Iraq countries/iq.yaml
Long prison sentences for possessionPersonal use carries one to three years and a fine; trafficking can carrybring life imprisonment or death. The 2017 law has no quantity thresholds and divides use from dealing by intent. A first amendment was read in parliament in August 2026 but is not law.
TheArticle 32 of the 2017 law setspunishes importing, producing, manufacturing, possessing, acquiring, buying or cultivating drugs for personal use with one to three years in prison and a fine of 5– to 10 million dinars for drug possession.[@law2017] The law sets no quantity threshold; courts infer intent from the circumstances, and other activities intendedArticle 33(2)(a)'s percentage bands are a weighing tolerance, not a small-amount tier.[@law2017] Allowing another person to use drugs on one's premises, or being found in a place prepared for personal use, carries six months to two years and a 3 to 5 million dinar fine.[@law2017] Courts canA court may order treatment under a rule corrected in 2018instead of the Article 32 penalty, and peoplea person who voluntarily enter a specialist hospital forenters treatment have conditional protectionis protected from prosecution.[@law2017,corr2018]
law2017, corr2018
GrowingCultivating a drug-producing plants for tradeplant with intent to traffic carries death or life imprisonment under Article 27(3).[@law2017] Growing for personal use falls under the separateArticle 32, with one -to -three-year offence years and itsa fine.[@law2017] Article 24 bans the cannabis plant at every stage, including seeds, except for medical or scientific purposes under the law.[@law2017]
The law sets prison terms for personal-use offences and severe penalties for trafficking.[ … fines alone, but challenged the amounts as below the statutory minimum.[@judicial_fines] In 2024 the interior ministry reported 14,438 drug arrests and 8,930 convictions, with 6,183 kg of narcotics seized; the figures cover all drugs.[@shafaq24]
law2017, judicial_fines, shafaq24
Importing, exporting or, producing or manufacturing with intent to tradetraffic carries death or life imprisonment under Article 27. In one case three men were sentenced[@law2017] Possession, sale, transport, delivery or mediation with intent to death over 18 kgtraffic carries life or temporary imprisonment and a 10 to 30 million dinar fine under Article 28.[@law2017] Providing drugs for use, encouraging use, managing a place for use or inducing a minor to use carries the same Article 28 penalties.[@law2017] Aggravated cases, including recidivism, an official role, an international gang, weapons or a school or place of hashishworship, can attract the higher Article 29 penalties, including death or life.[@law2017]
hoc, umlaw2017
There is no standalone use offence. Use is a crime on the same footingprosecuted as personal possession or purchase for personal use under Article 32, or as providing or encouraging use under Article 28(2).[@law2017] A court may order inpatient or outpatient treatment instead of the Article 32 penalty, and a person who voluntarily presents for treatment is not prosecuted if they follow the programme.[@law2017]
umlaw2017
NoneThere is no legal cannabis supply for adults or patients. Article 18 allows individuals to possess their own prescribed controlled medicine for genuine health reasons, but no cannabis-based product is registered under that route.[@law2017] The Etihad Pharma Legal Handbook states that medicinal cannabis is not authorised in Iraq and that no cannabinoid drug has market approval.[@pharma]
umlaw2017, pharma
ImportingThe 2017 law makes death or life the penalty for importing, exporting or, producing or cultivating with intent to tradetraffic, and cultivating narcotic plants for trade, carryaggravated trafficking.[@law2017] In 2024 courts passed 144 death sentences for drug trafficking; in 2025 Harm Reduction International recorded 40 or life imprisonmentmore new drug death sentences, about a fifth of them cannabis-related. In one case three men[@hri2025] The interior ministry said 300 death sentences were sentencedimposed in the three years to death over 18 kg of hashishNovember 2025.[@hri2025] Iraq carried out executions in 2025, but none for drug offences.[@hri2025]
hoclaw2017, umhri2025
NoneNo licensed cannabis production exists. Article 24 bans cultivating, importing, exporting, possessing or selling the cannabis plant at every stage, including seeds, except for medical or scientific purposes under the law.[@law2017] The 1979 amendment removed the earlier fibre-and-seed exception, and no industrial-hemp licensing regime replaced it.[@law2017]
umlaw2017
None.
um
No medical cannabis programme or registered cannabis medicine was found.[@pharma] Article 18 permits individuals to possess their own prescribed controlled medicine, but no cannabis-based product has been registered under it.[@law2017] Cannabis remains on the controlled lists, and medical status stays none.[@law2017]
umpharma, law2017
A drug conviction carries a criminal record and a prison term or fine; trafficking can bring life imprisonment or death.[@law2017] Courts can order hospital treatment for proven dependence or outpatient visits under the corrected treatment rule, with further decisions based on medical reportsand voluntary treatment can prevent prosecution if the programme is followed.[@law2017,corr2018] Voluntary hospital presentation can prevent prosecutionDeath sentences were imposed in 2024 and 2025, but failure to follow the treatment programme can lead to legal actionno drug executions were recorded in 2025.[@law2017hri2025]
law2017, corr2018hri2025
TheIn 2024 the interior ministry reported 14,438 drug arrests for trafficking, dealing and personal use in 2024, with 8,930 convictions and more than six tonnes of drugs, 6,183 kg seized, 144 death sentences and 454 life sentences; the figures cover all drugsShafaq reported 434 life sentences, a discrepancy that remains unresolved.[@shafaq24] In the Kurdistan Regionfirst half of 2026 the ministry reported 3, which has its own law since 2020,553 arrests rose from 142 in 2014 to 2,017 in 2022, and in October 2023 a fifth of all prisoners, 1,097 people977 kg seized, were held for narcotics, 617 of them for usewith 58 death sentences and 236 life sentences.[@tnr26] The figures cover all drugs and give no cannabis breakdown.
