Faroe Islands
Europe
12/100
Not ranked: Self-governing territory
would rank #72 among countries
Recreational possession and growing remain offences, including small personal quantities. Doctors have been able to prescribe medical cannabis through a trial scheme since April 2019. Patients receiving it are told not to drive.
Self-governing territory. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark with their own parliament, the Løgting. Narcotics are covered by the law on euphoriant substances as it applies in the islands, and Denmark answers for them internationally. See also 🇩🇰 Denmark.
In short all countries →
- Can I carry it?NoIt is a crime
- Can I grow it?NoIt is a crime
- Can I buy it?LimitedOn prescription only
- Can I use it in public?NoUse itself is an offence
- What if I'm caught?Fine or prisonUsually a fine; prison is possible
A rough guide read from the scores below, not legal advice. The details and the exceptions are in each segment: select an answer to jump to it.
- Cannabis users
- about 2,000
- Share aged 15–64
- about 5.75%
This site's figure: there is no national survey, so the median rate of surveyed countries in Europe is applied to people aged 15–64.
Source A median computed on this site from surveyed countries in Europe, using UNODC World Drug Report 2026 figures. Population from the World Bank, aged 15–64. The whole dataset →Score breakdown ▏world average
Select a segment to show or hide the exact rules and sources. How the scores are made →
Possession · 25%1/10adds 2.5 of 25 points
Personal cultivation · 25%1/10adds 2.5 of 25 points
Punishment & enforcement · 20%2/10adds 4.0 of 20 points
Sharing & gifting · 10%1/10adds 1.0 of 10 points
Consumption · 10%1/10adds 1.0 of 10 points
Legal access · 10%1/10adds 1.0 of 10 points
References
- Lovtidende — Faroese euphoriant-substances regulations, effective 15 June 2026Order 495 of 26 May 2026, §§ 1, 3–6, 16 and 33; list B item 83
- Føroya Politi — Annual statistics 2025Foreword pp. 2–3; printed p. 16, drug offences and hash seizures
- Lógasavn — Faroese euphoriant-substances order, consolidated in 2015Preamble, §§ 1–4 and commencement notes; Order 347 of 21 December 1956 and later amendments
- Chief Medical Officer, Faroe Islands — Medical cannabisConfirms trial use permitted since April 2019
More context not part of the score
The regulations permit licensed cannabis cultivation for medical manufacturing, raw pharmaceutical materials and supplying other authorised growers.[1] Commercial low-THC crops need a separate annual permit, with a 0.2% THC ceiling and plots of at least 0.3 hectares.[1]
Official prescribing guidance describes dronabinol and cannabidiol preparations made from plant extracts as oils and capsules.[2] In July 2019 the Pharmacy Service also ordered cannabis flower from the Netherlands at a doctor’s request, alongside the drops already supplied to patients.[3]
The cannabis definition excludes hemp seeds and isolated hemp fibre.[1] Growing plants is separately regulated and requires a permit, including the specified low-THC commercial route.[1]
The Chief Medical Officer confirms a medical-cannabis trial has operated since April 2019.[4] Joint prescribing guidance identifies pain, multiple sclerosis, spinal-cord injury and chemotherapy-related nausea among treatment areas, with conventional medicines tried first and the decision documented.[2] It recommends specialist prescribing for neurological conditions and chemotherapy-related symptoms.[2]
The reviewed regulations authorise medical and scientific handling of controlled drugs; they provide no recreational growing-and-supply route for clubs.[1]
Police seized 29.58 kg of hashish in 2025, compared with 69.69 kg in 2024 and 16.25 kg in 2021.[5] Their strategic drug-enforcement focus is on organisers and larger middlemen.[5]
Driving with THC above 0.001 mg per kg of blood is prohibited when it was not taken under a lawful prescription.[6] Prescribed THC also falls under the prohibition if taken contrary to the prescription, and the law separately prohibits driving when unable to do so safely.[6] The Pharmacy Service advises patients not to drive while receiving medical cannabis.[7]
Visitors have no authorised recreational supply: cannabis may be handled only through the permitted medical and scientific routes.[1] Small personal quantities are prosecuted when discovered, according to Faroese police.[5]
Police recorded 62 drug-law reports in 2025, down from 107 in 2024 and 142 in 2021.[5] These are reports covering controlled drugs generally, rather than a count of cannabis users arrested.[5]
The Pharmacy Service tells patients they may not drive while receiving medical cannabis.[7] It also stresses reporting adverse reactions because trial products are subject to different evidence requirements from approved medicines.[7]
Taking cannabis into or out of Faroe Islands is a separate offence from possessing it, normally charged as smuggling or trafficking, with far heavier penalties. That holds almost everywhere, including between two places where cannabis is legal.
