Transnistria: penalty tables, context sections, 1934–2024 history and Soviet ban article

The Soviet Union prohibited growing Indian hemp and the opium poppy without permissiona permit from the agriculture authorities, effective from 1935. Unauthorised cultivation carried criminal liability and mandatory crop confiscation under republican codes. The landterritory east of the Dniester was then part of the Moldavian autonomous republic inside Soviet Ukraine, centered at Tiraspol, where Soviet criminal statutes applied.[@1]

USSR — Decree of 27 October 1934 on prohibiting opium-poppy and Indian-hemp crops Wikipedia — Cannabis in Russia

Possession without intent to supply is administrative when it falls below the criminal offence: a fine of 50–300 statutory calculation units or up to thirty days’ administrative arrest.[@admin] A legally definedUnder presidential decree, possession of dried marijuana becomes a criminal large amount can bringat 1.5 grams, punishable by a fine, work penalties or up to three years in prison; an.[@decree228,mj] An especially large amount begins at 500 grams and carries three to ten years.[@decree228,mj]

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Growing cannabis below the criminal threshold can bringof twenty plants is an administrative offence punished by a warning or a fine of up to fifty statutory calculation units.[@admin,plants] LargeCultivating twenty or more plants constitutes large-scale cultivation carriesunder the criminal code, punishable by a fine, compulsory work or up to two years in prison; group cultivation.[@mj,plants] Cultivation exceeding 330 plants or carried out by an especially large groworganised group carries three to eight years in prison. The president’s quantity rules determine the criminal threshold.[@mj,plants]

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Personal possession can lead to custody through either administrative arrest, for up to th … l code also permits fines and work penalties for its ordinary personal-possession offence.[@mj,reform] The [2012 reform](/history/transnistria-small-grow-possession-reform-2012/) introduced those alternatives to a prison-only penalty, though police continue active seasonal enforcement operations.[@mj,reform,mak2018]

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The Supreme Court’s drug-case guidance treats unpaid transfers, including gifts and loans, … eight years in prison; aggravated tiers carry five to twelve or ten to twenty years.[@mj] The maximum penalty for basic supply had reached fifteen years before being revised downward in [2012](/history/transnistria-small-grow-possession-reform-2012/).[@mj,reform]

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Using drugs without a doctor’s prescription is a separate administrative offence.[@admin] Its ordinary penalty is a fine of 50–150 statutory calculation units or up to fifteen days’ arrest, withalongside a [one-year restriction on driving rights](/history/transnistria-drug-use-driving-ban-2023/).[@admin,uselaw] The code exempts someone who voluntarily seeks medical treatment for that use from liability for the use offence.[@admin]

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No legal sourceretail dispensary, pharmacy supply or adult-use distribution exists anywhere in the breakaway territory.[@mj] Commercial cannabis transactions are prohibited and prosecuted as illicit drug supply.[@mj]

None knownCommercial cannabis production is completely prohibited throughout Transnistria.[@mj,narcotics2002] The territory's legal rules leave no avenue for private commercial cannabis farms, extraction laboratories or processing facilities.[@narcotics2002] While the 2002 drug statute theoretically contemplates potential state-enterprise cultivation under government quotas for research or medical needs, no state cannabis operations have ever operated in practice.[@narcotics2002] Unauthorised commercial growing or manufacture is prosecuted as illicit drug trafficking under Article 226-1 of the Criminal Code, drawing sentences of up to twenty years.[@mj]

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No legal cannabis products are known.

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NoTransnistria operates no medical cannabis programme, and local health authorities recognise no therapeutic role for cannabis or cannabinoid preparations.[@mj,narcotics2002] Pharmacies are barred from stocking or dispensing products containing THC, and neither Sativex nor Epidiolex is knownregistered in the territory's pharmaceutical formulary.[@narcotics2002] Patients caught possessing cannabis face ordinary administrative or criminal sanctions without medical defence.[@admin,mj] In 2018, police in Dubossary [prosecuted a 55-year-old woman](/history/transnistria-medical-homegrow-police-2018/) who grew thirteen plants to prepare topical rubbing tinctures for joint pain.[@mak2018]

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A conviction for criminal drug possession under Article 226 creates a formal criminal record that restricts employment in civil service, education and law enforcement.[@mj] The 2023 reform added a [one-year restriction on driving rights](/history/transnistria-drug-use-driving-ban-2023/) to the ordinary administrative offence of drug use without a prescription, alongside its fine or administrative arrest.[@admin,uselaw] Specified public-use offences also carry the one-year restriction.[@admin,uselaw] A person without a licence and an unlicensed individual cannot take a driving test during the restrictionthat period.[@admin,vote] Foreign nationals caught possessing or using cannabis face administrative detention and mandatory expulsion from the territory.[@admin]

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The Supreme Court’s 2004 guidance describes sowing as planting seeds or seedlings without permission on any land, with completionthe offence completed at the time of sowing.[@sc] It also includestreats tending plants and improving crop varieties withinas unlawful cultivation.[@sc] Today the criminal offence requires a legally defined large scale; cultivation below that thresholdtwenty plants is an administrative contravention, while larger crops trigger criminal penalties under Article 229 of the Criminal Code.[@mj,admin,plants]

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No cannabis social clubs are known,or consumer associations exist in Transnistria.[@mj] The territory's legal rules prohibit collective cultivation and treat any transfer of cannabis between individuals as criminal drug supply under Article 226-1 of the law leaves no roomCriminal Code.[@mj,sc] Unlicensed premises used for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another personconsuming drugs are both prohibitedsubject to closure and criminal charges for maintaining a drug den under Article 230.[@mj]

