Rwanda countries/rw.yaml
possession 0 → 1consumption 0 → 1
Medical and research cannabis activities require licencesCannabis sits in the highest drug category. Unauthorised possession andCaught use remain crimes, withor possession carries one to two years or community service available instead; supply, transport, storage and production carry life imprisonment with a fine of prisonmore than 20 million and up to 30 million francs, subject to mitigation down to at least fifteen years. A licensing regime for medical cannabis exists but no patient supply was found.
The drug offence as amended in [2019](/history/rwanda-possession-clause-2019/) expressly covers being caught with narcotics or psychotropic substances, alongside use.[@law19] Its stated penalty is one to two years in prison or community service.[@law19] General sentencing rules adopted in [2023 allow](/history/rwanda-sentencing-discretion-2023/) let judges to reduce ahalve fixed term to half the statutory minimumterms of at least six months and quarter fines when mitigating circumstances are accepted.[@law23]
Growing cannabis requires a licence for medical or research purposes under the [2021 order](/history/rwanda-medical-2021/).[@og24] Unauthorised production falls within the criminal law’'s highest drug category, which specifies life imprisonment and a fine of more than 20 million and up to 30 million francs.[@law19,sched19] General mitigating-circumstance rules allow life imprisonment to be reduced to at least fifteen years.[@law23]
og24, sched19, law19, sched19, law23
Community service is an express alternative to imprisonment for possession or use.[@law19] The government’'s 2014 report to the UN counted 1,910 people incarcerated in 2011 for smoking cannabis; that is historical evidence of imprisonment, not a current sentencing rate.[@report14] The 2023 general rules widened judges’' powers to reduce sentences.[@law23]
Unauthorised giving to another person is included alongside production, transport, storage and sale.[@law19] Cannabis is in the highest drug category, whose statutory tariff is life imprisonment and a fine of more than 20 million and up to 30 million Rwandan francs.[@law19,sched19] The 2023 general rules allow mitigation, including reducing life imprisonment to at least fifteen years.[@law23]
Illicit consumption remains a criminal offence.[@law19] The stated punishment is one to two years in prison or community service, with general judicial powers to reduce or suspend qualifying sentences under the 2023 amendments.[@law19,law23]
The 2021 order permits medical use on prescription by a doctor with written health-ministry authority and requires registration of finished products.[@og24] No cannabis or cannabinoid medicine was found in the FDA’'s published September 2026 pharmaceutical register.[@fda26] Practical patient supply, including exceptional imports, was not established in this review.[@fda26]
The 2021 order licenses medical and research cannabis cultivation and processing.[@og24] In May 2025, the development board reported off-site infrastructure for the Musanze project 83% complete, with fencing still outstanding; reporting described the licensed private producer’'s plans as aimed mainly at cannabis oils for export.[@site25]
Finished cannabis products require registration, and importing or exporting them requires a permit for each shipment. Licensed activities are restricted to medical or research purposes.
og24
Medical use requires a prescription from a doctor whom the health ministry has authorised in writing to prescribe cannabis.[@og24] The reviewed September 2026 pharmaceutical register contained no cannabis or cannabinoid medicine; prescribing rules alone do not establish patient supply.[@fda26]
Community service is a criminal sentence.[@law23] Under the 2023 general rules, deliberate failure to carry it out properly requires the remaining sentence to be served in a correctional facility.[@law23]
licensedgrey
regulatedunclear
licensedillegal
regulatedbanned
The 2021 ministerial order defines cannabis to include its seeds for agricultural purposes and lists eight licences and permits.[@og24] A cultivation licence covers developing genetic material, and separate import and export permits are required for seeds, genetic materials and other planting material.[@og24] Everything is confined to medical or research use.[@og24]
There is no recreational supply route in the reviewed laws.[@og24] The possession/ and use offence states one to two years in prison or community service; authorised medical use requires a prescription from a doctor with written health-ministry authority.[@law19,og24]
law19, og24, law19
The government told the UN Human Rights Committee in 2014 that 1,910 people had been incarcerated in 2011 for smoking cannabis.[@report14] It separately recorded 2,402 arrests connected with banned substances across 2011–2012.[@report14] These are historical counts, and the latter figure covers drugs generally.[@report14]
In Rwanda cannabis is [injaga](/culture/language/injaga/), and inCodere's 1959–196060 photo survey found its use was virtually confined to Twa men, who.[@codere75] They smoked it in the urumogi gourd water-pipe, with the expectation — shared by users and onlookers —deep inhalations that made the water bubble loudly, expecting strong doses to produce violence, — an expectation that helped keep the other 99 percent away — see users and onlookers shared.[the Twa@codere75] Condemnation was near-universal: 99 of 113 respondents opposed it, a stance the [1960 confinement findings](/history/rwanda-twa-cannabis-confinement-1960/) record.[@codere75]
Helen Codere — Social and Cultural Context of Cannabis Use in Rwanda (1975), chapter in Rubin (ed), Cannabis and Culture
Rwanda Development Board — Musanze medical cannabis project update (May 2025)
Rwanda National Police — Breaking chain of drug supply, 400kgs of cannabis seized (19 December 2017)
The East African — Rwanda legalises medical use of cannabis
Nation — Rwanda legalises medical, research use of marijuana
Eastleigh Voice — Rwanda’s medical cannabis infrastructure project is 83% complete
The Social and Cultural Context of Cannabis Use in Rwanda
6 unchanged
RWF
label Caught with or using narcotics · treatment criminal · term Drug use or possession · prison min 1 year · prison 2 years · note Or community service. Mitigation can halve the term
RWF
label Unlicensed production (Category I drugs) · treatment criminal · term Production · fine min 20000000 · fine 30000000 · note Life imprisonment. Mitigation possible under the 2023 rules
RWF
label Giving, selling, transporting or storing (Category I drugs) · treatment criminal · term Supply · fine min 20000000 · fine 30000000 · note Life imprisonment. Mitigation possible under the 2023 rules
RWF
label Using narcotics · treatment criminal · term Drug use · prison min 1 year · prison 2 years · note Or community service. Mitigation can halve the term
Cannabis is prohibited and the penalties are severe, yet police keep intercepting large cross-border loads: in December 2017 they seized 400 kg trafficked from DR Congo on the Rubavu–Nyabihu road, as [that seizure](/history/rwanda-rubavu-cannabis-seizure-2017/) records.[@rnp17] Rubavu in the west and Kirehe in the east are marked as major cannabis trafficking routes, and Rwanda runs joint operations with Tanzania against cross-border trafficking and farm destruction.[@rnp17] Use persists: the government counted 1,910 people jailed for smoking cannabis in 2011.[@report14]
rnp17, report14
none
No Rwandan law sets a THC line for hemp: cannabis sits in Category I of very severe drugs, and the 2021 order licenses only medical or research growing.[@sched19,og24] No fibre, food or CBD regime appears in the sources reviewed.[@og24]
sched19, og24
Rwanda is a destination for Congolese cannabis: police say the narcotics in the [December 2017 seizure](/history/rwanda-rubavu-cannabis-seizure-2017/) were trafficked from DR Congo, and mark Rubavu and Kirehe as major trafficking routes.[@rnp17] Joint Rwanda–Tanzania operations target cross-border trafficking and destroy cannabis farms along the Kagera.[@rnp17]
rnp17