Context not part of the score
Medical cannabis
How patients get cannabis as medicine: who qualifies, who prescribes, what forms there are and what it costs.
Medical cannabis came back into law through the side door of state and national exceptions. California’s Proposition 215 let patients with a doctor’s recommendation possess and grow it in 1996; Germany let doctors prescribe flower and extracts in 2017, paid for by health insurers after approval. In 2020 the UN took cannabis out of its strictest schedule for drugs with little medical value, without changing the duty to prohibit other use. See also medical cannabis.[1]
A medical law on paper is not the same as access. These sections say who qualifies, who may prescribe, what forms are sold and what they cost, and the map counts a programme as established only where patients are actually treated, not where research or export licences alone exist.
- profiles with this section
- 220
- explained as not applicable
- 0
- not researched yet
- 0
- of 220 places covered
- 100%
Medical status, on the map
Select a country for its section. The interactive map →
The cannabis/hashish use offence applies to use without a doctor’s order.
No medical cannabis programme or patient supply was found.
The 2023 law concerns production for export.
No patient programme.
A claimed therapeutic purpose did not protect the resident convicted in the CBD flower case: the court recorded that no doctor had prescribed cannabis to him.
No patient programme is documented.
Medical cannabis is legal under the Cannabis Act 2018, on a practitioner's recommendation, through licensed dispensaries.
The medical route is the main legal path.
No medical cannabis programme, registered cannabis medicine or patient supply was found.
CBD products with no more than 0.2% THC are treated as medicines under the health inspectorate’s import rules.
Among the easiest medical systems to use: any doctor can prescribe through the special-access or authorised-prescriber pathways with no fixed list of conditions.
Patients can obtain cannabinoid medicines on prescription, including pharmacy-compounded dronabinol.
The drug law permits narcotic drugs for medical use and allows imports by state bodies, but the sources read identify no cannabis-based medicine,…
The 2024 Act lays out a prescription and dispensary system, but those sections and the companion Dangerous Drugs and Pharmacy amendments remain out of force.
No medical cannabis programme.
No medical cannabis programme was found.
Legal under the 2019 Act on prescription from a medical practitioner.
Cannabis and cannabis-based preparations are prohibited for medical use under the Health Ministry’s traveller guidance supplied to the INCB.
Very limited: a 2015 royal decree allows cannabis-based medicines, in practice one mouth spray for multiple-sclerosis spasticity.
There is no medical cannabis programme.
No patient programme is documented.
Named cannabinoid medicines have a prescription route under the 2014 pharmaceutical law, alongside the minister’s personal-import licensing powers.
No medical cannabis programme.
The ombudsman reported an individual compassionate cannabis-import approval in November 2021 after helping a family clarify medicines-agency requirements.
The December 2025 rescheduling opened a route to controlled cannabis medicines.
Licensed production for medical and scientific use is permitted, and section 48(3) contemplates prescriptions.
Doctors can prescribe registered or imported cannabis products — prescription oils and extracts, mostly CBD-dominant, with no legal flower for general sale;
The Act gives the minister powers to regulate authorised controlled-drug activities, including professional medical and pharmacy handling, subject to…
No medical cannabis programme.
No medical cannabis programme — unlike neighbouring Greece and Romania, there is not even a law on paper.
No patient programme is documented.
No patient route is documented.
The limited label reflects a statutory framework, not a verified patient programme.
No medical cannabis programme and no legal products;
Cannabis and its resin sit in Table I of high-risk drugs, and article 9 prohibits ordinary handling, leaving only the narrow route of article 77:…
Any physician or nurse practitioner can authorise medical use with no list of qualifying conditions.
The medical-extract amendment commenced on 18 November 2016.
The law regulates licensed operations involving controlled medicines and permits specific research authorisations, but the sources reviewed establish…
No patient programme is documented.
Cannabis medicines can be prescribed and sold in pharmacies since a 2015 decree, and patients with a prescription may grow their own — a few…
No medical cannabis of any kind and no THC products.
Medical cannabis has been fully legal since 2016 under Law 1787, with prescriptions, product standards and patient access regulated by the health ministry.
The retained sources do not establish whether a medical cannabis programme operates.
No medical cannabis programme was found.
Law 10113 created the medical framework in 2022.
The sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme.
Legal since October 2015 for conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, epilepsy and AIDS, on prescription, capped at 7.5 g of THC per 30 days, with no home growing.
No medical cannabis programme operates in the sources read: possession and growing are punishable without a patient route, and authorised use is…
Authorised pharmacists and dispensing doctors have medical-purpose exemptions for handling extracts and tinctures, subject to medicines rules.
The 2017 official explanation required individual ministerial approval and a doctor’s prescription for cannabis oil.
Patients receive medical flower or extracts on an electronic prescription, dispensed through pharmacies.
A pilot programme that began in 2018 let any doctor prescribe cannabis products not otherwise approved as medicines, as flower and oils.
No medical cannabis programme.
No functioning medical cannabis programme.
No medical cannabis programme operates.
The public-health law of 13 December 2018 allows narcotics cultivation, production, possession and sale for medical and scientific purposes under…
Medical cannabis was legalised in 2019: the December reform excluded below-1% THC cannabis from controlled substances and made holding cannabis…
No medical cannabis programme operates: use is a crime punished through possession, and the 1960 law's only medical route is sanatorium treatment for…
No medical cannabis programme operates.
Articles 2–3 of the 1993 decree expressly contemplated authorised medical and scientific use of controlled drugs and rules for prescribing medicines containing them;
No medical cannabis.
Access is narrow: Epidyolex was authorised in 2019, while a doctor may apply case by case for an unauthorised cannabinoid medicine or standardised cannabis;
No medical programme and no patient access.
No medical cannabis. In March 2019 the health minister said growing cannabis for medical purposes had never been recognised or approved, and the…
The Chief Medical Officer confirms a medical-cannabis trial has operated since April 2019.
Fiji has been developing a medicinal cannabis industry proposal.
Extremely limited: a mouth spray for multiple sclerosis as a last resort, and Dutch medical flower only through an individual special permit held by…
A national experiment began in 2021 for a few thousand patients with severe conditions.
The Assembly first adopted a law on poisonous substances in November 2022, promulgated on 5 January 2023.
The 2026 Health Code provides for specially authorised medical and scientific activities involving controlled drugs and for special narcotic prescriptions.
No medical cannabis.
No approved cannabis medicine, prescription route, clinical trial or production licence was found.
Cannabis is no longer a narcotic in law: any doctor can prescribe it on an ordinary prescription, dispensed by pharmacies.
No medical programme for THC cannabis.
GHA doctors must complete training before authorising cannabis medicines.
Medical cannabis was enabled in 2017 and production regulated in 2018.
Greenland’s law permits pharmacy supply and possession of controlled medicines under prescription rules.
No medical programme yet;
Voters approved medical cannabis on 4 November 2014.
The general drug law permits strictly necessary quantities for medical treatment, scientific research, analysis and medicine manufacture by legally…
Islanders can obtain pharmaceutical-standard cannabis medicines through private prescriptions from local doctors, or arrange licensed imports using…
No patient programme is documented.
