Macau
Asia
9/100
Not ranked: Special administrative region
would rank #107 among countries
Cannabis use, personal possession and home growing carry three months to a year in prison or a fine. Larger personal stocks can trigger production or trafficking penalties, including a lesser one-to-five-year tier. Medicines require official authorisation and controlled prescribing.
Special administrative region. Macau is a special administrative region of China with its own legal system, rooted in Portuguese law. Its drug law, Law 17/2009, is separate from mainland China's. See also 🇨🇳 China.
In short all countries →
- Can I carry it?NoIt is a crime
- Can I grow it?NoIt is a crime
- Can I buy it?NoThere is no legal source
- 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 1,600
- Share aged 12–92
- 0.26%
People who used cannabis in the past year, from a 2019-2021 survey, applied to today's population aged 12–92. The population is approximate: the survey ages cut through an age group, or were not recorded and ages 15–64 are used.
Source UNODC World Drug Report 2026, annex table 1.2. Population from the World Bank, aged 12–92. 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 acquisition or possession carries three months to one year in prison or a fine of 60–240 day-rates. Above five daily reference quantities, production or trafficking rules apply, including a lesser one-to-five-year tier. The herbal cannabis reference is 1 g per day; possession below five grams is still an offence.[1]
Personal cultivation · 25%1/10adds 2.5 of 25 points
Growing for personal use carries three months to one year in prison or a fine, with larger quantities subject to production rules.[1] In 2022 the top court applied the lesser production tier to two first offenders growing one plant; their combined sentences were one year nine months and two years.[2]
Punishment & enforcement · 20%2/10adds 4.0 of 20 points
Personal use and possession are criminal offences with prison or a fine available. Ordinary production and trafficking carry five to fifteen years; lesser cases carry one to five years, assessed using the quantity and circumstances.[1] In 2022 the top court reduced two growers’ sentences even though their plant exceeded the five-day reference quantity.[2]
Sharing & gifting · 10%0/10adds 0.0 of 10 points
Consumption · 10%0/10adds 0.0 of 10 points
Illicit consumption itself carries three months to one year in prison or a fine of 60–240 day-rates.[1]
Legal access · 10%0/10adds 0.0 of 10 points
References
- Law 17/2009 — consolidated drug offences and schedulesArticles 5, 7–8, 11, 14; Table I-C; daily-reference annex and potency notes
- Court of Final Appeal — lesser production offence for a single cannabis plant2022 · Case 79/2022, 4 November 2022; proven facts, lesser-gravity reasoning and final sentences for C and D
- Court of Final Appeal — cannabis supplied to others and shared costs2004 · Case 35/2004, 13 October 2004; summary and pp. 16–20
- Decree-Law 34/99/M — consolidated lawful controlled-drug rulesCurrent text republished following Law 27/2024; Articles 5, 9, 19–20 and 37–38
More context not part of the score
Unauthorised production ordinarily carries five to fifteen years, with a lesser one-to-five-year tier.[1] Licensed chemical and pharmaceutical businesses can seek authorisation to manufacture controlled medicines; the lawful-drug rules separately prohibit cultivating scheduled plants.[2]
Cannabis leaves and flowering or fruiting tops, resin and oil are listed in Table I-C. The quantity table distinguishes herbal cannabis from resin and oil, with potency adjustments for the latter products.[1] HHC was added to Table II-B in August 2026.[3]
There is a limited licensed-medicine route: the lawful-drug rules cover medical manufacture of scheduled substances, including the cannabis table, and supply through pharmacies or hospitals on special prescriptions. Cultivation of scheduled plants remains prohibited.[2]
Supplying other people with cannabis is punishable under the trafficking rules, including gifts.[1] The top court has also treated cost-sharing supply as trafficking.[4]
Unauthorised cannabis imports fall under the trafficking rules.[1] The traveller exception for up to thirty days of certain controlled medicines omits Table I-C, which contains cannabis, resin and oil.[2]
Since January 2017 larger personal stocks can be charged under production or trafficking rules.[5] The five-day reference quantity does not exclude the lesser tier: in 2022 the top court reduced two growers’ combined sentences from five years nine months each to one year nine months and two years.[6]
Taking cannabis into or out of Macau 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 Macau's embassy before travelling.[7]
General guidance that applies to almost every country, not a check of Macau's customs rules.
