Enforcement
Arrests, raids, seizures, crackdowns and how a law was applied.
74 entries, 1946–2026 · 1 moved a score · back to the whole history
World average score and Enforcement entries per decade
13.2 today, from 99.1 in 1860
World average score, every country counted the same Entries that moved a score Context only
No entries for the chosen countries here.
🇹🇬 Togo Enforcement ✓
Togo reports over 50 tonnes of drugs seized, mainly cannabis
Togo reported that security forces had seized more than 50 tonnes of drugs in 2025, mainly cannabis, alongside 52 kg of cocaine and psychotropic drugs. Security minister Calixte Madjoulba pointed to the seizures as evidence of anti-trafficking work. The report described Togo’s port and position on the Abidjan–Lagos corridor as routes used by traffickers, following the January destruction of cannabis seized in 2024.
🇧🇾 Belarus Enforcement ✓
Belarus reports more drug sentences served under restriction of liberty
The Prosecutor General’s Office reported that restriction of liberty made up 48% of drug sentences in the previous year, with personal-use offences its most frequent application. Short custodial sentences rose from 0.14% to 3.4% of sentences. The figures covered drug offences generally and followed the 2025 expansion of sentencing options.
🇬🇱 Greenland Debate ✓
Greenland's government puts customs and prevention first on hash
Greenland’s government backed stronger customs controls and prevention in its response to a parliamentary debate on reducing hash use. It pointed to funding for three to five additional customs officers in the 2025 budget and Allorfik’s expanding cannabis treatment and counselling since 2016. Its response linked action to children and families and the national public-health strategy.
🇹🇬 Togo Enforcement ✓
Togo burns over five tonnes of cannabis seized in 2024
Togo reported burning more than 5,291 kg of cannabis seized across the country in 2024, within a total of 5,729.05 kg of drugs destroyed at Agoè in Lomé. The anti-drug office and national anti-drug committee supervised the operation. Security minister Calixte Batossie Madjoulba presented the destruction as part of the government’s effort to protect public health and young people.
🇬🇦 Gabon Enforcement ✓
Gabon's police say cannabis seizures more than doubled in 2025
The commander of the National Police Forces, General Serge Hervé Ngoma, reported that cannabis was the drug most often intercepted by the police: seizures rose from 433 kg in 2024 to 975 kg in 2025. The anti-drug office OCLAD took part in operations that seized nearly one tonne. He presented the rise as a sign of growing use and trafficking.
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🇲🇪 Montenegro Enforcement ✓
Montenegro police arrest a third suspect in the Trnovo cannabis case
Police arrested a 31-year-old man from Bar, identified as N.D., on suspicion of drug production and supply in the Trnovo investigation. The August operation had uncovered about 13,100 cannabis plants and led to two arrests. Investigators said they were continuing to identify people involved in cultivation and distribution; further complaints followed in March 2026.
🇲🇭 Marshall Islands Tightening ✓ Article
Marshall Islands requires reports of witnessed drug activity
Anyone who witnesses activities involving drugs must report them to national or local police under an amendment effective on 6 October 2025. Failure to report carries a $1,000 fine, while good-faith reporters receive confidentiality and protection from civil or criminal liability. The amendment also expressly added marijuana and marijuana concentrate to the definition of a prohibited drug.
🇲🇪 Montenegro Enforcement ✓ Article
Montenegro police find about 13,100 cannabis plants near Bar
Police reported finding eight connected cannabis plots with about 13,100 plants in Trnovo, in Bar municipality, and arresting two men aged 40 and 65 on suspicion of drug production and supply. The site had irrigation and security equipment, and officers collected evidence and cut down plants. Police described it as the country’s largest discovered marijuana plantation; the investigation brought a third arrest in October and complaints against two further suspects in March 2026.
🇬🇳 Guinea Enforcement ✓
Guinea's gendarmes seize 1,725 kg of cannabis in a minibus
The gendarmerie's research brigade in Kindia intercepted a minibus on the road from Bambaya carrying 1,725 kg of cannabis; the driver abandoned it and was arrested four days later. The operation was part of an anti-drug campaign launched by the prosecutor general at the Conakry court of appeal, and the Kindia prosecutor was informed.
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso Enforcement ✓
Burkina Faso drug users face jail and scarce alternatives to prison
Drug users were jailed and treatment orders were rarely implemented, according to Mainline's country sheet based on research and civil-society interviews. It reported missing treatment protocols, infrastructure and clear responsibilities, despite the drug legislation allowing judges to order care in place of or alongside punishment.
