North Macedonia: record 2023 possession exemption, penalties and medical history

2016-03-05

AnThe amendment allowed cannabis products to be prescribed andpublished in Gazette 37 on 26 February opened a licensed companiescorporate route to grow for medical use and exportscientific cannabis cultivation. Health ministry approval required government consent, followed by agriculture ministry permission to plant and inventory controls. The law took effect eight days after publication; domestic dispensing depended on the medical product rules.

MALMED — Drug Control Law, Articles 29-a–29-f and transitional provisions for Gazette 37/2016 Justice Ministry database — 2016 amendments and publication dates Wikipedia — Cannabis in North Macedonia

In late January and early February police in North Macedonia and Serbia seized 45 tonnesGI-TOC reported regional seizures of cannabis, the largest drug bust in the region's history, about 4045 tonnes of it in North Macedonia and about five in Serbia during late January and early February. The raids also found weapons caches. Between 2018Macedonian Interior Ministry’s 7 February account distinguished nine tonnes of marijuana and 2024 North Macedonia had authorised 75 companies for the medicalover 1,300 bottles of semi-finished cannabis market and revoked 26oil in Skopje from more than 31 tonnes of the licences between 2021marijuana and 2024. The authorities pledged to eliminate grey zonesbiomass in the oversighteastern region. The mixed material categories are not a forty-tonne count of medical cannabisfinished retail flower. Prosecutors continued investigating possible diversion from licensed companies.

North Macedonia Interior Ministry — Seizures update, 7 February 2026 1 unchanged

illegaldecriminalised

Medical cannabis was legalised in 2016 and many producers are licensedSince February 2023, the Criminal Code expressly excludes possession for exportpersonal use from punishment. RecreationalDrug use is illegalstill brings a separate misdemeanour fine, and unauthorised production and supply remain criminal. Licensed companies may grow for medical or scientific purposes; domestic patient access remains limited.

Possession for Since [25 February 2023](/history/north-macedonia-personal use is not explicitly criminalised as such-possession-exemption-2023/), but there is no defined threshold, and people caught with small amounts are routinely charged under the offenceArticle 215(6) expressly excludes possession of 'enabling thenarcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for personal use of narcotics' or with unauthorisedfrom punishment.[@law23] The Constitutional Court rejected a challenge to that provision in [December 2025](/history/north-macedonia-possession-exemption-upheld-2025/).[@court25] Neither provision supplies a numeric cannabis allowance; holding for sale remains within the production-and-trade offence. In practice it is treated as a crime[@law23,court25] A 2023 rights report documented continued police mistreatment of drug users after the amendment.[@margins23]

gilaw23, court25, margins23

Unlicensed cultivation iscannabis production remains criminal, with the ordinary Article 215 range of three–ten years and six months–three years for a crimesmaller-quantity offence.[@court25] The drug law permits corporate medical/scientific growing only with prisonhealth ministry approval and government consent, followed by agriculture ministry planting permission.[@drugs] The personal-possession exemption does not create a home-growing licence.[@law23,drugs]

gicourt25, kpdrugs, law23

Users are prosecuted through neighbouring offences; sentences for productionThe 2023 amendment makes the personal-possession exclusion explicit.[@law23] Coalition Margins nevertheless documented police violations affecting recreational drug users in its February–August 2023 reporting period.[@margins23] Production, sale and trade are heavyenabling another person’s use remain criminal, so those allegations need to be distinguished from possession exclusively for oneself.[@court25]

gilaw23, margins23, court25

Supply isOrdinary sale and unlawful distribution carry three–ten years under Article 215(1), with a crimesmaller-quantity range of six months–three years.[@court25] Giving drugs for another person to use or making premises available for use can instead engage Article 216(1), carrying one–five years.[@court25] The personal-possession exemption does not extend to encouraging or enabling someone else’s use.[@court25]

gicourt25

Use is not itself an offenceThe public-order law has a separate drug-use misdemeanour in Article 20, carrying a fine of €100–250 payable in denars.[@public] Its public-place rules include some conduct visible from a public place or producing public consequences.[@public] This use offence is distinct from the Criminal Code, though it brings police attention and related charges exemption for possession exclusively for oneself.[@court25,law23]

