Criminal law
Cannabis penalties in Greece
The governing statute is Law 4139/2013, still in force in 2026. This page sets out what it actually says — and, just as importantly, what it does not say, because several of the most widely repeated claims in English about cannabis in Greece are not in the law at all.
Current as of . General information, not legal advice.
01 · Personal use
Possession for personal use
Up to five months' imprisonment. Article 29(1) of Law 4139/2013 provides that possession, procurement or use of narcotics for exclusively personal use — and cultivation of cannabis plants in a number or area justified only for personal use — is punishable by imprisonment of up to five months.
Two qualifications worth knowing
- Article 29(2) allows the court to declare the offender unpunished (ατιμώρητος) if it finds the act was entirely incidental and unlikely to be repeated. That is judicial discretion, not an automatic first-offence exemption.
- Article 29(3) provides that convictions for personal use are not entered in copies of the criminal record. The statutory text states this unconditionally; secondary sources add a five-year condition that does not appear in the statute itself.
02 · Quantities
There is no gram threshold in Greek law
Greek law fixes no quantity threshold in grams. Not for cannabis, not for anything else. Article 29 applies a purely qualitative test — «σε ποσότητες που δικαιολογούνται μόνο για την ατομική του χρήση», quantities justified only for the person's own use.
The assessment runs on the type and purity of the substance and the quantity, together with the frequency of use, the duration of use, the daily dose and the particular needs of that user. It is decided case by case, by the prosecutor and the court.
Greek law did once have thresholds — and they were different numbers
Law 3459/2006 did contain figures: 1.5 g of heroin or cocaine, 50 g of raw cannabis and 5 g of processed cannabis. That provision was repealed outright by Article 100(1) of Law 4139/2013. So any gram figure you are relying on is doubly wrong: the thresholds were abolished over a decade ago, and even when they existed the cannabis numbers were 50 and 5.
A number with no source is not a legal threshold, not a presumption, and not a defence. In a Greek court it is worth nothing.
03 · Misinformation
Three things circulating in English that are not true
The English-language search results for this topic are unusually poor, and they fail in the direction of false reassurance. These three claims rank well and are all wrong.
- "Greece passed a Cannabis Regulation Act in March 2026 opening dispensaries to adults." No such statute exists. The real 2026 legislation is Law 5302/2026, which ran the opposite way — a total ban on the retail sale — and on purchase and use by consumers — of dried cannabis flower with a THC content of up to 0.3%, which ended the CBD-flower retail sector. It does not reach pharmaceutical cannabis dispensed on medical prescription, which sits in a separate regime under the same statute.
- "There is a €500 fine for smoking in public, €2,000 for a repeat." Law 4139/2013 contains no separate public-consumption offence — use in any location is already caught by Article 29(1), which prescribes no fine at all for paragraph 1. These figures could not be traced to any Greek legal source.
- "Small amounts are tolerated up to a set limit." There is no set limit, as above. Tolerance is not a legal category in the statute.
04 · Trafficking
Trafficking and import are a different order of magnitude
Article 20(1) sets, for trafficking and supply, imprisonment of at least eight years and a fine of up to €300,000. Under aggravating circumstances Article 23 reaches life imprisonment.
And here is the point that matters most to a visitor: import (εισαγωγή) is listed expressly in Article 20(2) as one of the trafficking acts. Someone entering Greece carrying cannabis is not in the world of Article 29 and five months — they are in the world of Article 20 and eight years.
Article 29 contains no import exemption for a drug prescribed to a patient in another country. On the available material, no provision of Greek law authorises it and no Greek authority recognises it. A translation, notarised or otherwise, is not a permit.
| Personal use · Art. 29 | Trafficking & import · Art. 20 | |
|---|---|---|
| Prison | Up to 5 months | At least 8 years |
| Fine | None prescribed | Up to €300,000 |
| Aggravated | — | Up to life (Art. 23) |
| Crossing the border with product | Not covered | Covered |
05 · Decriminalisation
Greece has not decriminalised cannabis
Possession for personal use remains a criminal offence. The only diversion mechanism in the drug law, Articles 30 to 32, is reserved for people recognised as dependent who enter a certified rehabilitation programme. It is not available to a casual user, and certainly not to a visitor on a one-week stay.
Medical cannabis is a separate track entirely: lawful, prescribed by a Greek-licensed physician through the national e-prescription system and dispensed at a licensed pharmacy. That track is what the guide covers, and it is unaffected by any of the above because nothing crosses a border.
06 · Visitors
What this means for a visitor
Deportation
Court-ordered (judicial) deportation was abolished by the Greek Penal Code of 2019. Deportation now exists only as an administrative measure. That is a material change from the previous regime, under which the drug law required lifetime expulsion of convicted foreign nationals.
What the travel advisories say
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office tells travellers to Greece to expect a long jail sentence and heavy fines for possessing, using or smuggling illegal drugs, cannabis included — and warns that this applies when merely transiting Greek airports.
What the law does not spell out
We found no provision of Greek law setting out what a lawful prescription holder must show to police on a stop. The practice has to be built from the e-prescription system and general medicines rules rather than from a dedicated article. The practical approach: carry your passport and the digital prescription reference, and keep the product in its original pharmacy packaging with the label bearing your name.
07 · Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is the penalty for cannabis possession in Greece?
How many grams of cannabis are allowed in Greece?
Did Greece pass a Cannabis Regulation Act in 2026 opening dispensaries?
Is there a fine for smoking cannabis in public in Greece?
Has Greece decriminalised cannabis?
Does a prescription from my own country protect me at the Greek border?
Sources: Law 4139/2013, full text · Article 29 · Law 5302/2026 · UK FCDO travel advice for Greece · EOF. Last updated: . Content here is general information and is not legal advice. For a specific situation, consult a lawyer.
Further reading
What to read next
There is a route that avoids all of this
A Greek prescription, redeemed in Greece. Nothing crosses a border, so the import question never arises.
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