The story
A 56-year-old former flight attendant received three years in prison and a 1,000-dinar fine after a Bahrain case involving growing cannabis at home and unlawful possession of a weapon and ammunition. The court acquitted him of selling drugs, The Daily Tribune reported on 19 January 2019.[1]
Police raided after a tip-off
The newspaper said an anti-narcotics team searched the man’s home after receiving information about it. Prosecutors alleged growing for personal use and sale, alongside the weapons offences.[1]
The defendant said he grew for himself and had learned the process online. The court found insufficient evidence to convict him of selling, while the growing and weapons case still resulted in custody.[1]
Personal growing was already a crime
Bahrain’s drug law effective from 2007 expressly covered growing listed plants for personal use. It placed that conduct alongside personal possession and acquiring the plants or their seeds, with imprisonment and a fine up to 3,000 dinars.[2]
The schedule named cannabis among the prohibited plants. Fibre and seeds treated so they could not germinate had a separate exemption, while growing plants remained within the controls.[3]
For a person growing at home, the law therefore attached criminal liability to the personal-use crop itself. Proof of selling was a separate question.[2]
Intent changed the legal stakes
Growing for trafficking fell under a much more severe offence carrying death or life imprisonment and a substantial fine. Bahrain had introduced capital drug penalties in 1984, before carrying them into the replacement law.[4][2]
The distinction between personal use and trafficking mattered because the possible penalties differed sharply. The personal-use offence carried its own prison and fine provisions, while trafficking exposed a defendant to the capital-penalty regime.[2]
Treatment depended on the legal conditions
The law allowed courts to substitute treatment for the personal-use punishment where addiction was proven. It also provided a separate protection from prosecution for eligible people seeking help before being caught using or prosecuted.[2]
Those routes formed part of the same law that criminalised personal growing. Their availability depended on the treatment provisions and the person’s circumstances.[2]
A later appeal reported in 2026 concerned cannabis seeds and multiple drugs under the same wider legal framework.[5] The Bahrain profile sets out its separate rules for possession, growing, supply and treatment.
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Bahrain here.
References
- The Daily Tribune — Ex-flight attendant jailed for growing marijuana at home19 January 2019; three-year combined sentence, BHD1,000 fine; acquitted of sellingarchived
- Bahrain Legislation and Legal Opinion Commission — narcotics lawLaw 15/2007, articles 3, 26, 30–33, 38–44, 51, 54 and 60; Gazette 2804, 16 August 2007; effective next day
- Bahrain Official Gazette — original narcotics law and schedulesGazette 2804, 16 August 2007; PDF page 22, printed page 26: Tables 5 and 6; cannabis fibre and treated non-germinating seeds excluded
- Bahrain — capital drug penalties introduced in 1984Decree-Law 10/1984, replacement articles 23–24; signed 9 July; effective upon publication
- The Daily Tribune — Appeal panel reduces sentence in Bahrain drug cultivation case24 January 2026; 15 years reduced to 10, BHD5,000 fine and confiscation retained; seeds and multiple substancesarchived
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.