shafaq24, pere23tnr26
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 carry death or life imprisonment.[@law2017]
um, hoclaw2017
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone, so. Personal use carries one to three years and a visitor hasfine, and the law makes no lawful way to buy cannabis. The sources behind this profile describe no separate ruleexception for visitors.[@law2017]
umlaw2017
Iraq — Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Law No. 50 of 2017
Shafaq News — Iraq: 14,000 drug traffickers and possessors arrested in 2024 (28 December 2024)
Harm Reduction International — The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2025
Etihad Law Firm — Pharma Legal Handbook: Iraq (2025)
Iraq — Traffic Law No. 8 of 2019, Articles 34–36
The New Region — Iraq reports 3,553 drug arrests and 1,977 kg seized in the first half of 2026 (14 July 2026)
Shafaq News — Iraq's Interior Ministry, over six tons of drugs seized in 2024 (28 December 2024)
Peregraf — Kurdistan Region sees dramatic increase in drug arrests since 2014, putting prisons under strain (October 2023)
The New Region — reporting on Iraq's drug law and enforcement
Hands Off Cain — Iraq: three drug dealers sentenced to death
University of Mosul law journal — The criminal penal policy in Iraq's drug law No. 50 of 2017
Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Law 50 of 2017, original Gazette
2 unchanged
IQD
label Personal use: import, production, possession, purchase or cultivation · treatment criminal · term Article 32 · prison min 1 year · prison 3 years · fine min 5000000 · fine 10000000 · note Treatment may replace the penalty; voluntary treatment protects from prosecution, label Possession within the weighing tolerance, Article 33(2)(a) · treatment civil · term Evidentiary tolerance · fine min 2000000 · fine 5000000 · note A weighing tolerance, not a small-quantity threshold, label Allowing use on premises or being in a place prepared for use, Article 33(1) · treatment criminal · term Premises offence · prison min 6 months · prison 2 years · fine min 3000000 · fine 5000000
IQD
label Cultivation with intent to traffic, Article 27(3) · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · death true · note Death or life imprisonment, label Cultivation for personal use, Article 32 · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison min 1 year · prison 3 years · fine min 5000000 · fine 10000000
IQD
label Import, export, production or manufacture with intent to traffic, Article 27 · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · death true · note Death or life imprisonment, label Possession, sale, transport or delivery with intent to traffic, Article 28 · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · fine min 10000000 · fine 30000000 · note Life or temporary imprisonment plus the fine, label Providing drugs for use, encouraging use or managing a drug premises, Article 28 · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · fine min 10000000 · fine 30000000 · note Life or temporary imprisonment plus the fine, label Aggravated trafficking, Article 29 · treatment criminal · term Aggravated trafficking · death true · note Enhanced penalties; death or life available
IQD
label Use prosecuted as personal possession, Article 32 · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison min 1 year · prison 3 years · fine min 5000000 · fine 10000000 · note Treatment may replace the penalty, label Voluntary treatment · treatment tolerated · term Treatment · note Protection from prosecution while the programme is followed
There is no legal way to buy cannabis. Personal use carries one to three years and a fine, trafficking can bring death or life, and the law has no quantity threshold.[@law2017] The interior ministry reported 14,438 drug arrests in 2024 and 6,183 kg seized, all drugs combined.[@shafaq24] No price or purity data were found.
law2017, shafaq24
none
No industrial-hemp exception, THC limit or licensing scheme was found. Article 24 bans the cannabis plant at every stage, including seeds.[@law2017] CBD has no separate exemption; it is treated as a cannabis derivative unless the health ministry authorises it, and no such authorisation was found.[@law2017]
law2017
illegal
banned
illegal
banned
Article 24 expressly bans the cannabis plant at every growth stage, including seeds, except for medical or scientific purposes under the law.[@law2017] Clones are plants, so keeping, trading or planting them falls under the same prohibition.[@law2017] No seed or clone market was found.
law2017
impairment
Traffic Law No. 8 of 2019 punishes driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs with three months to one year in prison, a fine of 200,000 to 500,000 dinars, or both.[@traffic2019] A repeat within a year brings six months to one year, or a fine up to 1 million dinars, or both.[@traffic2019] No THC limit is set; the offence uses an "under the influence" standard.[@traffic2019]
traffic2019
The market is illegal and the authorities report large seizures. In 2024 the interior ministry reported 6,183 kg of narcotics seized and 14,438 arrests, all drugs combined.[@shafaq24] In 2025 the ministry said 300 death sentences and 1,147 life sentences had been imposed for drug crimes in three years, against seven death sentences in the three years before that.[@hri2025] No cannabis-specific price or purity data were found.
shafaq24, hri2025