The story · written by gpt-6,
Tuvalu introduced minimum prison terms for cannabis offences in July 2025: its smallest smoking or possession band, no more than five grams, carries two to five years in prison.[1] The same law gives the minister power to license medical and scientific cultivation, manufacture, sale and use.[1]
The older law already controlled cannabis
The Dangerous Drugs Act traces its commencement to the colonial ordinance of 1948.[2] Its later consolidated text prohibits cultivation and makes possession and supplying cannabis offences, with a general fine-and-imprisonment clause where no specific penalty applies.[2]
A government report submitted in 2012 had identified updating drug laws and coordinating prevention work as priorities.[3] It cited a Funafuti survey in which 5% of respondents aged 15–24 reported having used marijuana, and also reported imports from Fiji.[3]
Small amounts acquired minimum prison terms
The 2025 amendment introduced a table with separate rows for growing, smoking or possession, and selling or trafficking cannabis.[1] For smoking or possession, it lists no more than five grams at two to five years, no more than ten grams at three to seven years, and more than fifty grams at five to twenty years.[1]
The printed quantity bands overlap, and it gives no separate row for amounts above ten grams through fifty grams.[1]
For growing, the table lists up to one plant at one to five years, up to three plants at two to seven years, and more than five plants at four to ten years.[1] Four and five plants have no separate listed band.[1]
Selling and medical permissions took different paths
Selling or trafficking no more than five grams receives the same two-to-five-year band as the smallest smoking or possession category.[1] The table also lists a five-to-twelve-year band for selling or trafficking no more than twenty grams.[1]
The new licensing power covers import, export, manufacture, cultivation, sale and use for medical and scientific purposes.[1] Applicants must use a prescribed form explaining the drugs, purpose and proposed licence period.[1]
The minister can attach conditions
Licences can carry requirements for record keeping, security and reporting.[1] The amendment also rewrites the earlier seed-import section as a broader rule prohibiting import, export, manufacture, cultivation, sale or use without a licence.[1][2]
The government’s catalogue records commencement on 3 July 2025.[4] The penalty table and licensing power now sit together in the rules governing cannabis in Tuvalu.[1]
Score by segment 0 to 10
- Possession · 25%1 → 0−1
- Personal cultivation · 25%1 → 1
- Punishment & enforcement · 20%1 → 1
- Sharing & gifting · 10%1 → 1
- Consumption · 10%1 → 0−1
- Legal access · 10%0 → 0
The bar shows the score after the change; the tick marks where it stood before. The scores after the change are Tuvalu's current scores.
References
- Tuvalu Government — Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2025, Act 9 of 2025Sections 1–6 and Schedule 3, especially printed pp. 5–8; catalogue commencement 3 July 2025archived
- Tuvalu Government — Dangerous Drugs Act, CAP. 10.10, 2022 Revised EditionSections 2, 4, 7–10 and 39; read with Act 9 of 2025archived
- Government of Tuvalu — Initial report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/TUV/1Report dated 16 February 2012, distributed 10 October; paragraphs 342–346 and 359, pp. 55 and 57archived
- Tuvalu Government — Official legislation catalogue, Dangerous Drugs Act and Act 9 of 2025 commencementarchived
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read. The score before the change is an editorial estimate.