Articles 21–23 regulate care for people using drugs: voluntary attendance carries anonymity and professional secrecy, while treatment ordered within…
No medical cannabis programme.
No medical cannabis programme operates.
No patient programme is documented.
Cannabis and cannabis resin are excluded from the ordinary professional and pharmacy authorities in the ordinance, so a doctor cannot supply THC…
No medical cannabis programme exists in Hungary.
Limited to approved cannabinoid medicines: Sativex on specialist (neurologist) prescription for multiple-sclerosis spasticity, and Epidyolex also listed as available.
No national medical programme, but cannabis-leaf preparations are sold as Ayurvedic medicines, some on prescription;
Prohibited absolutely: Class I narcotics may not be used for health services, and CBD is treated as cannabis.
There is no approved medical cannabis programme.
No medical cannabis programme or registered cannabis medicine was found.
The Medical Cannabis Access Programme covers only three conditions where standard treatment has failed, prescribed by consultants;
Patients pay privately for specialist prescriptions and dispensing: the island’s health service does not provide the ordinary cannabis prescription route.
Medical cannabis is legal on prescription for ten indications, including active oncology, inflammatory bowel disease, AIDS, multiple sclerosis,…
Legal since 2013. Any doctor can prescribe cannabis prepared by pharmacies;
Any registered medical practitioner can recommend ganja for medical or therapeutic purposes, with no fixed list of conditions.
Japan allows cannabis-derived medicines in law, but no cannabis medicine has been approved.
Medical cannabis is prescribed privately by doctors, some at cannabis clinics, and patients may also bring it in under a personal import licence.
The legal medical route is limited to approved CBD medicines and natural preparations containing no more than 0.3% THC, dispensed on a valid prescription.
No approved cannabis medicine or patient-access programme was found in the sources read.
No medical cannabis; a bill has been proposed in the Senate.
Lawful prescription supply authorises possession of controlled preparations, and registered pharmacists may prepare cannabis extracts and tinctures.
Cannabis is in Table I, whose exceptions cover scientific research, education and police work.
The drug law provides controlled medical prescribing, pharmaceutical manufacture and institutional medical or scientific cultivation.
Cannabis oil, resin, plant material, marijuana and extracts or tinctures appear in narcotic list IV.
Decision 3789/MOH permits prescribed dried hemp flower with a 1% THC ceiling, and medical products with a 0.2% ceiling and CBD at least four times the THC content;
No medical cannabis programme and no legal THC products.
No patient route. Cannabis remains Table 1 "no medical use";
No domestic patient-access scheme.
No medical cannabis. Schedule I lists cannabis, resin, extracts and tinctures, and unauthorised use is an offence;
No medical cannabis programme.
No medical cannabis programme, though two cannabinoid medicines can be prescribed.
The medical reform effective in May 2019 permits registered cannabis-based medicines whose safety and effectiveness have been demonstrated.
Patients obtain prescribed cannabis free from hospital pharmacies, through a doctor with the required certified training.
No operating patient programme or registered cannabis medicine was found.
No patient programme exists.
The Act provides for medicinal cannabis as approved final products — processed flowers, extracts, resin, crude oil, distillates and isolates — with…
Medical or research use is lawful only with authorisation from the health minister.
No patient programme is documented.
The sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme: the 2017 authorisation served exports only and was withdrawn in 2020, and use…
Legal since 2018 on prescription from a registered doctor, with an approval card for the patient, dispensed in pharmacies.
The Act expressly extends its medical and professional exceptions to marijuana and concentrates.
No medical cannabis programme.
Legal since the 2022 amendment, but only with individual authorisation from the Ministry of Health, for a short list of conditions.
Medical cannabis was legalised in 2017 and regulations were issued in 2021, allowing prescription and import of approved products.
The national code and Pohnpei's published code provide controlled research registration for Schedule I substances.
The general controlled-substance law provides medical uses for authorised substances, while prohibiting cannabis cultivation to produce narcotics.
Authorised pharmaceutical medicines containing cannabis or THC are exempt from the general prohibition under article 32.
No patient programme is documented.
The drug law provides licences for controlled medical and pharmaceutical activities and permits possession of a drug-containing medicine within the…
Cannabis-based medicines can be registered and sold through pharmacies;
The sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme: treatment provisions address dependent users, not patient supply.
No medical cannabis. The 1993 law defines the cannabis plant as a narcotic and makes no hemp, CBD or patient exception;
No medical cannabis: cannabis remains illegal for medical use with no legal framework.
Cabinet may issue renewable one-year licences for medicinal drug imports on the minister’s recommendation.
Medical use appears in federal plans.
Doctors have been able to prescribe medicinal cannabis since 2003.
Any doctor can prescribe approved medicinal cannabis products for any condition.
No patient programme is documented.
No patient programme is documented.
No medical cannabis programme.
No medical cannabis.
Medical/scientific cultivation entered the statutory framework in 2016.
Cannabis import requires a licence under the northern drug law;
The 2018 law covers medical as well as adult use.
Narrow: two approved prescription medicines, plus case-by-case specialist applications for other products since 2018.
No medical cannabis programme or registered cannabis product was found.
Applicants can seek licences for medicinal cultivation, extraction, pharmaceutical manufacturing and research through the Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority.
No medical cannabis programme.
No medical cannabis programme.
Executive Decree 6 of April 2025 revised the 2021 framework.
No medical-cannabis programme.
Law 6007 created PROINCUMEC and its patient registry.
Legal since Law 30681 of 2017, on prescription with patients listed in a national registry;
There is no medical-cannabis programme and no lawful cannabis or CBD consumer products;
Doctors can prescribe cannabis preparations made from authorised pharmaceutical raw materials — flower, extracts, tinctures and resin;
Any doctor may prescribe authorised products for the approved indications when conventional treatment has failed or causes significant adverse…
The May 2015 executive order directed the health secretary to authorise medical cannabis through the drug law’s procedures.
No medical cannabis programme.
No Réunion-specific patient route exists;
Cannabis may be prescribed for medical use only as a pharmaceutical product.
Patients have no domestic medical-cannabis dispensing route: marijuana, hashish and cannabis oil are listed among prohibited Schedule I narcotics.
Medical use requires a prescription from a doctor whom the health ministry has authorised in writing to prescribe cannabis.
Legal under the Cannabis Act for people with a qualifying medical condition, through the Medicinal Cannabis Authority.
No medical cannabis programme is in operation.
Legal since December 2018 on a medical recommendation, supplied by licensed local producers.
None. The Samoa Law Reform Commission recommended regulating medicinal use under section 29, not creating a dispensary scheme, and the government did not adopt it.
Patients have a prescription-based route, with retail sales reserved to state pharmacies.
Cannabis flower, resin and oil are listed controlled drugs.
No medical cannabis programme.
The sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme.
The current schedules place cannabis and resin on both lists 1 and 2.
The 2020 rules cover defined CBD medicines, with THC and specified related substances limited to 2% of the CBD content.
