El Salvador countries/sv.yaml
Article 34 sets one to three years and a fine for possessing less than 2 g, and three to six years and a fine for 2 g or more.[@justia] On 16 November 2012 the Constitutional Chamber held that possession for one's own use is outside criminal punishment, and that those two bands must be read that way.[@inc2012] The weight is one factor among others, not a rule by itself.[@inc2012] Prison remains when the court finds the drugs were meant for trafficking, cultivation, processing or promoting use.[@inc2012] Holding less than 2 g is still a crime when that purpose is proved.[@inc2012] [The 2003 law set the two-gram line.](/history/el-salvador-drug-law-2003/) [Own-use possession left punishment in 2012.](/history/el-salvador-personal-use-possession-2012/)
Sowing or growing without authorisation carries five to fifteen years.[@justia] [The 2003 law set the growing terms.](/history/el-salvador-drug-law-2003/)
The written prison bands are not applied to genuine own-use possession.[@inc2012] When a trafficking or promotion purpose is proved, less than 2 g is still one to three years.[@inc2012] No source read here describes how often courts jail users. [Own-use possession left punishment in 2012.](/history/el-salvador-personal-use-possession-2012/)
Carrying or selling brings multi-year sentences — six years in one reported case of a man transporting marijuana on a motorbike.[@em] [The 2003 law set the supply terms.](/history/el-salvador-drug-law-2003/)
The Constitutional Chamber held that an adult's decision to affect their own health by using drugs is not a penally relevant fact, and that possession for that use is outside criminal punishment.[@inc2012] Supply and cultivation remain crimes.[@inc2012] [Own-use possession left punishment in 2012.](/history/el-salvador-personal-use-possession-2012/)
NoneNo legal recreational supply exists. Possession for one's own use sits outside criminal punishment under the 2012 ruling, but nothing in the law creates a supply route.[@inc2012] [Own-use possession left punishment in 2012.](/history/el-salvador-personal-use-possession-2012/) [A 2013 debate ended without legalisation.](/history/el-salvador-legalisation-debate-2013/)
edhinc2012
NoneNo licensed production operates. Sowing or growing drugs without authorisation carries five to fifteen years under article 31, and no licensing regime was established in the sources read.[@lrard] [The 2003 law set the growing terms.](/history/el-salvador-drug-law-2003/)
edhlrard
None.
edh
No medical cannabis programme operates. The drug law provides no patient route, and the sources read establish no pharmacy or prescription channel.[@lrard] [The 2003 law set the growing terms.](/history/el-salvador-drug-law-2003/)
edhlrard
Pre-trial detention is routine inSome 3,000 people were detained on drug casescharges in 2012, in prisons at two and a half times their capacity.[@tni] [A 2013 debate ended without legalisation.](/history/el-salvador-legalisation-debate-2013/)
emtni
The drug law counts as drugs "the seeds, flowers, plants or parts of them" used as raw material for drugs.[@lrard] Sowing or growing them without authorisation carries five to fifteen years in prison (Article 31), and buying, selling, storing or transporting seeds or plants ten to fifteen years.[@lrard] [The 2003 law set the growing terms.](/history/el-salvador-drug-law-2003/)
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@lrard] [The 2003 law set the growing terms.](/history/el-salvador-drug-law-2003/)
edh, emlrard
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone.[@inc2012] Possession for one's own use is outside criminal punishment under the 2012 ruling.[@inc2012] Weight alone does not decide, and a proved trafficking purpose still brings prison.[@inc2012] [Own-use possession left punishment in 2012.](/history/el-salvador-personal-use-possession-2012/)
Marijuana is a small part of what the authorities seize. Of 25,011 kg of drugs seized in 2025, according to the security cabinet, 24,612 kg was cocaine and 394.52 kg marijuana, valued at about 1.39 million US dollars.[@edh26] [395 kg of marijuana were reported for 2025.](/history/el-salvador-drug-seizures-2025/)
TNI — About drug law reform in El Salvador (30 June 2015)
Wikipedia — Cannabis in El Salvador
El Diario de Hoy — Condenan a dos jóvenes de Apopa que tenían droga (2025)
5 unchanged
upto 2 g · treatment criminal · term Possession under 2 g · prison 3 years · prison min 1 year · note Plus a fine; outside criminal punishment where for one's own use, over 2 g · treatment criminal · term Possession of 2 g or more · prison 6 years · prison min 3 years · note Plus a fine; outside criminal punishment where for one's own use, label Possession with intent to supply · treatment criminal · term Possession for supply · prison 10 years · prison min 6 years · note Six to ten years where a trafficking, cultivation, processing or promotion purpose is proved
label Unauthorised sowing or growing · treatment criminal · term Unlawful cultivation · prison 15 years · prison min 5 years · note Article 31 of the 2003 drug law
No legal recreational market, but own-use possession sits outside criminal punishment since the 2012 ruling; weight alone does not decide, and only a proved trafficking purpose still brings prison.[@inc2012] A cross-party legalisation debate in 2013 ended with the president opposed and no law, and a 2014 march for decriminalisation drew just over 700 people against 8% public support.[@tni] [Own-use possession left punishment in 2012.](/history/el-salvador-personal-use-possession-2012/) [A 2013 debate ended without legalisation.](/history/el-salvador-legalisation-debate-2013/) [Salvadorans marched for decriminalisation in 2014.](/history/el-salvador-decriminalisation-protest-2014/)
inc2012, tni
Some 3,000 people were detained on drug charges in 2012, in prisons at two and a half times their capacity, with no cannabis-split count in the sources read.[@tni] [A 2013 debate ended without legalisation.](/history/el-salvador-legalisation-debate-2013/)
tni
none
No hemp exception operates. Seeds, flowers and plants used as drug raw material fall under the drug law with no low-THC carve-out, and unauthorised growing draws five to fifteen years.[@lrard] [The 2003 law set the growing terms.](/history/el-salvador-drug-law-2003/)
lrard
El Salvador debated cannabis in public while punishing it in court. A cross-party group opened a legalisation debate in 2013 after the archbishop called for discussing decriminalisation, but the president opposed it and parliament never acted.[@tni] In 2014 more than 700 people marched in San Salvador for decriminalising consumption and personal cultivation, while a survey put legalisation support at 8%.[@protest] [A 2013 debate ended without legalisation.](/history/el-salvador-legalisation-debate-2013/) [Salvadorans marched for decriminalisation in 2014.](/history/el-salvador-decriminalisation-protest-2014/)
tni, protest