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🇱🇦 Laos Enforcement ✓
Laos reports 3.6 tonnes of marijuana seized in eleven months
Authorities reported 5,168 arrests across 3,395 drug cases over eleven months, including 199 foreigners, in a report to parliament on 20 November. Seizures included 3,583 kilograms of marijuana alongside large quantities of methamphetamine and other drugs. Public Security Minister Vilay Lakhamphong also reported 5,132 people receiving support through drug-treatment and rehabilitation centres, of whom 2,513 had completed treatment and returned home.
🇨🇬 Congo Enforcement ✓
Congo gendarmes link a cannabis seizure to an agriculture official
An official report described the arrest in Owando of a young adult carrying 52 wrapped cannabis portions, followed by a search of an agriculture official's home where more cannabis and an elephant tusk were found. The suspects were presented to the prosecutor. The report, dated 20 November, still cited the colonial-era 1916 poisonous-substances law as a basis for cannabis enforcement.
🇨🇫 Central African Republic Enforcement ✓
Bangui police destroy cannabis seized along the river and in markets
The anti-drug office destroyed seized cannabis and other products after operations along the Oubangui river, in Boy-Rabe and at Combattant market. Radio Ndeke Luka reported that the seizures took place from 14 to 20 October, before the destruction on 5 November.
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🇹🇬 Togo Enforcement ✓ Article
Togo seizes 1.5 tonnes of cannabis hidden in a bus
Security officials in Lomé presented 1,541.60 kg of cannabis and three arrested suspects after stopping a bus arriving from Ghana during the night of 14–15 September. According to the authorities, the cannabis was hidden among second-hand clothing and was being taken to Benin through Togo. The national press agency described the operation as part of the anti-drug office’s campaign against cross-border trafficking.
🇲🇬 Madagascar Enforcement ✓
Madagascar's gendarmerie seizes 53 tonnes of cannabis in a year
The Gendarmerie Nationale seized close to 53 tonnes of cannabis during 2020. An Antsiranana operation in May and June seized more than 16 tonnes, destroyed over 80,000 plants and led to 80 arrests; another operation burned more than 100 hectares at Analabe in July. A GI-TOC investigation found that cannabis supplied rural livelihoods and domestic markets while officers described difficulties policing armed trafficking groups in remote growing areas.
🇰🇭 Cambodia Debate ✓ Article
Amnesty calls for Cambodia to end punishment for personal drug use
Amnesty International called for decriminalising personal drug use, possession and growing after investigating Cambodia's anti-drug campaign. Its research, based on 51 interviews, documented allegations of arbitrary detention, torture and abuses in prisons and detention centres, with poor communities especially exposed. It urged the government to replace compulsory detention with voluntary, evidence-based health services; its findings concerned the wider drug campaign rather than a cannabis-only sample.
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🇽🇰 Kosovo Debate ✓
Kosovo commentator calls for regulated cannabis legalisation
Pristina consultant Kushtrim Shaipi argued that regulated cannabis legalisation could serve Kosovo better than penalisation, criticising police checkpoints and raids in bars and clubs. His Kosovo 2.0 opinion appeared six months after the new criminal code retained prison exposure for cannabis possession, including a lower tier for first-time offenders with less than three grams.
🇬🇳 Guinea Enforcement ✓
Guinea defence challenges cannabis charges against eleven young men
Eleven young men appeared in Dixinn after cannabis arrests in Ratoma; prosecutors sought prison for some and acquittal for four. Their lawyer challenged the possession evidence and the requested fines, arguing that the law linked fines to the value of drugs seized.
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🇸🇹 São Tomé and Príncipe Enforcement ✓ Article
São Tomé port police seize over a kilogram of cannabis on a Lagos ship
Police detained a Nigerian crew member and a São Toméan alleged accomplice after intercepting more than a kilogram of liamba, or cannabis, at São Tomé’s port. Criminal investigation police director Suleimany Tenjua said the seizure involved a ship on the Lagos–São Tomé route; the two detainees were to be brought before the judicial authorities. State news agency STP-PRESS reported the operation the following day.
🇸🇩 Sudan Enforcement ✓
Sudanese police destroy 500 cannabis farms in a month
A force of 366 men with 29 vehicles, a helicopter and drones spent the harvest month in El Radoom, destroyed about 500 farms and seized more than 30,000 packages of cannabis and 54,000 pieces of hashish. An armed group ambushed them and two officers were wounded. The interior minister announced agreements with South Sudan and the Central African Republic against cross-border trafficking, and said the district needed development, since traders exploited its people.