gipublic, court25, law23

No adultThere is no general recreational supply route under the production and distribution provisions.[@court25] The [2016 framework](/history/north-use sourcemacedonia-medical-2016/) permits licensed medical/scientific cultivation. Pharmacies can dispense[@drugs] Domestic treatment is mainly through pharmacy cannabis oils on specialist prescription, with limited patient access reported in 2025.[@pp]

ppcourt25, kpdrugs, pp

TherePersonal possession is no legal recreational supply. Use itself is not an offence inexpressly excluded from criminal punishment by the Criminal Code2023 amendment.[@law23] It creates no gram allowance, but people caught with small amounts are routinely charged with enabling usehome-growing licence or unauthorised production and trade, and there is no defined threshold — in practice it is treated as a crimeretail system.[@gilaw23,drugs,court25] Unlicensed cultivation is a crime withDrug use remains subject to its separate public-order fine, while production, distribution and enabling another person’s use can bring prison.[@gipublic,kpcourt25]

gilaw23, kpdrugs, court25, public

Medical cultivationThe drug law permits companies to cultivate for medical or scientific purposes with health ministry approval and manufacturing were legalised in March 2016prior government consent.[@drugs] Agriculture ministry permission is also required before planting, with cultivation plans, inspections and by 2022 the state had issuedharvest records.[@drugs] A 2025 market report counted 66 licences — far more than the domestic market needsissued by 2022, but said only part of that cohort achieved commercial output or export certification. Exports were at first limited to[@pp] The same report described exports centred on oils and extracts, with dried flower exports opened later; diversion from licensed sites has been a recurring scandalstill restricted.[@pp]

ppdrugs, gipp

Prescription oils and extracts.

kp, pp

Legal sinceMedical/scientific cultivation entered the statutory framework in 2016.[@drugs] A 2025 market report describes specialist-prescribed products for a list of serious conditions including multiple sclerosis, on specialist prescriptionepilepsy, dispensed inHIV/AIDS and certain cancers, with few dispensing pharmacies.[@pp] It reports that patients pay the treatment cost and that domestic access remains limited despite the production industry.[@pp]

kpdrugs, pp

Article 215(6) excludes criminal punishment for possession exclusively for personal use.[@law23,court25] A conviction isfor production, supply or enabling another user remains a criminal recordoutcome.[@court25] The public-order drug-use fine is a separate misdemeanour proceeding.[@public]

gilaw23, court25, public

The narcotics law defines medical cannabis as all above-ground parts of the plant "including the seeds". Cannabis may be grown only for medical or Medical/scientific purposes, by companies holdinggrowers need health ministry approval given with the government's consent, and they need a further approval from theplus agriculture ministry permission before sowing or planting.[@drugs] Approved plans and records cover seeds, seedlings, transplants and plant counts.[@drugs] These are licensed corporate channels, not a household right to grow.[@drugs]

cmsdrugs

No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no roomProviding drugs or premises for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibitedto use can bring one–five years under Article 216(1).[@court25] The personal-possession exemption protects possession for oneself, without authorising collective supply.[@court25] Medical/scientific cultivation needs corporate approvals.[@drugs]

gicourt25, kpdrugs

There is no legal recreational supply for anyone. Possession forThe personal use is-possession exemption in Article 215(6) does not explicitly criminalised, but there isspecify a citizenship condition.[@law23] It supplies no defined thresholdlawful recreational purchase route, and people caught with small amounts are routinely charged underwhile drug use remains subject to the public-order offence of.[@court25,public] Holding for sale, distributing and enabling theanother person to use of narcoticscannabis remain criminal.[@court25]

gilaw23, court25, public

Drug-related inability to drive safely can lead to immediate removal from traffic and temporary licence withdrawal under Road Safety Law article 341.[@roadtrafficpublished,criminalamendment2026,drugenforcement2026] The Interior Ministry's published consolidation includes amendments through Gazette 193/2025.[@roadtrafficpublished,criminalamendment2026,drugenforcement2026] Articles 336–338 provide police testing, medical examination and blood/urine analysis, with health safeguards.[@roadtrafficpublished,criminalamendment2026,drugenforcement2026] Article 336(6) specifies a EUR500-equivalent refusal fine and one year's driving prohibition in that consolidation; the neighbouring EUR400 provision concerns alcohol findings, not a generic cannabis-driving tariff.[@roadtrafficpublished,criminalamendment2026,drugenforcement2026] Drug driving also engages Criminal Code article 297-a: the ministry reported a drug-related arrest under that article in January 2026.[@roadtrafficpublished,criminalamendment2026,drugenforcement2026] The Constitutional Court confirms that Gazette 16/2026 changed article 297-a and added mandatory-ban and vehicle-confiscation provisions, applicable from 1 February.[@roadtrafficpublished,criminalamendment2026,drugenforcement2026] The final criminal amendment and its correction were not fully retrieved here, so exact current criminal penalties, ban lengths and confiscation conditions remain unresolved.[@roadtrafficpublished,criminalamendment2026,drugenforcement2026] No numerical THC allowance, positive-test-only offence or general prescription defence is inferred.[@roadtrafficpublished,criminalamendment2026,drugenforcement2026]