The Pharmacy Board's guidelines permit licensed medical cultivation and processing for export, drawing on the written-consent power in the 2001 pharmacy law.
No medical cannabis programme.
The ordinance contains an exemption for people who can show that they need the cannabis quantity for their own medical use and obtained it lawfully.
Growing, importing and selling cannabis for medical use remain prohibited;
Since 20 August 2025 any physician may prescribe cannabis for any condition on their professional judgment, for up to a month at a time, either…
Sections 13–20 contemplate regulated cannabis extracts and tinctures within the controlled-medicines system, including prescription rules, storage…
Articles 6 and 15–17 of the 1970 law regulate institutional narcotics use, dispensing on prescription and inappropriate prescribing.
The inherited 1970 law provides a general medical route for controlled drugs through authorised institutions and prescription dispensing.
A patient who needs THC must find a doctor willing to apply to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority for permission to prescribe an…
South Korea allows imported cannabis medicines, not domestic production or general prescribing.
The code permits named medical, dental, veterinary, pharmaceutical, laboratory and state professionals to handle controlled drugs where necessary for…
A royal decree in force on 10 October 2025 lets hospital specialists prescribe a standardised cannabis solution when authorised medicines have…
Treatment is available only within the Ayurvedic system, through registered practitioners and the state Ayurvedic Drugs Corporation;
Article 12 permits medical and scientific activities under ministerial licence, and article 14 allows recognised universities and research…
None. A push under the previous government to legalise medical use and home growing was dropped after the 2020 election.
Limited to two approved prescription medicines;
Since 1 August 2022 doctors can prescribe cannabis medicines, including flower and pharmacy-made preparations, without a special federal health-office permit.
No medical cannabis programme.
A patient route exists for one CBD medicine.
The drug law provides licensed medical handling of controlled drugs and reserves scientific growing for licensed research institutions.
No medical cannabis.
The medical route is the whole legal system now: doctors, Thai traditional medicine practitioners and other licensed professionals can prescribe,…
No medical cannabis programme operates.
The sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme: use outside a medical prescription is prohibited, and the Code's licences…
No medical cannabis programme.
Transnistria operates no medical cannabis programme, and local health authorities recognise no therapeutic role for cannabis or cannabinoid preparations.
The 2022 Act provides for medicinal-cannabis licences, including a dispensary licence, but those licences do not operate until the President proclaims a commencement date.
No medical cannabis programme.
Very limited. The special import list includes cannabidiol oral solution and THC/CBD mouth spray on red prescription.
The general controlled-medicine rules require special prescriptions and supply through licensed state pharmacies.
The minister can issue medical and scientific licences under the 2025 Act, subject to conditions on records, security and reporting.
Medical use is permitted in principle: section 14 provides for licences for medical sale, manufacture, production and distribution, and growers need…
Patients began receiving prescribed THC capsules on 11 June 2026, initially through six pharmacies in six cities.
No high-THC medical cannabis is legal.
Legal since 1 November 2018, but only doctors on the specialist register may initiate it, and the NHS funds it for a handful of patients.
40 states have medical programmes.
Medical cannabis is legal and a 2019 law aimed to widen access, but few registered products exist, they are expensive, and most patients rely on the…
The territory approved its medical cannabis programme in January 2019, sponsored by Positive T.A.
No approved cannabis medicine or patient-access programme was found.
Medical cannabis under the industry licensing Act is grown for export — the drug law lists cannabis, resin and resin-based preparations, while…
No medical cannabis programme operates: the law provides treatment and rehabilitation for consumers, not patient supply, and unauthorised supply and…
No medical cannabis programme.
No cannabis treatment programme operates.
The Cannabis Act's licensing system for medicinal cannabis has not come into force.
Production for medicinal and scientific purposes is licensed.
Medical status: how the 220 researched places divide
| Status | What it means | Places | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal | Patients have an established legal route to cannabis or cannabis-based medicine | 29 | |
| Limited | A patient treatment route is case-specific, pharmaceutical-only, regional, a pilot or not yet operational | 73 | |
| None verified | No patient treatment route verified; research/export licences and CBD or industrial hemp alone do not establish one | 118 |
Country by country
The opening of each profile's section; the country's page has it in full, with sources.
| Country | Medical status | What the profile says |
|---|---|---|
| AbkhaziaAsia | None verified | The cannabis/hashish use offence applies to use without a doctor’s order. It also exempts a person who voluntarily seeks medical help for illegal drug use from administrative liability under that article. |
| AfghanistanAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme or patient supply was found. Cannabis is not listed as a medicine in the sources read, and the 2023 cultivation ban leaves no lawful production route. |
| AlbaniaEurope | None verified | The 2023 law concerns production for export. A domestic patient treatment route was not verified in the reviewed sources. |
| AlgeriaAfrica | None verified | No patient programme. The statutory medical and scientific exception is implemented through health-ministry authorisation for production, import, export and research, not for prescribing to patients. |
| AndorraEurope | None verified | A claimed therapeutic purpose did not protect the resident convicted in the CBD flower case: the court recorded that no doctor had prescribed cannabis to him. The 2026 cultivation plan concerned future medicinal production. |
| AngolaAfrica | None verified | No patient programme is documented. Law 3/99 punishes use and personal possession without authorisation, with suspension for treatment only for dependent users. |
| Antigua and BarbudaNorth America | Limited | Medical cannabis is legal under the Cannabis Act 2018, on a practitioner's recommendation, through licensed dispensaries. |
| ArgentinaSouth America | Legal | The medical route is the main legal path. A REPROCANN physician must be registered with REFEPS, have accredited academic training in medical cannabis, register a digital signature with the health ministry and submit bilateral… |
| ArmeniaAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme, registered cannabis medicine or patient supply was found. In February 2019 the health minister said there could be no initiative to free the use of narcotics and that he would veto one. |
| ArubaNorth America | None verified | CBD products with no more than 0.2% THC are treated as medicines under the health inspectorate’s import rules. |
| AustraliaOceania | Legal | Among the easiest medical systems to use: any doctor can prescribe through the special-access or authorised-prescriber pathways with no fixed list of conditions. |
| AustriaEurope | Limited | Patients can obtain cannabinoid medicines on prescription, including pharmacy-compounded dronabinol. A parliamentary report describes reimbursement where medically justified and approved by the insurer's reviewing doctor. |
| AzerbaijanAsia | None verified | The drug law permits narcotic drugs for medical use and allows imports by state bodies, but the sources read identify no cannabis-based medicine, prescription route or patient programme. |
| BahamasNorth America | None verified | The 2024 Act lays out a prescription and dispensary system, but those sections and the companion Dangerous Drugs and Pharmacy amendments remain out of force. |
| BahrainAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. The general controlled-medicine route requires medical prescriptions and licensed pharmacy supply, but cannabis is a listed plant and the law restricts prescribing or dispensing it. |
| BangladeshAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme was found. Cannabis is not on the list of approved medicines, and the 2018 Act controls the plant and its preparations. Medical status stays none. |
| BarbadosNorth America | Legal | Legal under the 2019 Act on prescription from a medical practitioner. The first licensed medicinal dispensary opened on 14 June 2025. |
| BelarusEurope | None verified | Cannabis and cannabis-based preparations are prohibited for medical use under the Health Ministry’s traveller guidance supplied to the INCB. |
| BelgiumEurope | Limited | Very limited: a 2015 royal decree allows cannabis-based medicines, in practice one mouth spray for multiple-sclerosis spasticity. Pharmacies may not dispense herbal cannabis. Belgium permitted prescription Sativex in 2015. |
| BelizeNorth America | None verified | There is no medical cannabis programme. |
| BeninAfrica | None verified | No patient programme is documented. The 1997 Act forbids using drugs and the retained sources set no medical route. |
| BermudaNorth America | Limited | Named cannabinoid medicines have a prescription route under the 2014 pharmaceutical law, alongside the minister’s personal-import licensing powers. |
| BhutanAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. Cannabis is Schedule I, described as having no medicinal value; section 18 permits research, teaching or forensic work, not treatment. No CBD medicine was found. |
| BoliviaSouth America | None verified | The ombudsman reported an individual compassionate cannabis-import approval in November 2021 after helping a family clarify medicines-agency requirements. |
| Bosnia and HerzegovinaEurope | Limited | The December 2025 rescheduling opened a route to controlled cannabis medicines. In September 2026 the Ministry of Civil Affairs reported that the implementing framework was still incomplete after almost nine months. |
| BotswanaAfrica | Limited | Licensed production for medical and scientific use is permitted, and section 48(3) contemplates prescriptions. |
| BrazilSouth America | Limited | Doctors can prescribe registered or imported cannabis products — prescription oils and extracts, mostly CBD-dominant, with no legal flower for general sale; |
| British Virgin IslandsNorth America | None verified | The Act gives the minister powers to regulate authorised controlled-drug activities, including professional medical and pharmacy handling, subject to specified restrictions. |
| BruneiAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. Cannabis is Class A; the regulations allow medical and dental officers to prescribe controlled drugs in the course of duty, but no approved cannabis medicine or patient route was found. |
| BulgariaEurope | None verified | No medical cannabis programme — unlike neighbouring Greece and Romania, there is not even a law on paper. A doctor who prescribes cannabis faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to €1,533.88. |
| Burkina FasoAfrica | None verified | No patient programme is documented. The 2018 code prohibits using controlled drugs outside a medical prescription but sets up no route for patients to obtain cannabis. |
| BurundiAfrica | None verified | No patient route is documented. Cannabis is illegal, and the 2017 code bans growing, selling, transporting and holding controlled drugs outside health-ministry conditions, with no medical programme provided for. |
| Cabo VerdeAfrica | Limited | The limited label reflects a statutory framework, not a verified patient programme. Decree-Law 92/92 permits scientific or teaching cultivation licences and provides controlled medicines authorisations, special prescriptions for… |
| CambodiaAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme and no legal products; the licensing system permits clinical and research activity but no patient supply route exists. |
| CameroonAfrica | None verified | Cannabis and its resin sit in Table I of high-risk drugs, and article 9 prohibits ordinary handling, leaving only the narrow route of article 77: ministerial authorisation for research, training or forensic work in strictly… |
| CanadaNorth America | Legal | Any physician or nurse practitioner can authorise medical use with no list of qualifying conditions. Patients buy from federal licence holders by mail, or register with Health Canada to grow their own or designate a grower. |
| Cayman IslandsNorth America | Limited | The medical-extract amendment commenced on 18 November 2016. A doctor licensed locally may prescribe extracts or tinctures for medical or therapeutic purposes and determines the dosage. |
| Central African RepublicAfrica | None verified | The law regulates licensed operations involving controlled medicines and permits specific research authorisations, but the sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme. |
| ChadAfrica | None verified | No patient programme is documented. The 2000 law regulates controlled medicines and the 1966 decree let the health minister grant exceptions for scientific research, but no route for patients to obtain cannabis is provided for. |
| ChileSouth America | Limited | Cannabis medicines can be prescribed and sold in pharmacies since a 2015 decree, and patients with a prescription may grow their own — a few prescription products, otherwise only what a person grows. |
| ChinaAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis of any kind and no THC products. CBD is not permitted in food or medicines, was banned from cosmetics, and in 2024 was placed under precursor-chemical controls. |
| ColombiaSouth America | Legal | Medical cannabis has been fully legal since 2016 under Law 1787, with prescriptions, product standards and patient access regulated by the health ministry. Any doctor can prescribe; |
| ComorosAfrica | None verified | The retained sources do not establish whether a medical cannabis programme operates. |
| CongoAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis programme was found. Authorisations under the law are for medical use only under Article 8, with no programme or product pathway located. |
| Costa RicaNorth America | Limited | Law 10113 created the medical framework in 2022. Decree 44917-S allows pharmacy sales of registered medicinal cannabis products; controlled products require a digital prescription. |
| Côte d'IvoireAfrica | None verified | The sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme. The 2022 law punishes unauthorised holding and use without a medical-use exception for cannabis. |
| CroatiaEurope | Limited | Legal since October 2015 for conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, epilepsy and AIDS, on prescription, capped at 7.5 g of THC per 30 days, with no home growing. |
| CubaNorth America | None verified | No medical cannabis programme operates in the sources read: possession and growing are punishable without a patient route, and authorised use is limited to prescription channels with no patient supply established. |
| CuraçaoNorth America | Limited | Authorised pharmacists and dispensing doctors have medical-purpose exemptions for handling extracts and tinctures, subject to medicines rules. |
| CyprusEurope | Limited | The 2017 official explanation required individual ministerial approval and a doctor’s prescription for cannabis oil. |
| CzechiaEurope | Legal | Patients receive medical flower or extracts on an electronic prescription, dispensed through pharmacies. Approved prescribers include general practitioners as well as the listed specialists; |
| DenmarkEurope | Legal | A pilot programme that began in 2018 let any doctor prescribe cannabis products not otherwise approved as medicines, as flower and oils. Parliament made it permanent from 1 January 2026, with partial reimbursement. |
| DjiboutiAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. |
| DominicaNorth America | None verified | No functioning medical cannabis programme. |
| Dominican RepublicNorth America | None verified | No medical cannabis programme operates. Law 50-88 punishes possession and growing without a patient route, and the sources read give no recognised foreign-card or pharmacy channel. Law 50-88 graded possession by weight. |
| DR CongoAfrica | Limited | The public-health law of 13 December 2018 allows narcotics cultivation, production, possession and sale for medical and scientific purposes under authorisation, and tasked the health minister with setting the conditions. |
| EcuadorSouth America | Limited | Medical cannabis was legalised in 2019: the December reform excluded below-1% THC cannabis from controlled substances and made holding cannabis medicines for therapeutic, palliative or medicinal use — including alternative… |
| EgyptAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis programme operates: use is a crime punished through possession, and the 1960 law's only medical route is sanatorium treatment for dependent users, not patient supply. |
| El SalvadorNorth America | None verified | No medical cannabis programme operates. The drug law provides no patient route, and the sources read establish no pharmacy or prescription channel. The 2003 law set the growing terms. |
| Equatorial GuineaAfrica | None verified | Articles 2–3 of the 1993 decree expressly contemplated authorised medical and scientific use of controlled drugs and rules for prescribing medicines containing them; |
| EritreaAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis. |
| EstoniaEurope | Limited | Access is narrow: Epidyolex was authorised in 2019, while a doctor may apply case by case for an unauthorised cannabinoid medicine or standardised cannabis; those medicines are available on special application only. |
| EswatiniAfrica | None verified | No medical programme and no patient access. The pending bill would allow medical and industrial cannabis only, not adult use, and would repeal both the 1922 and 1929 Acts. |
| EthiopiaAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis. In March 2019 the health minister said growing cannabis for medical purposes had never been recognised or approved, and the Investment Commission said it would issue no permit to grow it, after a proposed… |
| Faroe IslandsEurope | Limited | The Chief Medical Officer confirms a medical-cannabis trial has operated since April 2019. Joint prescribing guidance identifies pain, multiple sclerosis, spinal-cord injury and chemotherapy-related nausea among treatment areas,… |
| FijiOceania | None verified | Fiji has been developing a medicinal cannabis industry proposal. Separately, section 11 of the 2004 drug law exempts lawfully prescribed or supplied treatment and permits health-authority licensing of drug imports, exports or… |
| FinlandEurope | Limited | Extremely limited: a mouth spray for multiple sclerosis as a last resort, and Dutch medical flower only through an individual special permit held by a small number of patients. |
| FranceEurope | Limited | A national experiment began in 2021 for a few thousand patients with severe conditions. It formally ended on 31 December 2024 with no permanent regime in place. |
| French PolynesiaOceania | Limited | The Assembly first adopted a law on poisonous substances in November 2022, promulgated on 5 January 2023. It would have allowed cannabis medicines and licensed growing, but needed about fifteen implementing decisions. |
| GabonAfrica | None verified | The 2026 Health Code provides for specially authorised medical and scientific activities involving controlled drugs and for special narcotic prescriptions. |
| GambiaAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis. |
| GeorgiaAsia | None verified | No approved cannabis medicine, prescription route, clinical trial or production licence was found. Cannabis is a Schedule I drug, and the law permits circulation only for teaching, scientific, expert and forensic activity. |
| GermanyEurope | Legal | Cannabis is no longer a narcotic in law: any doctor can prescribe it on an ordinary prescription, dispensed by pharmacies. |
| GhanaAfrica | None verified | No medical programme for THC cannabis. The July 2026 licences cover low-THC cultivation for industrial, medicinal and research purposes, not a supply for patients. |
| GibraltarEurope | Limited | GHA doctors must complete training before authorising cannabis medicines. Eligible conditions are treatment-resistant multiple-sclerosis spasticity, severe refractory epilepsy, severe life-altering pain, and intractable… |
| GreeceEurope | Limited | Medical cannabis was enabled in 2017 and production regulated in 2018. Patients first obtained finished prescription products in February 2024; on 27 February the health minister met the first patient prescribed one. |
| GreenlandNorth America | Limited | Greenland’s law permits pharmacy supply and possession of controlled medicines under prescription rules. The regulation permits receipt and possession by people receiving treatment and authorised institutions. |
| GrenadaNorth America | None verified | No medical programme yet; it is expected as part of the second phase. |
| GuamOceania | Limited | Voters approved medical cannabis on 4 November 2014. Since October 2018, qualified patients or designated caregivers may apply for a $15 annual home-cultivation permit while no medical dispensary is operating, allowing six… |
| GuatemalaNorth America | None verified | The general drug law permits strictly necessary quantities for medical treatment, scientific research, analysis and medicine manufacture by legally authorised people, with prescriptions required for lawful sales to private… |
| GuernseyEurope | Legal | Islanders can obtain pharmaceutical-standard cannabis medicines through private prescriptions from local doctors, or arrange licensed imports using UK or Jersey prescriptions. |
| GuineaAfrica | None verified | No patient programme is documented. The 2016 code prohibits use outside a medical prescription but sets up no route for patients to obtain cannabis. |
| Guinea-BissauAfrica | None verified | Articles 21–23 regulate care for people using drugs: voluntary attendance carries anonymity and professional secrecy, while treatment ordered within proceedings involves reports to the court. |
| GuyanaSouth America | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. |
| HaitiNorth America | None verified | No medical cannabis programme operates. The law provides permits only for medical or scientific purposes, with no patient supply route. The 2001 drug law set these terms. |
| HondurasNorth America | None verified | No patient programme is documented. The code punishes possession for trafficking or for facilitating consumption and sets no medical route. A 2020 patients bill never advanced. |
| Hong KongAsia | None verified | Cannabis and cannabis resin are excluded from the ordinary professional and pharmacy authorities in the ordinance, so a doctor cannot supply THC cannabis merely as a doctor. |
| HungaryEurope | None verified | No medical cannabis programme exists in Hungary. The Criminal Code names no lawful source for patients: acquiring, holding and consuming are punished, as is supplying. |
| IcelandEurope | Limited | Limited to approved cannabinoid medicines: Sativex on specialist (neurologist) prescription for multiple-sclerosis spasticity, and Epidyolex also listed as available. Prescription access to Sativex was confirmed in 2018. |
| IndiaAsia | Limited | No national medical programme, but cannabis-leaf preparations are sold as Ayurvedic medicines, some on prescription; bhang and hemp-seed foods are the lawful consumer products. |
| IndonesiaAsia | None verified | Prohibited absolutely: Class I narcotics may not be used for health services, and CBD is treated as cannabis. |
| IranAsia | None verified | There is no approved medical cannabis programme. A 2021 systematic review found no licit or medical production of cannabis, and the law treats cannabis as a prohibited drug. |
| IraqAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme or registered cannabis medicine was found. Article 18 permits individuals to possess their own prescribed controlled medicine, but no cannabis-based product has been registered under it. |
| IrelandEurope | Limited | The Medical Cannabis Access Programme covers only three conditions where standard treatment has failed, prescribed by consultants; other patients need an individual ministerial licence. |
| Isle of ManEurope | Legal | Patients pay privately for specialist prescriptions and dispensing: the island’s health service does not provide the ordinary cannabis prescription route. |
| IsraelAsia | Legal | Medical cannabis is legal on prescription for ten indications, including active oncology, inflammatory bowel disease, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, Tourette syndrome, epilepsy, terminal illness, autism and dementia. |
| ItalyEurope | Legal | Legal since 2013. Any doctor can prescribe cannabis prepared by pharmacies; reimbursement depends on the region, and supply shortages are frequent. Italy legalised medical cannabis in 2013. |
| JamaicaNorth America | Legal | Any registered medical practitioner can recommend ganja for medical or therapeutic purposes, with no fixed list of conditions. Patients buy from licensed herb houses. |