A prescription or medical card from another country is generally not recognised. Travellers who need a cannabis-based medicine should ask Faroe Islands's embassy before travelling.[8]
General guidance that applies to almost every country, not a check of Faroe Islands's customs rules.
References
- Lovtidende — Faroese euphoriant-substances regulations, effective 15 June 2026Order 495 of 26 May 2026, §§ 1, 3–6, 16 and 33; list B item 83
- Chief Medical Officer and Chief Pharmacist — Medical cannabis: guidance for use in the Faroe IslandsPDF pp. 2–3: April 2019 trial, indications, prescribers, documentation and follow-up
- Kringvarp Føroya — Medical cannabis on its way, 22 July 2019
- Chief Medical Officer, Faroe Islands — Medical cannabisConfirms trial use permitted since April 2019
- Føroya Politi — Annual statistics 2025Foreword pp. 2–3; printed p. 16, drug offences and hash seizures
- Lógasavn — Faroese Road Traffic Act, current consolidated text§ 15(1)–(2), THC threshold, prescription conditions and unsafe driving
- Faroese Pharmacy Service — Medical cannabisTrial access since April 2019; driving and adverse-event reporting
- International Narcotics Control Board — Travellers carrying medicines containing controlled substances
History 6 of 7 checked against a source
Entries per decade
Entries that moved the score Context only
Medical ✓
The Faroese pharmacy service orders cannabis flower for a patient
The Faroese Pharmacy Service placed an order for cannabis buds from a Dutch supplier after a doctor requested them. Existing cannabis drops were already prescribed to 61 patients, but this order concerned flower. The order followed the April 2019 opening of the medical trial scheme, which the Chief Medical Officer later confirmed.
Medical ✓ Article
Faroese doctors can prescribe cannabis through a medical trial scheme
Doctors in the Faroe Islands gained access to a medical-cannabis trial scheme in April 2019, as confirmed by the Chief Medical Officer and Pharmacy Service. Joint prescribing guidance recommends trying conventional medicines first, documenting the reason for treatment and monitoring the patient; it identifies pain, multiple sclerosis, spinal-cord injury and chemotherapy-related nausea among the treatment areas. The wider access followed parliamentary pressure, and by July the pharmacy service had ordered cannabis flower from the Netherlands.
Debate ✓
Faroese MPs reopen the debate over access to medical cannabis
MP Jenis á Rana resubmitted a proposal to let Faroese patients join Denmark’s medical-cannabis trial after parliament rejected it in 2018. Many MPs now supported wider access but argued that the health minister could add products to the medicines list without a new law. Minister Sirið Stenberg offered to discuss that route with the social affairs committee; official medical guidance dates the trial scheme’s start to April 2019.
Debate ✓ Article
A new Faroese party campaigns for the right to grow and use cannabis
Hallur Hjalgrímsson Djurhuus announced a party campaigning for people to grow and use cannabis, with medical access a particular priority. It sought the 800 signatures needed to contest an election while remaining neutral on other issues. The founders submitted those signatures in February 2019 as the separate medical-cannabis debate returned to parliament.
Tightening ✓ Article
The Faroe Islands toughen sentencing for drug sales at youth events
Courts in the Faroe Islands must treat drug sales, or free transfers intended for later sale, at clubs, concerts, festivals and other youth events as a significant aggravating factor. The update also requires sentences and fines to reflect the harmfulness of the drug and allows controls over groups of substances. Faroese police and customs had sought an update because newer drugs were falling outside the islands’ rules. The order took effect on 20 December 2014.
