Bolivia defines personal possession as two days of consumption

Bolivia defined immediate personal drug possession as an amount equivalent to 48 hours of consumption in regulations adopted on 28 December 1988. Two medical experts were to assess that amount, and possession above it was presumed to be trafficking.

The July law had made quantity decisive

The drug law adopted earlier that year divided people found with controlled drugs into sharply different legal routes. Dependent and occasional users holding a minimal amount for immediate personal consumption were to enter compulsory treatment until considered rehabilitated.

Possession above that quantity fell under trafficking, carrying ten to twenty-five years in prison together with a fine. Cannabis users faced this distinction because cannabis and cannabis resin appeared in the controlled list.

The July law required two specialists from a public drug-treatment institution to determine the personal-use amount. It left that assessment central to what would happen to a person carrying cannabis.

Two days still required an individual assessment

The implementing regulation supplied a time period: enough for 48 hours of consumption. It referred back to the two medical experts required by the law.

The rule expressed the amount through a person’s consumption, leaving the experts to determine the corresponding quantity. A person carrying cannabis therefore depended on an assessment of their case to establish where the personal-use boundary lay.

That mattered for someone holding a supply for several days. The regulation expressly attached a presumption of trafficking to possession above the assessed two-day amount.

Personal use still led to confinement

Falling within the personal-use quantity led to the July law’s treatment requirement. Both dependent people and occasional consumers came within its wording.

The endpoint was rehabilitation, with confinement in a public or private drug-treatment institution continuing until that condition was considered met. There was no fixed treatment duration expressed in this personal-possession rule.

For the person stopped with cannabis, the quantity assessment therefore determined whether they faced compulsory treatment or exposure to a lengthy trafficking sentence.

Later drug reforms retained the distinction

The 2017 law reorganised investigations, control of medicinal substances and asset forfeiture. Its repeal clauses removed selected parts of the 1988 law while leaving the personal-possession and trafficking offences in place.

The two-day assessment helps explain why Bolivia’s profile describes personal possession through medical evaluation. The amount remains tied to the individual’s assessed consumption, with serious consequences for crossing that boundary.^[1][2][3]