References
- Law 17/2009 — consolidated drug offences and schedulesArticles 5, 7–8, 11, 14; Table I-C; daily-reference annex and potency notes
- Decree-Law 34/99/M — consolidated lawful controlled-drug rulesCurrent text republished following Law 27/2024; Articles 5, 9, 19–20 and 37–38
- Law 12/2026 — HHC and other additions to controlled-drug schedules2026 · Published 17 August 2026; Articles 1–3; Table II-B addition and daily-reference annex
- Court of Final Appeal — cannabis supplied to others and shared costs2004 · Case 35/2004, 13 October 2004; summary and pp. 16–20
- Law 10/2016 — higher drug penalties and personal-use quantitiesIn Boletim Oficial, I Series, No. 52, 28 December 2016 · 2016 · pp. 3060–3062 and 3065; Article 1 replacement Articles 7, 8 and 14; Article 4 commencement
- Court of Final Appeal — lesser production offence for a single cannabis plant2022 · Case 79/2022, 4 November 2022; proven facts, lesser-gravity reasoning and final sentences for C and D
- International Narcotics Control Board — Travellers carrying medicines containing controlled substances
History 10 of 11 checked against a source
Score and entries per decade
9 today, from 9 before its first recorded change
This country's score Entries that moved the score Context only
Tightening ✓
Macau adds HHC to its controlled drugs
HHC, or hexahydrocannabinol, entered Macau’s controlled-drug Table II-B on 18 August 2026. The amendment also added other substances and replaced the daily-reference annex used in drug cases. Cannabis, resin and oil remained controlled under the existing law.
Easing ✓ Article
Macau’s top court keeps one drug conviction for linked growing and selling
A cannabis grower’s combined sentence stayed at nine years three months after Macau’s top court rejected prosecutors’ demand for separate production and trafficking convictions. His growing, keeping, giving and selling cannabis formed one continuous operation under a single plan; the appeal court had reduced an earlier twelve-year combined sentence. The top court also refused the grower’s request for a further reduction, citing the operation’s duration and scale.
Easing ✓ Article
Macau’s top court cuts two home growers’ sentences for a single plant
Two first offenders who grew one cannabis plant for personal use had their combined prison sentences reduced from five years nine months each to one year nine months and two years. The plant yielded 37.208 grams of leaves and flowers, above the five-day reference quantity, but the top court applied the lesser production tier after considering the whole case. The ruling showed how the lesser tier remained available under the stricter personal-use rules introduced in 2017.
Tightening ✓ Article
Macau raises personal-use penalties and exposes larger stocks to prison
Macau raised the personal-use penalty on 27 January 2017 from up to three months in prison to three months–one year, with an alternative fine of sixty–240 day-rates. Stocks above five daily reference quantities, even entirely for personal use, fell under production, trafficking or the lesser one-to-five-year tier, depending on the case. Ordinary production and trafficking minima rose from three to five years; in 2022 the top court used the lesser tier for two people growing one plant.
119−2 points
Other law ✓
Macau keeps personal-use penalties and sets a daily drug reference table
Macau’s replacement drug law took effect on 9 September 2009, keeping illicit consumption and specified personal-use acts, including growing and possession, punishable by up to three months in prison or a fine of up to sixty day-rates. A lesser production and trafficking tier carried one to five years, assessed using circumstances and five times a listed daily reference quantity. It replaced the 1991 law; the 2016 amendment later raised personal-use penalties and extended the quantity rule.
Enforcement ✓
Macau’s top court treats shared-cost cannabis supply as trafficking
Macau’s top court upheld a cannabis trafficking conviction, ruling that providing cannabis to other people counted as supply even when they shared the purchase cost. The old law’s lesser-quantity tier used a three-day personal-use reference, which the court placed at six to eight grams for cannabis; the quantity supplied exceeded it. Macau’s 2009 replacement later introduced a daily-reference table for assessing lesser production and trafficking.
Other law ✓
Macau sets licensing and prescription rules for controlled medicines
Macau’s new rules allowed licensed chemical and pharmaceutical businesses to seek authorisation to manufacture controlled medicines, including substances in the cannabis table, while prohibiting cultivation of scheduled plants. Supply to patients went through pharmacies or hospitals and special prescriptions. The law completed the lawful-supply side of the 1991 drug reforms and took effect on 1 August 1999.
Easing ✓ Article
Macau gives personal possession a fine-only alternative to prison
Macau’s 1991 replacement drug law punished personal acquisition or possession with up to three months in prison or a 500–10,000 pataca fine, replacing the old six-month prison term accompanied by a fine. Possession for therapeutic purposes had a separate fine-only penalty, and people dependent on drugs could receive treatment-related measures. The law listed cannabis, resin and oil; its personal-use approach continued in the 2009 replacement before penalties rose in 2017.
911+2 points
Easing ✓
Macau’s colonial drug amendment cuts the prison term for use to six months
Portugal published an amendment reducing Macau’s personal-use prison term from six months–one year to a fixed six months, accompanied by a fine. It retained separate penalties for supplying drugs to others. The later 1991 replacement introduced a fine as an alternative to prison for personal acquisition or possession.
Other law ✓
Macau’s colonial drug law jails users and requires medicine prescriptions
Portugal published a consolidated drug law for Macau under which illicit use and personal possession carried six months to a year in prison plus a fine; cannabis, resin and preparations were expressly listed. Doctors and pharmacies had a controlled prescription route, while giving drugs away and selling them carried separate prison penalties. The decree brought earlier local controls together; later amendments reduced the personal-use prison term.
Ban ≈
Macau first restricts cannabis
No first law on cannabis is recorded here for Macau. Portugal's 1962 decree gathered Macau's existing rules on narcotics into one law, so its first restriction is assumed to fall between the 1925 Geneva convention and 1962.