| JapanAsia | Limited | Japan allows cannabis-derived medicines in law, but no cannabis medicine has been approved. The 2024 reform created the approval route, and in June 2024 the health ministry gave orphan designation to Jazz's cannabidiol for Dravet… |
| JerseyEurope | Legal | Medical cannabis is prescribed privately by doctors, some at cannabis clinics, and patients may also bring it in under a personal import licence. Eighteen prescribers were recorded in 2022 and twenty in the first half of 2023. |
| JordanAsia | Limited | The legal medical route is limited to approved CBD medicines and natural preparations containing no more than 0.3% THC, dispensed on a valid prescription. |
| KazakhstanAsia | None verified | No approved cannabis medicine or patient-access programme was found in the sources read. The narcotics law allows a narrow route for producing narcotic medicines under Article 18, but licensed cannabis cultivation is described as… |
| KenyaAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis; a bill has been proposed in the Senate. |
| KiribatiOceania | Limited | Lawful prescription supply authorises possession of controlled preparations, and registered pharmacists may prepare cannabis extracts and tinctures. In 2016, a sailor’s prescribed marijuana remained a prohibited import; |
| KosovoEurope | None verified | Cannabis is in Table I, whose exceptions cover scientific research, education and police work. The table expressly includes cannabis, resin, extracts and tinctures. |
| KuwaitAsia | None verified | The drug law provides controlled medical prescribing, pharmaceutical manufacture and institutional medical or scientific cultivation. |
| KyrgyzstanAsia | None verified | Cannabis oil, resin, plant material, marijuana and extracts or tinctures appear in narcotic list IV. The drug law prohibits medical and veterinary use of substances on that list; |
| LaosAsia | Limited | Decision 3789/MOH permits prescribed dried hemp flower with a 1% THC ceiling, and medical products with a 0.2% ceiling and CBD at least four times the THC content; no operating patient route was verified. |
| LatviaEurope | None verified | No medical cannabis programme and no legal THC products. In 2018 the health minister said there were more important things to discuss; |
| LebanonAsia | None verified | No patient route. Cannabis remains Table 1 "no medical use"; Law 178 licenses production, not consumption, and does not reschedule the plant. |
| LesothoAfrica | None verified | No domestic patient-access scheme. Licensed production is for medical and scientific use, but the 2024 research found no legal route for local patients to obtain medical cannabis. |
| LiberiaAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis. Schedule I lists cannabis, resin, extracts and tinctures, and unauthorised use is an offence; the express rehabilitation alternative sits in the separate paragraph for Schedules II–IV, not for cannabis. |
| LibyaAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. Cannabis is a Table 1 narcotic and a Table 5 plant; Articles 30–31 let the health committee license public services, scientific institutes and research centres to grow banned plants for medical or… |
| LiechtensteinEurope | Limited | No medical cannabis programme, though two cannabinoid medicines can be prescribed. |
| LithuaniaEurope | Limited | The medical reform effective in May 2019 permits registered cannabis-based medicines whose safety and effectiveness have been demonstrated. |
| LuxembourgEurope | Legal | Patients obtain prescribed cannabis free from hospital pharmacies, through a doctor with the required certified training. |
| MacauAsia | Limited | No operating patient programme or registered cannabis medicine was found. The lawful-drug rules allow licensed chemical and pharmaceutical firms to extract or manufacture scheduled substances for medical or scientific purposes,… |
| MadagascarAfrica | None verified | No patient programme exists. The law bans use outside medical prescription, but cannabis is in Table I, expressly listed as having no medical interest, and no route for patients to obtain it was found. |
| MalawiAfrica | Limited | The Act provides for medicinal cannabis as approved final products — processed flowers, extracts, resin, crude oil, distillates and isolates — with qualified patients tracked through a registry and caregivers for minors and the… |
| MalaysiaAsia | None verified | Medical or research use is lawful only with authorisation from the health minister. No cannabis-based medicine is currently registered for patients: Sativex was registered in 2014 and cancelled in 2017 at the company's request. |
| MaldivesAsia | None verified | No patient programme is documented. Cannabis is a Schedule 1 drug and use is an offence of three years. |
| MaliAfrica | None verified | The sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme: the 2017 authorisation served exports only and was withdrawn in 2020, and use outside a medical prescription is prohibited. |
| MaltaEurope | Legal | Legal since 2018 on prescription from a registered doctor, with an approval card for the patient, dispensed in pharmacies. Products are limited and paid out of pocket. |
| Marshall IslandsOceania | Limited | The Act expressly extends its medical and professional exceptions to marijuana and concentrates. It recognises licensed professional handling and possession under a valid prescription. |
| MauritaniaAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. Cannabis is in Table I of the 2008 law, which the annex treats as having no real medical interest; licensed medical handling is limited to Tables II and III. |
| MauritiusAfrica | Limited | Legal since the 2022 amendment, but only with individual authorisation from the Ministry of Health, for a short list of conditions. |
| MexicoNorth America | Limited | Medical cannabis was legalised in 2017 and regulations were issued in 2021, allowing prescription and import of approved products. Availability is limited, with a handful of registered products; |
| MicronesiaOceania | None verified | The national code and Pohnpei's published code provide controlled research registration for Schedule I substances. In Yap, section 1005 expressly bars prescriptions for the listed hallucinogens, which include marijuana. |
| MoldovaEurope | None verified | The general controlled-substance law provides medical uses for authorised substances, while prohibiting cannabis cultivation to produce narcotics. |
| MonacoEurope | None verified | Authorised pharmaceutical medicines containing cannabis or THC are exempt from the general prohibition under article 32. This 2019 change depends on the product holding the required medicines authorisation. |
| MongoliaAsia | None verified | No patient programme is documented. The 2002 law restricts narcotic drugs and the code sets no medical route for cannabis. |
| MontenegroEurope | None verified | The drug law provides licences for controlled medical and pharmaceutical activities and permits possession of a drug-containing medicine within the quantity prescribed by a doctor. |
| MoroccoAfrica | Limited | Cannabis-based medicines can be registered and sold through pharmacies; by October 2026 four epilepsy medicines had market authorisation, three from Sothema and one from Pharma 5, and five medical societies had approved CBD… |
| MozambiqueAfrica | None verified | The sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme: treatment provisions address dependent users, not patient supply. |
| MyanmarAsia | None verified | 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. |
| NamibiaAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis: cannabis remains illegal for medical use with no legal framework. Only synthetic THC (dronabinol) may be prescribed under tight restriction, with no domestic supply or dispensary network. |
| NauruOceania | None verified | Cabinet may issue renewable one-year licences for medicinal drug imports on the minister’s recommendation. Licensees must record imported quantities and how and to whom they are provided; |
| NepalAsia | None verified | Medical use appears in federal plans. Gandaki's 2026 Act is a cultivation framework for medicinal and industrial cannabis, and a patient still has no lawful supply under it. |
| NetherlandsEurope | Legal | Doctors have been able to prescribe medicinal cannabis since 2003. Pharmacies dispense it as dried flower from the government's Office of Medicinal Cannabis, which holds a legal monopoly on buying and selling it. |
| New ZealandOceania | Legal | Any doctor can prescribe approved medicinal cannabis products for any condition. Products are unsubsidised and costly. Prescription flower and oils must meet the scheme's quality standard; |
