Myanmar countries/mm.yaml
Possession remains a serious crime under the 1993 narcotics law: a person caught with even a small quantity for personal use risks five to ten years in prison, and may also be fined, under Section 16.[@ndps93] In 2018 parliament rejected a clause that would have spared small amounts, and softened only the treatment of use.[@tni18] The 2025 amendment deems possession of more than 100 grams of marijuana, marijuana extract, or both to be possession for sale.[@gnlm26]
ndps93, tni18, tni, law, gnlm26
label Small quantity for personal use, Section 16 · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison min 5 years · prison 10 years · note A fine may also be imposed, label Over 100 g, deemed for sale (2025) · treatment criminal · noteterm Possession of more than 100 g deemed possession for sale · note Moves to the ten-years-to-life sale tier under Section 19
Cultivation of any amount carries five to ten years and a minimum offine under Section 16(a), not merely a five-year minimum.[@ndps93] Production for sale falls under the fifteen-years-to-death trafficking tier.[@gnlm26]
tnindps93, gnlm26
label Cultivation, Section 16(a) · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison min 5 years · note Minimum fiveprison 10 years, no maximum stated in retained sources · note A fine may also be imposed
A public-health reform on paperPossession and cultivation carry five to ten years; sale and production carry ten years to life, undermined because users are usually caughtand production, sale or import and export fifteen years to life or death.[@ndps93,gnlm26] Police reported 3,832 drug cases and 5,286 prosecutions in possessionJanuary–August 2024; the figures cover all drugs.[@incsr25] Since the 2021 coup, enforcement has become more arbitrary.[@tni,idpc]
ndps93, gnlm26, incsr25, tni, idpc
ProductionPossession or transport for sale carries ten years to life, and production, sale, import or export carries fifteen years to life imprisonment, or death.[@ndps93,gnlm26] The 2025 amendment defines life imprisonment as incarceration until death.[@gnlm26]
tnindps93, gnlm26
label Possession or transport for sale · treatment criminal · term Possession for sale · prison min 10 years · note Ten years to life imprisonment, label Production, sale, import or export · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 15 years · death true · note Fifteen years to life imprisonment, or death; life means incarceration until death
Drug use itself carries no prison term. A court must send a user to a rehabilitation centr … uch as cleaning, repairing roads and bridges or planting trees, for 45 to 90 hours a week.[@gnlm26,idpc]
None. The cannabis plant itself is a narcotic drug under the 1993 law, and no medical, hemp or CBD exception was found.[@ndps93] The 2019 Mandalay hemp prosecution is the leading example.[@voa19]
tnindps93, voa19
Production, sale, import or export carries fifteen years to life imprisonment, or death. The 2025 amendment defines life imprisonment as incarceration until death.[@ndps93,gnlm26]
tnindps93, gnlm26
No lawful cannabis production. Cultivation carries a minimum of five to ten years; production for sale falls under the fifteen-years-to-death trafficking tier.[@tnindps93,gnlm26]
tnindps93, gnlm26
No medical cannabis. The 1993 law defines the cannabis plant as a narcotic and makes no hemp, CBD or patient exception; the 2019 Mandalay hemp prosecution is the leading example.[@ndps93,voa19]
tnindps93, voa19
A user who does not enter the required bond, or who breaches it, is sent to a rehabilitation centre for three months. A flagrant breach of that centre's rules brings unpaid manual work of 45 to 90 hours a week.[@gnlm26]
The 1993 narcotics law counts the cannabis plant itself as a narcotic drug and punishes cultivating it with five to ten years in prison.[@ndps93] The law does not mention seeds.[@ndps93]
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited, and the law provides for the death penalty for the most serious drug offences.[@ndps93,gnlm26]
tnindps93, gnlm26
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone.[@ndps93] Holding even a small quantity for personal use carries five to ten years in prison under Section 16 of the 1993 narcotics law.[@ndps93] More than 100 grams of marijuana, marijuana extract, or both is deemed possession for sale.[@gnlm26]
tni18ndps93, law, gnlm26
Cannabis is a small part of the drugs the authorities seize. Among the drugs seized betwee … over 1,334 kg of opium, over 8,573 kg of ketamine and 281 million methamphetamine tablets.[@dvb25] On 26 June 2026 the regime burned more than 50 tonnes of drugs, including marijuana, valued at about US$600 million.[@ap26] Cultivation has spread in Ayadaw township and along the Myinmu border in southern Sagaing since 2022–23, with residents estimating more than thirty acres across six villages.[@irrawaddy25] No cannabis-only seizure series is published.[@incsr25]
dvb25, ap26, irrawaddy25, incsr25
US State Department — 2025 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, Burma VOA/AP — Myanmar cannabis farm case (21 May 2019) Myanmar — Road Safety and Motor Vehicle Management Law 2020 (English PDF) Myanmar — Penal Code 1861 (ICJ English text) The Irrawaddy — Cannabis takes root in Sagaing as Myanmar's post-coup drug boom expands (4 December 2025) AP via NBC News — Myanmar torches $600 million of seized heroin, meth and other drugs (26 June 2026) 7 unchanged
none
No legal hemp category or THC threshold. The 1993 law treats the cannabis plant itself as a narcotic drug, with no distinction for fibre or low-THC varieties.[@ndps93] In 2019 police raided a 20-acre plantation whose operator claimed industrial-hemp and CBD permission; the supervisor was sentenced to twenty years.[@voa19]
ndps93, voa19
impairment
The Road Safety and Motor Vehicle Management Law 2020 prohibits driving under the influence of narcotic or psychotropic substances, with up to one month in prison or a 100,000 kyat fine, or both; a repeat within a year brings up to three months or 300,000 kyats.[@road2020] A crash causing death can also be prosecuted under the Penal Code, with up to seven years, or ten where the driver had knowledge.[@penalcode] The rule is impairment-based, with no THC blood limit.[@road2020]
road2020, penalcode
Police reported 3,832 drug cases and 5,286 prosecutions in January–August 2024; the figures cover all drugs.[@incsr25] Seizures from June 2024 to May 2025 included 597 kg of marijuana, alongside 1,744 kg of heroin and 281 million methamphetamine tablets.[@dvb25] On 26 June 2026 the regime burned more than 50 tonnes of drugs, including marijuana, valued at about US$600 million.[@ap26] No cannabis-only arrest count is published.[@incsr25]
incsr25, dvb25, ap26