capital sentence. The maximum for unauthorised cultivation is ten years.

cannabis, narcotics