Other law ✓
Denmark extends its drug-control law to the Faroe Islands
Denmark issued a separate order applying its euphoriant-substances law to the Faroe Islands, providing the basis for the islands’ later drug controls. The law carried forward controls from an older opium statute; later amendments in 1969, 1988 and 2014 changed the scheme.
Ban ≈
The Faroe Islands first restricts cannabis
No first law on cannabis is recorded here for the Faroe Islands. Denmark's Euphoriant Substances Act of 1955 is the law applied there, so the first restriction is assumed to fall between 1955 and 1979.
10012−88 points
Datasets not part of the score
What other organisations publish about Faroe Islands, and where it stands among the countries each one covers. Every file is published in full on the sources page.
Use
UNODC
Cannabis use
5.75%of adults
LowestHigher than 68% of 196 countriesHighest2,000 people · median of surveyed countries in the region, computed here
ESPAD
Is cannabis easy to get? (students, Europe)
11.2%of students say it is easy to get
LowestHigher than 6% of 36 countriesHighest13.8% of boys · 8.4% of girls · aged 15–16 · 2024
ESPAD · 2024
Students who have tried cannabis (Europe)
5.1%of students have tried it
11.3% · 19957.3% · 19998.8% · 20036.2% · 20074.9% · 20115.9% · 20159.4% · 20195.1% · 202419952024 LowestHigher than 8% of 36 countriesHighestaged 15–16 · 2024 · 7.3% in 1999 · 4.9% in 2011
Society
CEPII
Former colonial rulers
Once ruled by Denmark
World Bank · 2024
Income per person
$72,114per person
54,263 · 200851,535 · 200951,480 · 201053,441 · 201157,525 · 201260,950 · 201364,019 · 201464,010 · 201564,156 · 201665,462 · 201766,192 · 201868,137 · 201966,038 · 202068,433 · 202170,268 · 202271,828 · 202372,114 · 202420082024 LowestHigher than 95% of 187 countriesHighestat purchasing power parity, 2021 dollars · 2024 · $51,480 in 2010
World Bank · 2017
Development indicators
97.6%use the internet
0% · 19900% · 19952.3% · 19964.6% · 199711.3% · 199822.3% · 199932.9% · 200043.2% · 200153.3% · 200258.9% · 200366.5% · 200467.9% · 200569.4% · 200676% · 200775.6% · 200875.2% · 200975.2% · 201080.7% · 201185.3% · 201290% · 201393.3% · 201494.2% · 201595.1% · 201697.6% · 201719902017 LowestHigher than 93% of 195 countriesHighest38.3% live in towns · 17.3% aged 65+ · life expectancy 82.1 · 2017 · 32.9% in 2000 · 75.2% in 2010
Context
Our World in Data, World Bank · 2025
Population
54,684people in 2025
LowestHigher than 4% of 196 countriesHighest
All sources 8 cited in this profile
- Lógasavn — Faroese euphoriant-substances order, consolidated in 2015Preamble, §§ 1–4 and commencement notes; Order 347 of 21 December 1956 and later amendments
- Faroese Pharmacy Service — Medical cannabisTrial access since April 2019; driving and adverse-event reporting
- Chief Medical Officer, Faroe Islands — Medical cannabisConfirms trial use permitted since April 2019
- Chief Medical Officer and Chief Pharmacist — Medical cannabis: guidance for use in the Faroe IslandsPDF pp. 2–3: April 2019 trial, indications, prescribers, documentation and follow-up
- Kringvarp Føroya — Medical cannabis on its way, 22 July 2019
- Lovtidende — Faroese euphoriant-substances regulations, effective 15 June 2026Order 495 of 26 May 2026, §§ 1, 3–6, 16 and 33; list B item 83
- Føroya Politi — Annual statistics 2025Foreword pp. 2–3; printed p. 16, drug offences and hash seizures
- Lógasavn — Faroese Road Traffic Act, current consolidated text§ 15(1)–(2), THC threshold, prescription conditions and unsafe driving
Last updated: · 8 sources · history: 6 of 7 entries checked