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🇻🇮 US Virgin Islands Other law ✓ Article
US Virgin Islands court rejects a vague cannabis-smell stop
The Superior Court suppressed evidence from Victor Cannergeiter’s vehicle because prosecutors had not shown a sufficiently specific reason for the stop. Although the court said a trained officer could still stop a vehicle after detecting cannabis smell despite the 2014 possession reform, it found the officer’s general statement and unproven experience inadequate in this case. The evidence included cannabis and a firearm discovered after the stop.
🇬🇱 Greenland Debate ✓
Greenland proposes a joint plan to curb hash supply and dependence
Greenland’s health department proposed a national hash action plan combining action against supply with prevention and treatment. A later independent review says the full plan remained a proposal, while some activities proceeded through the public-health programme. In 2026 the government again emphasised prevention and customs controls.
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🇨🇲 Cameroon Other law ✓
Cameroon creates an inter-ministerial committee against cannabis growing
The government created an Inter-ministerial Committee for the Fight against the Cultivation of Cannabis, attached to the Prime Minister's Office. The committee adopted an action plan for 2017.
🇷🇼 Rwanda Enforcement ✓
Rwanda reports 1,910 people jailed for smoking cannabis in 2011
Rwanda told the UN Human Rights Committee that 1,910 people had been incarcerated in 2011 for smoking cannabis. The government also reported 2,402 arrests connected with banned substances across 2011–2012 and described prevention campaigns aimed at young people. Its report, received by the UN on 11 July 2014, cited a 2012 police report for the figures.
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🇦🇼 Aruba Tightening ✓
Aruba extends cannabis controls and gives police wider search powers
Aruba expanded its cannabis controls to include seeds and leaves without flowering tops, alongside growing, sale, transport and possession offences. Uniformed police gained powers to search people and their belongings on specified grounds, and prosecutors could authorise area-wide clothing searches for up to twelve hours after consultation. The government cited rising drug sales and use as its reason for expanding enforcement powers.
🇹🇻 Tuvalu Other law ✓
Tuvalu reports youth cannabis use and calls for updated drug laws
Tuvalu’s report to the UN child-rights committee cited a 2006 Funafuti survey in which 5% of respondents aged 15–24 reported having used marijuana. It also reported marijuana imports from Fiji and concerns about border controls, while describing youth programmes addressing alcohol and drugs. Updating drug laws and coordinating prevention work were among its stated priorities.
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🇭🇰 Hong Kong Enforcement ✓
Hong Kong cuts a repeat offender’s cannabis-possession sentence to two months
Phung Hai’s six-month prison sentence for possessing 1.18 g of cannabis was reduced to two months on appeal. The original magistrate had relied on two earlier drug convictions to reject a fine, but the appeal judge accepted that the sentence was excessive in light of the sentencing authorities; the prosecution did not defend it.
🇩🇯 Djibouti Other law ✓
Djibouti puts the prime minister in charge of a national drug committee
A national committee chaired by the prime minister was tasked with coordinating drug policy, prevention, public information and monitoring supply and demand. President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh created it after recommendations from a 1999 youth conference. Health, education, justice, police and gendarmerie representatives were brought together, with a secretariat charged with collecting and publishing drug-policy information.
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🇨🇬 Congo Other law ✓
Congo creates a national drug service within the judicial police
A national drug-control service was created within the judicial police in 1992. A later government report described two officers staffing it and a register of drug users and their addresses updated between 1998 and 2003. By 2010, the government said the service lacked the resources to operate more effectively.
🇨🇲 Cameroon Other law ✓
Cameroon creates a national committee against drugs
Cameroon set up a National Committee for the Fight against Drugs, a year after ratifying the 1988 UN trafficking convention on 28 October 1991. It had ratified the Single Convention on 15 January 1962 and the 1971 psychotropics convention on 5 June 1981. A justice ministry magistrate noted in 2017 that the Penal Code itself does not punish growing, selling or using cannabis; those acts fall under the special law of 1997.
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🇦🇫 Afghanistan Enforcement ✓ Article
Afghanistan begins arresting drug smugglers in earnest
Bradford describes the transfer of counternarcotics work to the interior ministry and new anti-smuggling units amid American pressure over the hashish trade. Reported smuggler arrests rose from 72 in 1971 to 221 in 1972 and 584 in 1973. A December 18 US memorandum records new prime minister Musa Shafiq's commitment to stronger action; the annual totals should not all be attributed to his late-year government or treated as cannabis-only convictions.
🇲🇱 Mali Other law ✓
Mali sets a special court procedure for drug offences
Order No. 173 established a special procedure for criminal acts related to drugs and for robbery. Until then drugs in Mali fell under the French poisonous substances law of 1926, amended by decrees of 1948, 1949 and 1952, which regulated their trade, possession and use.