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There is no legal route for foreign visitors or tourists to acquire or use cannabis in Transnistria.[@admin,mj] The administrative code separately punishesprovides specific sanctions for foreign nationalscitizens and stateless people. Possessionindividuals: possession falling below the criminal offencethreshold carries a fine or up to thirty days’' administrative arrest, coupled with mandatory expulsion; from the territory.[@admin] Unprescribed use without a prescription carries a fine or up to fifteen days’' arrest, also withaccompanied by expulsion.[@admin]

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Novosti Pridnestrovya — Tiraspol resident faces criminal proceedings for growing cannabis (14 April 2021) Transnistria — Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, 7 June 2002 Novosti Pridnestrovya — Dubossary residents face proceedings for growing prohibited plants (11 June 2018) Novosti Pridnestrovya — Bender resident faces criminal proceedings after police find 64 cannabis plants (16 August 2024) Novosti Pridnestrovya — Tiraspol police detain woman retrieving dead-drop drug package (23 October 2024) Novy Region — Transnistria reports its drug-offence prison population (1 September 2011) 6 unchanged

upto 1.5 g · treatment civil · term Administrative offence (ст. 6.12 КоАП) · prison 30 days · note Fine of 50–300 statutory calculation units or up to 30 days' administrative arrest, over 1.5 g · upto 500 g · treatment criminal · term Large amount (ст. 226 ч. 1 УК) · prison 3 years · note Fine, compulsory work, corrective labour or up to three years in prison, over 500 g · treatment criminal · term Especially large amount (ст. 226 ч. 2 УК) · prison min 3 years · prison 10 years · note Three to ten years in prison; optional fine up to 2,000 calculation units

upto 20 plants · treatment civil · term Administrative offence (ст. 10.6 КоАП) · note Warning or a fine of up to 50 statutory calculation units, over 20 plants · upto 330 plants · treatment criminal · term Large scale (ст. 229 ч. 1 УК) · prison 2 years · note Fine, compulsory work or up to two years in prison, over 330 plants · treatment criminal · term Especially large scale (ст. 229 ч. 2 УК) · prison min 3 years · prison 8 years · note Group cultivation or an especially large grow; three to eight years in prison

label Unlawful supply or sale · treatment criminal · term Article 226-1(1) · prison min 4 years · prison 8 years · note Includes gifts, loans, exchanges and sales, label Group supply or large amount · treatment criminal · term Article 226-1(2) · prison min 5 years · prison 12 years, label Organised group or especially large amount · treatment criminal · term Article 226-1(3) · prison min 10 years · prison 20 years

label Unprescribed drug consumption · treatment civil · term Article 6.13(1) · prison 15 days · note Fine of 50–150 statutory calculation units or up to 15 days' arrest, plus 1-year driving restriction

Adults face complete prohibition across Transnistria, with no legal coffeeshops, dispensaries or social clubs.[@mj] Unauthorised possession of dried marijuana below 1.5 grams is an administrative offence punishable by a fine or up to thirty days of detention under the [2014 administrative code](/history/transnistria-administrative-drug-code-2014/).[@admin,decree228] Larger quantities trigger criminal charges under Article 226 of the Criminal Code, carrying up to three years in prison, while amounts over 500 grams carry three to ten years.[@mj,decree228] Consumers rely exclusively on illicit local home-growing or street supply, facing seasonal eradication operations from territorial militia.[@mak2018,mak2024]

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The [2002 narcotics law](/history/transnistria-narcotics-law-2002/) prohibits growing plants of the genus Cannabis, reserving cultivation exclusively to state enterprises under strict governmental quotas.[@narcotics2002] The legal code recognises no permissive THC threshold for commercial hemp, and no licensed agricultural hemp sector exists in the territory.[@narcotics2002,mj] Retail trade in CBD oils or non-intoxicating hemp flower is absent from local stores, and any harvested plant material containing cannabinoids is treated as a controlled drug.[@mj] Landholders who discover wild hemp on their property must destroy it upon receiving an official order.[@admin]

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Cannabis consumed in Transnistria is sourced primarily from illegal outdoor home-growing during the summer months or smuggled across the river from right-bank [Moldova](/country/md/).[@mak2018,mak2024] In towns such as Tiraspol and Bender, retail distribution increasingly operates through anonymous Telegram channels with dead-drop pickups (*zakladki*), which local narcotics officers regularly intercept.[@telegram2024] Dried marijuana remains the most common form of cannabis on the illicit market.[@mak2024,telegram2024] Cross-border smuggling from Ukraine has declined sharply following the full closure of the eastern border in 2022, concentrating supply routes on the Moldovan boundary.[@mak2024]

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consumption

Operating any motor vehicle while intoxicated by narcotic substances is prohibited under Article 12.8 of the Administrative Offences Code.[@admin] Since a [reform enacted in November 2023](/history/transnistria-drug-use-driving-ban-2023/), any person penalised for unprescribed drug use under Article 6.13 automatically receives a mandatory one-year restriction on driving rights, regardless of whether they were operating a vehicle at the time.[@admin,uselaw] Unlicensed offenders are prohibited from taking a driving test during that one-year interval.[@vote] Convictions are established through medical examinations and biological tests conducted by authorised healthcare clinics.[@admin]

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Drug enforcement is carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee, producing dozens of criminal prosecutions and hundreds of administrative citations annually.[@admin,mj,mak2024] Much of the territory's cultivation enforcement is concentrated in the annual seasonal "Mak" campaign, running from May to October to eradicate garden plots and wild cannabis stands.[@mak2018,mak2024] In September 2011, the Ministry of Justice [counted 241 prisoners](/history/transnistria-drug-prison-count-2011/) serving sentences for drug offences, representing 11% of the total sentenced prison population, alongside more than 200 people under supervised suspended sentences.[@prison2011]

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