| NicaraguaNorth America | None verified | No patient programme is documented. Law 735 criminalises cannabis and the code sets no medical route. Organised-crime law passed in 2010. |
| NigerAfrica | None verified | No patient programme is documented. Article 144 prohibits use outside a medical prescription but sets up no route for patients to obtain cannabis. |
| NigeriaAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. |
| North KoreaAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis. |
| North MacedoniaEurope | Limited | Medical/scientific cultivation entered the statutory framework in 2016. A 2025 market report describes specialist-prescribed products for conditions including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS and certain cancers, with few… |
| Northern CyprusEurope | None verified | Cannabis import requires a licence under the northern drug law; a prescription alone is not that permission. Manufacture and distribution are also subject to authorisation. |
| Northern Mariana IslandsOceania | Legal | The 2018 law covers medical as well as adult use. A patient or caregiver may grow up to twelve mature and twenty-four immature plants when a physician considers it necessary and practical for treatment, with a registry card and… |
| NorwayEurope | Limited | Narrow: two approved prescription medicines, plus case-by-case specialist applications for other products since 2018. As of late 2016 a single patient in the whole country had been approved. |
| OmanAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme or registered cannabis product was found. Article 27 requires a licensed doctor's prescription before a pharmacy may dispense a controlled drug, but the sources read do not identify a cannabis… |
| PakistanAsia | Limited | Applicants can seek licences for medicinal cultivation, extraction, pharmaceutical manufacturing and research through the Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority. |
| PalauOceania | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. A Medical Marijuana Act was introduced in 2015 and shelved, and a 2021 compassionate-use bill passed first reading without becoming law. |
| PalestineAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. Article 3 allows institutional cultivation and seed imports for medical and scientific work, not patient supply. No registered cannabis medicine, patient registry or prescription route was found. |
| PanamaNorth America | Limited | Executive Decree 6 of April 2025 revised the 2021 framework. In June 2026 the ministry approved patient and companion forms: a qualified doctor certifies treatment, the ministry verifies registration, and an approved patient… |
| Papua New GuineaOceania | None verified | No medical-cannabis programme. Schedule I is described as having no medical value, and the Act's prescribed-medication defence applies only to Schedules II–IV. Cannabis flower, resin, oil and plants are all in Schedule I; |
| ParaguaySouth America | Limited | Law 6007 created PROINCUMEC and its patient registry. Resolution 488/2025, effective on signature on 19 December 2025 under Health Ministry Resolution 902/2025, sets up a two-year exceptional pilot for medicinal combinations of… |
| PeruSouth America | Legal | Legal since Law 30681 of 2017, on prescription with patients listed in a national registry; association growing was added to improve access and affordability. |
| PhilippinesAsia | Limited | There is no medical-cannabis programme and no lawful cannabis or CBD consumer products; the definition covers every part of the plant, its seeds, resin, extract and tincture. |
| PolandEurope | Legal | Doctors can prescribe cannabis preparations made from authorised pharmaceutical raw materials — flower, extracts, tinctures and resin; veterinarians cannot issue these prescriptions. |
| PortugalEurope | Legal | Any doctor may prescribe authorised products for the approved indications when conventional treatment has failed or causes significant adverse effects, with dispensing confined to pharmacies. |
| Puerto RicoNorth America | Legal | The May 2015 executive order directed the health secretary to authorise medical cannabis through the drug law’s procedures. Dispensary sales began in December 2016, followed by the 2017 Medical Cannabis Act. |
| QatarAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. Cannabis is a Schedule 1 narcotic, and the only licensed route is article 30 research cultivation or seed import for government bodies and recognised institutes. |
| RéunionAfrica | Limited | No Réunion-specific patient route exists; access follows the restricted national French medical framework, limited to patients carried over from the 2021 experiment during the transition to a permanent regime. |
| RomaniaEurope | Limited | Cannabis may be prescribed for medical use only as a pharmaceutical product. The controlled-substances law requires a prescription and permits patients to hold the prescribed quantity of their controlled medicine. |
| RussiaEurope | None verified | Patients have no domestic medical-cannabis dispensing route: marijuana, hashish and cannabis oil are listed among prohibited Schedule I narcotics. The cultivation decree permits medical poppy and industrial hemp. |
| RwandaAfrica | Limited | Medical use requires a prescription from a doctor whom the health ministry has authorised in writing to prescribe cannabis. The reviewed September 2026 pharmaceutical register contained no cannabis or cannabinoid medicine; |
| Saint Kitts and NevisNorth America | Limited | Legal under the Cannabis Act for people with a qualifying medical condition, through the Medicinal Cannabis Authority. The system is new and access is still limited. |
| Saint LuciaNorth America | None verified | No medical cannabis programme is in operation. |
| Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesNorth America | Legal | Legal since December 2018 on a medical recommendation, supplied by licensed local producers. |
| SamoaOceania | None verified | None. The Samoa Law Reform Commission recommended regulating medicinal use under section 29, not creating a dispensary scheme, and the government did not adopt it. |
| San MarinoEurope | Limited | Patients have a prescription-based route, with retail sales reserved to state pharmacies. The authorised categories include flowers, preparations and pharmaceutical raw material, but routine availability of dispensed flower has… |
| São Tomé and PríncipeAfrica | None verified | Cannabis flower, resin and oil are listed controlled drugs. The Penal Code recognises authorised controlled-drug activities and penalises doctors and pharmacists who prescribe or provide drugs for non-therapeutic purposes. |
| Saudi ArabiaAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. The law licenses some medicines containing controlled drugs, but cannabis itself remains on the prohibited-plant schedule rather than a patient-access pathway. |
| SenegalAfrica | None verified | The sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme. |
| SerbiaEurope | None verified | The current schedules place cannabis and resin on both lists 1 and 2. The law permits list-2 substances for research and exceptionally for therapy under its controls. |
| SeychellesAfrica | Limited | The 2020 rules cover defined CBD medicines, with THC and specified related substances limited to 2% of the CBD content. |
| Sierra LeoneAfrica | None verified | The Pharmacy Board's guidelines permit licensed medical cultivation and processing for export, drawing on the written-consent power in the 2001 pharmacy law. The guidelines give an effective date of 17 May 2024. |
| SingaporeAsia | Limited | No medical cannabis programme. In rare cases the health regulator has approved a cannabidiol medicine for a named patient, such as a child with drug-resistant epilepsy. |
| Sint MaartenNorth America | Limited | The ordinance contains an exemption for people who can show that they need the cannabis quantity for their own medical use and obtained it lawfully. |
| SlovakiaEurope | None verified | Growing, importing and selling cannabis for medical use remain prohibited; the country has no medical cannabis access programme. |
| SloveniaEurope | Legal | Since 20 August 2025 any physician may prescribe cannabis for any condition on their professional judgment, for up to a month at a time, either reimbursed by health insurance or self-paid. |
| Solomon IslandsOceania | Limited | Sections 13–20 contemplate regulated cannabis extracts and tinctures within the controlled-medicines system, including prescription rules, storage and authorised withdrawal by medical and pharmacy professionals. |
