The story
Oman’s 1974 penal code set three months to two years in prison for holding or buying narcotic drugs for personal use. Giving drugs to another person, even without payment, fell under the much heavier trading penalty of three to ten years.[1]
Keeping drugs and supplying others were different offences
For someone holding drugs for themselves, the code prescribed imprisonment alongside a fine of fifty to five hundred rials. The offence covered both possession and purchase for personal use.[1]
Supplying another person attracted a separate rule. The code applied the trading penalty to holding drugs with the intention of giving them to someone else, whether for payment or free, and to helping another person use them by any means.[1]
That meant the absence of a sale did not remove the heavier penalty. The trading and supply rule combined three to ten years in prison with a fine of three hundred to five hundred rials.[1]
Medical authorisation provided an exception
The code excepted possession authorised by the competent authority for medical purposes. It also excepted use based on a written prescription from a licensed doctor.[1]
These rules appeared in the general penal code’s chapter on alcohol and drugs. The code began on publication on 1 April 1974, under the decree issued by Sultan Qaboos.[1]
The later drug law raised the personal-holdings minimum
In 1999 Oman adopted a dedicated drug law. Its personal-use provision set a prison minimum of one year and a fine of five hundred to three thousand rials. It expressly covered growing listed plants for personal use as well as holdings and purchase.[2]
That law named cannabis and its resin in its schedules and included male and female cannabis among prohibited plants. It also established treatment alternatives for proved dependence and protection for people seeking treatment before arrest or prosecution.[2]
The distinction continued through later reforms
The 2015 amendments expressly set one to three years for personal holdings and growing, and applied the same penalty to use. The court’s treatment alternatives continued.[3]
The 2026 replacement law retained that prison range and raised personal-use fines. Unpaid supply carried seven to fifteen years. The distinction between holding drugs for oneself and giving them to another person remains central to the rules in the Oman profile.[4]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Oman here.
References
- Oman — original Penal Code issued by Royal Decree 7/1974, Arabic text reproduced by Qanoon.omIssuance/commencement clause and Gazette 52 of 1 April 1974; articles 229–231: trading, unpaid supply, personal holdings and authorised medical use.
- Oman — original drug law issued by Royal Decree 17/1999, Arabic text reproduced by Qanoon.omDecree article 4 and Gazette 643 of 15 March 1999; law articles 43–45, 47–48 and 51–52, and cannabis schedules. Original text, not the later consolidated law.
- Oman — Royal Decree 34/2015 amending the drug law, Arabic text reproduced by Qanoon.omReplacement articles 43 and 47; added article 64 bis; final clause five starts the amendments the day after Gazette 1118 of 11 October 2015.
- Oman — replacement drug law issued by Royal Decree 67/2026, Arabic text reproduced by Qanoon.omDecree articles 3–4; law articles 37–44, 57–62 and cannabis schedules. Gazette 1664, 6 September 2026; effective 7 September.archived
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.