Belgium
Europe
#29 of 196 worldwide
#10 of 45 in Europe
For adults, up to 3 g or one plant is the lowest prosecution priority — usually a simple police record. Medical access is confined to a few pharmaceutical products.
Score breakdown ▏world average
Select a segment to show or hide the exact rules and sources.
Possession · 25%3/10adds 7.5 of 25 points
Cannabis remains illegal, but for adults possession of up to 3 g for personal use has the lowest prosecution priority: police make a simplified record and usually nothing further happens. This does not apply to minors, or where there is public nuisance or an aggravating circumstance such as being near a school.
Personal cultivation · 25%2/10adds 5.0 of 25 points
One cultivated plant per adult falls under the same lowest-priority rule as 3 g. It is not legal — the plant can be seized — and anything more is prosecuted.
Punishment & enforcement · 20%4/10adds 8.0 of 20 points
Adult users within the 3 g rule are not prosecuted. Above it, or with nuisance, fines and prison of three months to a year are possible, and dealing is punished more heavily.
Sharing & gifting · 10%1/10adds 1.0 of 10 points
Supply is an offence. Cannabis social clubs that tried to pool members' one-plant allowances have been prosecuted and convicted.
Consumption · 10%2/10adds 2.0 of 10 points
Use in public or in the presence of minors takes a case out of the low-priority category and leads to prosecution. Private use by adults is in practice left alone.
Legal access · 10%0/10adds 0.0 of 10 points
No legal source. There are no coffeeshops or tolerated clubs, and many Belgians buy across the Dutch border.
More context not part of the score
No licensed adult-use or general medical cultivation. Hemp is grown under EU rules.
A cannabis-based mouth spray on prescription and low-THC products sold under ambiguous rules.
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.
The police record made for small possession is not a conviction. Roadside saliva tests apply a very low THC threshold.
All sources
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