Pohnpei establishes a distinct state controlled-substances framework

Pohnpei’s controlled-substances framework demonstrates why Micronesia’s national drug code cannot supply a single penalty for every local case. The state Code attributes the relevant possession, transfer and conditional-discharge provisions to State Law 2L-198-91, dated 27 June 1991. Its 2012 advance edition permits custody for a small amount even though the published national code gives a maximum fifty-dollar fine for an ounce or less.

Small possession is treated differently across the states

The following comparison concerns the published texts reviewed, not usual sentences or a certified account of every amendment through 2026. Amounts are in the dollars printed in the sources.

Jurisdiction or source	Possession of one ounce or less
National Code, section 1142	Fine up to $50
Pohnpei, 66 PC 4-124	Up to one month, $100 or both
Yap, section 1008(c)(1)	Up to thirty days, $100 or both; first drug offender subject only to a fine
Kosrae, sections 13.531 and 13.1303	Category-three misdemeanor: up to six months, $500 or both
Chuuk website’s retained 1980 Trust Territory appendix	Fine up to $50, but expressly an unrevised historical reference; current Chuuk rule not established

An offence can remain criminal even when its penalty is fine-only. Conversely, a statutory prison maximum does not establish how often judges impose custody. Both distinctions matter when comparing the country profile with a particular state.

A narrower rule for unpaid transfers

Pohnpei section 4-123(3) treats distributing no more than an ounce without payment under its small-possession provision. That avoids the ordinary trafficking penalty, but still permits up to a month in prison, a hundred-dollar fine or both. It is therefore different from the national code’s fifty-dollar treatment of the same kind of small unpaid transfer.

The exception is also not universal across the states. Yap’s published delivery offence does not contain an equivalent small-gift carve-out; it permits up to three years, five thousand dollars or both. Kosrae’s trafficking provision includes delivery without a gift exception in that section. No recreational club or collective-growing permission follows from Pohnpei’s or the national code’s narrower transfer rule.

Conditional discharge and records

Pohnpei section 4-130 permits a qualifying first possession offender, with consent, to receive probation without entry of a judgment of guilt. Successful completion leads to discharge and dismissal, without a conviction for the statutory disqualifications addressed by the section. The person may then seek an order expunging official records, apart from a nonpublic record retained to determine eligibility in later proceedings. The route may be used only once.

That is a meaningful distinction from an unavoidable conviction. It is nevertheless discretionary, and the text does not establish the number of people who receive it. The same route was not verified for all four states.

Edition and jurisdiction gaps remain

The Pohnpei source is a legislative publication labelled a 2012 advance edition. The Yap and Kosrae website texts are unofficial editions with stated update limits. Chuuk’s appendix expressly reproduces old Trust Territory provisions for reference without revising them. These differences in source status remain visible in the profile.

State-law comparison also does not resolve the national jurisdiction question left open in the 2023 Ehsa order. The updated country profile retains provisional numerical ratings while later amendments and representative sentencing outcomes remain under review. The documented state differences should be read alongside those ratings rather than replaced by the national code’s smallest fine.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}