The story
Abkhazia’s cabinet announced a ten-plant threshold for large-scale cannabis cultivation on 25 August 2026. The decision amended the existing quantity rules and was to take effect upon official publication, placing ten Cannabis plants within the more serious growing tier.[1]
Cannabis was named in the decision
The cabinet announcement listed plants of the Cannabis genus among those covered by the ten-plant threshold. It applied the same number to several other controlled species, including drug-containing poppies, coca and khat.[1]
The change amended the cabinet’s July 2013 quantity rules, which courts used to distinguish ordinary and larger drug cases. The announcement connected the new plant number specifically to the criminal cultivation offence.[1]
Smaller grows still faced a prison offence
The cultivation wording adopted in 2009 prescribed six to eight years in prison and a fine for ordinary unlawful sowing or growing, expressly including cannabis. Group, organised-group or large-scale cultivation carried ten to twelve years.[2]
The plant threshold therefore determined access to the larger tier within an existing criminal offence. Ordinary unlawful growing already had its own substantial prison range.[2]
For a person cultivating cannabis, the number of plants mattered alongside whether other aggravating circumstances, such as group activity, applied.[2]
Cultivation covered preparing growing conditions
In its October 2025 guidance, the Supreme Court described cultivation broadly. It included creating special conditions for sowing and growing, carrying out the sowing and growing, improving cultivation methods and breeding varieties for better yield or resistance to poor weather.[3]
The court also explained that growing combined with producing drugs from the plants, holding or transporting them, or supplying them could lead to charges under several offences together. The cultivation offence addressed the plants, while other rules addressed what happened to the resulting drugs.[3]
Growing and using had different penalties
Abkhazia’s 2023 cannabis-use reform set three days’ administrative arrest for non-prescribed cannabis or hashish use, and ten days for repetition within a year.[4]
Possession without supply intent remained a criminal offence with one to three years in its ordinary tier. Growing and supply had their own prison ranges, separate from the shorter administrative use penalty.[2]
The Abkhazia profile follows those distinctions. The ten-plant announcement adds a concrete quantity to the cultivation rules alongside the code’s ordinary and aggravated growing offences.
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Abkhazia here.
References
- Apsnypress — cabinet sets large quantities for drug-containing plants25 August 2026 announcement; ten plants includes Cannabis; decision says commencement upon official publication
- Abkhazia Supreme Court — Criminal CodeArticles 54, 79–80, 223–224.1, 228–229; amendments through August 2023; 2009 and 2012 drug provisions; capital-tier commencement note 1 March 2020
- Abkhazia Supreme Court — guidance on drug offencesPlenum decision 14 of 17 October 2025, Bulletin 1/2026, printed pages 83–91; paragraphs 3, 12–16, 23, 26–28
- Abkhazia Supreme Court — Administrative Offences CodeArticle 45, as amended by Law 5601 of 3 April 2023; three days for cannabis/hashish use, ten for repetition; voluntary medical-help exemption
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.