Solomon Islands’ Dangerous Drugs Act commences

The official reprint of Solomon Islands’ Dangerous Drugs Act traces its legislative foundation to Act 4 of 1941, which commenced on 14 April 1941. That is a verified date in the Act’s history. It is not, by itself, proof that every present cannabis offence appeared in the original enactment.

The endnotes also list amendments from 1949, 1953, 1967 and 1968 and legal notices from 1978. Until the original enactment and relevant amendments are compared, the first cannabis restriction remains estimated in this database. A later consolidation cannot safely supply the original wording of a provision.

The inherited cannabis controls

The authorised reprint defines Indian hemp as either Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica, or any portion. Part I also covers cannabis resin and preparations based on resin. Section 5 prohibits importing or exporting cannabis seed and plant portions. Sections 7 and 8 prohibit cultivation even for private use, possession, sale and giving cannabis to another person. There is no recreational gift or small-grow exemption in those provisions.

Section 12 separately creates offences involving smoking and using prepared opium. Those opium-specific words should not be substituted for the cannabis offence wording. Possession associated with cannabis use remains criminal, but the reviewed cannabis provision does not itself expressly list consumption as a separate act.

Different courts, different maximums

Section 39 gives the general penalties where no other punishment is specified. On summary conviction, the maximum is 5,000 penalty units, six months’ imprisonment or both. On conviction by the court sitting with assessors, it is 100,000 penalty units, ten years or both.

Reporting only the summary maximum conceals the higher route. Reporting the units as dollars without checking the applicable conversion also risks giving a false cash tariff. Neither maximum establishes the sentence normally imposed for a small personal amount.

The endnotes identify the Penalties Miscellaneous Amendments Act 2009 as amending sections 35 and 39 from 1 October 2009. They do not, on their own, establish the size of a cash increase compared with the previous version.

A separate pharmaceutical framework

Sections 13–20 include cannabis extracts and tinctures within the controlled-medicines framework. They provide for regulation of manufacture, prescriptions, imports, storage and withdrawal by authorised health professionals. That statutory framework is distinct from permission to cultivate cannabis or evidence of a functioning patient supply service.

The government catalogue lists the reprint, incorporating amendments through 1 October 2009, as current. Parliament’s committee subsequently called for submissions on Bill 9 of 2025, with a deadline and announced inquiry start of 17 February 2026. The proposal is retained as a debate event: later enactment and commencement were not established in this review.^[1][2][3]