1009−91 points
Datasets not part of the score
What other organisations publish about Macau, and where it stands among the countries each one covers. Every file is published in full on the sources page.
Use
UNODC · 2021
Cannabis use
0.26%of adults
LowestHigher than 4% of 196 countriesHighest1,600 people · survey 2019–2021 · ages 12–92 · UNODC 2026
Law
UNODC · 2024
Police contact for drug use or possession
9.7per 100,000 people
4.8 · 20206.0 · 20213.1 · 20224.4 · 20239.7 · 202420202024 FewerHigher than 24% of 101 countriesMore66 people in 2024 · all drugs together
UNODC · 2024
Cannabis seized
9kg in 2024
0 · 20151 · 2016246 · 20170 · 20180 · 20190 · 20202 · 20211 · 20220 · 20239 · 202420152024 Less seizedHigher than 4% of 163 countriesMore seized9 kg of herb · 0 kg in 2015 · 0 kg in 2020
Society
OpenAlex · 2025
Research on cannabis
4.4papers per million people
1.5 · 20102.9 · 20184.4 · 20191.5 · 20202.9 · 20217.3 · 20221.5 · 20244.4 · 202520102025 LowestHigher than 82% of 176 countriesHighest3 papers in 2025 · 1 in 2010
CEPII
Former colonial rulers
Once ruled by Portugal
World Bank · 2025
Government effectiveness
76of 100
57 · 199656 · 199856 · 200067 · 200278 · 200379 · 200477 · 200567 · 200667 · 200767 · 200875 · 200975 · 201075 · 201164 · 201264 · 201376 · 201476 · 201572 · 201676 · 201772 · 201872 · 201972 · 202072 · 202172 · 202272 · 202372 · 202476 · 202519962025 LowestHigher than 86% of 195 countriesHighestestimate 1.16 on a scale of −2.5 to 2.5 · 2025 · 56 in 2000 · 76 in 2015
Pew Research Center · 2020
Most common religion
Religiously Unaffiliated
Religiously Unaffiliated · 2010Religiously Unaffiliated · 202020102020 the largest group · 2020
World Bank · 2025
Income per person
$117,098per person
55,301 · 199054,602 · 199158,653 · 199259,590 · 199360,121 · 199460,206 · 199559,115 · 199658,640 · 199755,297 · 199853,348 · 199955,995 · 200057,174 · 200161,626 · 200267,995 · 200384,004 · 200487,186 · 200593,828 · 2006102,880 · 2007102,475 · 2008104,911 · 2009130,758 · 2010155,385 · 2011164,239 · 2012174,570 · 2013162,813 · 2014123,194 · 2015120,530 · 2016133,323 · 2017139,541 · 2018133,454 · 201959,662 · 202073,374 · 202159,921 · 2022104,815 · 2023111,694 · 2024117,098 · 202519902025 LowestHigher than 98% of 187 countriesHighestat purchasing power parity, 2021 dollars · 2025 · $55,301 in 1990 · $130,758 in 2010
World Bank · 2024
Development indicators
89.8%use the internet
0% · 19900% · 19940.3% · 19950.7% · 19962.4% · 19977% · 19989.2% · 199913.6% · 200022.5% · 200125.2% · 200225.7% · 200331.5% · 200434.9% · 200546.4% · 200647.3% · 200749.2% · 200854% · 200955.2% · 201060.2% · 201161.3% · 201265.8% · 201369.8% · 201477.6% · 201581.6% · 201683.2% · 201783.8% · 201886.5% · 201987.5% · 202088.5% · 202189.5% · 202289.8% · 202389.8% · 202419902024 LowestHigher than 71% of 195 countriesHighest100% live in towns · 14.3% aged 65+ · life expectancy 83.3 · higher education 141.9% · 2024 · 13.6% in 2000 · 55.2% in 2010
Context
Our World in Data, World Bank · 2021
Population
682,070people in 2021
LowestHigher than 16% of 196 countriesHighest
All sources 6 cited in this profile
- Law 17/2009 — consolidated drug offences and schedulesArticles 5, 7–8, 11, 14; Table I-C; daily-reference annex and potency notes
- Decree-Law 34/99/M — consolidated lawful controlled-drug rulesCurrent text republished following Law 27/2024; Articles 5, 9, 19–20 and 37–38
- Law 10/2016 — higher drug penalties and personal-use quantitiesIn Boletim Oficial, I Series, No. 52, 28 December 2016 · 2016 · pp. 3060–3062 and 3065; Article 1 replacement Articles 7, 8 and 14; Article 4 commencement
- Court of Final Appeal — lesser production offence for a single cannabis plant2022 · Case 79/2022, 4 November 2022; proven facts, lesser-gravity reasoning and final sentences for C and D
- Court of Final Appeal — cannabis supplied to others and shared costs2004 · Case 35/2004, 13 October 2004; summary and pp. 16–20
- Law 12/2026 — HHC and other additions to controlled-drug schedules2026 · Published 17 August 2026; Articles 1–3; Table II-B addition and daily-reference annex
Last updated: · 6 sources · history: 10 of 11 entries checked