The story
A school survey presented in Kyrenia on 21 August 2026 reported that 1.2% of the 1,049 students studied had used cannabis at least once.[1] The findings gave northern Cyprus a recent account of young people’s experience alongside a criminal system that offers eligible users supervised treatment.[1][2]
Students answered about more than cannabis
The ESPAD study covered the 2025–2026 period and included alcohol, tobacco, electronic cigarettes and gambling.[1] Lifetime use of any illegal substance was reported at 1.8%.[1] The results were presented at a scientific panel organised by the Prime Ministry’s drug commission, with researchers discussing the findings and emerging substances.[1]
The panel also set out plans to repeat the survey in 2027 and develop an anonymous digital early-warning system.[1] Those were future monitoring plans; the published figures described the students surveyed in the preceding study period.[1]
A user could already be offered supervision
The 2016 supervised-release law lets eligible people convicted of possession or use accept monitoring, treatment or rehabilitation before sentencing.[2] A psychiatric assessment helps the court choose a period of one to three years, and the person must then follow the board’s programme.[2] The law requires blood and urine tests at least once every fifteen days, with a fee exemption for state-laboratory tests where Social Services certifies poverty.[2]
Successful completion means no sentence and no conviction entered on the record.[2] Breaching the programme can return the person to the ordinary criminal process.[2] Growing and supply convictions are excluded, as are specified repeat cases and certain non-citizens.[2] For cannabis users, the benefit therefore depends on the offence, eligibility and completing the requirements.[2]
The programme was still operating in September
An official September 2026 account of an addiction symposium reported 218 supervised-release participants and described reintegration as part of the commission’s work.[3] This was an all-drug programme figure, covering a different population from the students in the school survey.[1][3] The same official account described cooperation with Ankara University on research, toxicology and wastewater analysis to improve monitoring.[3] Together, the school findings and programme reports show the information and services developing around the criminal rules recorded in the Northern Cyprus profile.[1][2][3]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Northern Cyprus here.
References
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.