Cyprus presumes 30 grams or three cannabis plants are for supply

Cyprus introduced a presumption of supply intent in July 2003 for thirty grams of cannabis or three cannabis plants. A person at those quantities had to persuade the court that the drugs or plants were intended for something other than supplying another person.

Quantity could change how a case was treated

The new rule covered unlawful cultivation, possession and transport. Its table named three or more cannabis plants and thirty or more grams of cannabis or its derivatives.

The presumption could be challenged in court. It meant that quantity itself now supplied a statutory basis for treating the case as intended supply, unless the defendant established the contrary.

That distinction mattered because Cyprus’s drug law punished personal possession separately from possession with intent to supply. The latter carried a substantially higher maximum penalty.

A smaller amount still left a criminal offence

The thresholds sat within a law that already prohibited unauthorised possession and growing. Someone below the listed quantity could still face the ordinary offence, and other evidence could be relevant to an allegation of supply.

Cannabis is classified as a Class B drug. The consolidated penalty table provides up to eight years, a fine, or both for personal possession, while Class B supply offences can carry life imprisonment, a fine, or both.

Cultivation has its own offence and penalty. A crop below three plants therefore remains subject to that prohibition.

Young first offenders received a higher prison ceiling

The same amendment replaced the 1992 protection that had limited qualifying young first offenders to one year in prison.

The new wording set a two-year ceiling for use, possession or transport for personal use. Eligibility required the offender to have been under twenty-five at the time of the offence and to have no previous conviction under the drug law or its regulations.

For a young defendant, the distinction between personal use and intended supply therefore affected both the offence and access to that special sentencing ceiling.

Later exceptions developed around the continuing offences

Cyprus created a licensed industrial-hemp system in 2016 and announced restricted cannabis-oil access in 2017. Medical-production and pharmacy rules followed in 2019.

The thirty-gram and three-plant presumptions remain in the consolidated drug law. The country profile explains their role alongside the personal-possession penalty, cultivation prohibition and special rule for young first offenders.^[1][2][3]