| SomaliaAfrica | None verified | Articles 6 and 15–17 of the 1970 law regulate institutional narcotics use, dispensing on prescription and inappropriate prescribing. This is a general medicines framework; |
| SomalilandAfrica | Limited | The inherited 1970 law provides a general medical route for controlled drugs through authorised institutions and prescription dispensing. |
| South AfricaAfrica | Limited | A patient who needs THC must find a doctor willing to apply to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority for permission to prescribe an unregistered medicine for that named patient; |
| South KoreaAsia | Limited | South Korea allows imported cannabis medicines, not domestic production or general prescribing. The MFDS approves the patient and the import, and the Korea Orphan and Essential Drug Center supplies the medicine; |
| South SudanAfrica | None verified | The code permits named medical, dental, veterinary, pharmaceutical, laboratory and state professionals to handle controlled drugs where necessary for their professional roles, including specified cannabis handling. |
| SpainEurope | Limited | A royal decree in force on 10 October 2025 lets hospital specialists prescribe a standardised cannabis solution when authorised medicines have failed, and hospital pharmacies make it up and hand it out. |
| Sri LankaAsia | Limited | Treatment is available only within the Ayurvedic system, through registered practitioners and the state Ayurvedic Drugs Corporation; traditional Ayurvedic preparations contain cannabis. |
| SudanAfrica | Limited | Article 12 permits medical and scientific activities under ministerial licence, and article 14 allows recognised universities and research institutions to hold controlled drugs, plants and seeds for scientific purposes. |
| SurinameSouth America | None verified | None. A push under the previous government to legalise medical use and home growing was dropped after the 2020 election. |
| SwedenEurope | Limited | Limited to two approved prescription medicines; anything else requires an individual licence application by the patient's doctor to the Medical Products Agency, rarely granted. |
| SwitzerlandEurope | Legal | Since 1 August 2022 doctors can prescribe cannabis medicines, including flower and pharmacy-made preparations, without a special federal health-office permit. Prescribers must report treatment data during the first two years. |
| SyriaAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. The 1993 law allows controlled narcotic medicines to be prescribed and dispensed through pharmacies, but cannabis is a prohibited plant rather than a listed medicine. |
| TaiwanAsia | Limited | A patient route exists for one CBD medicine. Epidyolex was licensed on 19 January 2024 and reimbursed from 1 April 2024 for Dravet syndrome from age two and tuberous sclerosis complex from age one, after at least three… |
| TajikistanAsia | None verified | The drug law provides licensed medical handling of controlled drugs and reserves scientific growing for licensed research institutions. It also prohibits non-prescribed use and regulates prescribing through the health ministry. |
| TanzaniaAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis. |
| ThailandAsia | Legal | The medical route is the whole legal system now: doctors, Thai traditional medicine practitioners and other licensed professionals can prescribe, often on site at the dispensary. Foreign prescriptions are not recognised. |
| Timor-LesteAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme operates. The law allows Health Ministry licensing for handling controlled drugs, but no implementing decree, registered cannabis medicine or prescribing route was found. |
| TogoAfrica | None verified | The sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme: use outside a medical prescription is prohibited, and the Code's licences cover scheduled medical activities without a cannabis patient supply. |
| TongaOceania | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. Section 6 lets a traveller undergoing treatment possess a lawfully prescribed medicine for up to one month with written doctor authority, but cannabis is not a registered Tongan medicine and there… |
| TransnistriaEurope | None verified | Transnistria operates no medical cannabis programme, and local health authorities recognise no therapeutic role for cannabis or cannabinoid preparations. |
| Trinidad and TobagoNorth America | Limited | The 2022 Act provides for medicinal-cannabis licences, including a dispensary licence, but those licences do not operate until the President proclaims a commencement date. There is no working medical programme. |
| TunisiaAfrica | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. Article 2 permits narcotics for authorised medicine and pharmacy, but no approved cannabis medicine, patient registry or prescription route was found. |
| TürkiyeAsia | Limited | Very limited. The special import list includes cannabidiol oral solution and THC/CBD mouth spray on red prescription. |
| TurkmenistanAsia | None verified | The general controlled-medicine rules require special prescriptions and supply through licensed state pharmacies. The health ministry sets the dispensing and prescription procedures. |
| TuvaluOceania | Limited | The minister can issue medical and scientific licences under the 2025 Act, subject to conditions on records, security and reporting. |
| UgandaAfrica | Limited | Medical use is permitted in principle: section 14 provides for licences for medical sale, manufacture, production and distribution, and growers need health-ministry licences. |
| UkraineEurope | Limited | Patients began receiving prescribed THC capsules on 11 June 2026, initially through six pharmacies in six cities. |
| United Arab EmiratesAsia | Limited | No high-THC medical cannabis is legal. The 2026 hemp law permits only authorised medical products that contain industrial-hemp compounds or raw materials, under the medical-products law; |
| United KingdomEurope | Limited | Legal since 1 November 2018, but only doctors on the specialist register may initiate it, and the NHS funds it for a handful of patients. |
| United StatesNorth America | Legal | 40 states have medical programmes. Most require a doctor's certification for a listed condition, a state patient card and an annual fee. |
| UruguaySouth America | Legal | Medical cannabis is legal and a 2019 law aimed to widen access, but few registered products exist, they are expensive, and most patients rely on the adult-use channels or home-made preparations instead. |
| US Virgin IslandsNorth America | Limited | The territory approved its medical cannabis programme in January 2019, sponsored by Positive T.A. Nelson. The 2023 law replaced it with a combined medical, adult-use and sacramental system; |
| UzbekistanAsia | None verified | No approved cannabis medicine or patient-access programme was found. A 2019 report said the sale of medical cannabis was prohibited and that only one state-linked company held a licence for narcotic medicines. |
| VanuatuOceania | Limited | Medical cannabis under the industry licensing Act is grown for export — the drug law lists cannabis, resin and resin-based preparations, while separated mature stalks and fibre sit outside its cannabis definition, and the… |
| VenezuelaSouth America | None verified | No medical cannabis programme operates: the law provides treatment and rehabilitation for consumers, not patient supply, and unauthorised supply and growing remain criminal. Treatment for users dates to 1984. |
| VietnamAsia | None verified | No medical cannabis programme. The 2025 drug law excludes cannabis cultivation even from licensed research and production routes, and Decree 28/2026 keeps cannabis in List I, absolutely prohibited in medicine and social life. |
| YemenAsia | None verified | No cannabis treatment programme operates. Pharmacy dispensing under the general medicines framework requires a medical prescription, but no cannabis-specific prescribing route was verified. |
| ZambiaAfrica | Limited | The Cannabis Act's licensing system for medicinal cannabis has not come into force. The Controlled Substances Act, in force since 16 January 2026, licences controlled substances used as medicine and lists cannabis. |
| ZimbabweAfrica | None verified | Production for medicinal and scientific purposes is licensed. In its 2022 report, the medicines regulator described production as export-oriented, with local use limited to research and development, and separately recorded… |