TheInvestigations have repeatedly involved licensed medical cannabis industry has itself become a source for the illegal market. Police actions against licensed companies seizedgrowers: GI-TOC reported seizures of 561 kg and 8,723 stems in 2022 and, then 4.6 tonnes and 3,799 plants in 2023, and the government revoked 26 licences between 2021 and 2024, out of 75 companies authorised since 2018. In early[@gi24] On 7 February 2026 police seizedthe Interior Ministry reported about 40nine tonnes of cannabis in North Macedoniamarijuana and more than 1, part300 bottles of the largest drug bustsemi-finished cannabis oil seized in the region's historySkopje, plus over 31 tonnes of marijuana and the authorities pledged to close the grey zonesbiomass in the oversighteast.[@raid26] These were mixed material categories seized during an investigation, rather than forty tonnes of medical cannabisfinished retail flower.[@raid26] Prosecutors said the investigation continued on 9 February.[@jorm26]

gi24, gi26raid26, jorm26

Official Gazette 36/2023 — Criminal Code amendment Constitutional Court — U.243/2024, 24 December 2025 President’s Office — Criminal Code, consolidation through 248/2018 MALMED — Drug Control Law, consolidation through Gazette 193/2017 Public Order Misdemeanours Law, consolidation through 171/2022 Coalition Margins — Documented human-rights violations, February–August 2023 Interior Ministry — More than 40 tonnes seized; operation continues, 7 February 2026 Public Prosecutor — Continuing investigation of cannabis seizures, 9 February 2026 9 unchanged

label Holding cannabis for sale — ordinary offence · treatment criminal · term Article 215(1) · prison min 3 years · prison 10 years · note These supply-related rows do not apply to possession exclusively for oneself, which Article 215(6) excludes from criminal punishment, label Smaller-quantity Article 215 offence · treatment criminal · term Article 215(2) · prison min 6 months · prison 3 years · note A reduced production/supply offence, not a personal-possession allowance

label Unauthorised cannabis production — ordinary offence · treatment criminal · term Article 215(1) · prison min 3 years · prison 10 years, label Smaller-quantity production offence · treatment criminal · term Article 215(2) · prison min 6 months · prison 3 years · note No fixed lawful plant count is created by this reduced tariff

label Ordinary cannabis sale or unlawful distribution · treatment criminal · term Article 215(1) · prison min 3 years · prison 10 years, label Smaller-quantity production/distribution offence · treatment criminal · term Article 215(2) · prison min 6 months · prison 3 years, label Giving drugs for use or enabling another person’s use · treatment criminal · term Article 216(1) · prison min 1 year · prison 5 years · note Aggravated cases have higher penalties

EUR

label Drug use prosecuted under the public-order law · treatment civil · term Public Order Misdemeanours Law, Article 20 · fine min 100 · fine 250 · note Statutory euro amount paid in denar equivalent; separate from personal possession

strict

The drug law defines industrial hemp separately from seed oil and resin extracts.[@drugs] Its seed-oil definition refers to no more than 10 mg/kg THC; that product definition is not a general crop THC allowance.[@drugs] Growing still requires a purpose and conditions authorised by the law, and the verified cannabis cultivation route is for licensed medical or scientific companies.[@drugs]

drugs

The [March 2024 Chibuk operation](/history/north-macedonia-chibuk-operation-2024/) included the arrest of former mayor Boro Stojchev.[@gi24] GI-TOC reported that he pleaded guilty and received five years and three months for his role in the drug case.[@gi24] His son’s company had obtained a cultivation licence in 2020; this was a supply investigation, rather than a sentence for possession solely for personal use.[@gi24]

gi24