Is Cannabis / THC legal in Brazil?

Also known as: weed, marijuana

Legal status

Controlled in Brazil. The entry read is item 1 of lista E, the list of proscribed plants and fungi that can yield narcotic or psychotropic substances, and it reads in full: "Cannabis sativa L.". The plant entry is not the only one. Item 180 of lista F2 reads "TETRAHIDROCANNABINOL ou THC". Lista E adendo 13 excepts, under Resolucao 1.013 de 30 de janeiro de 2026, the plant proved to yield 0.3 per cent or less of tetrahidrocanabinol, which then falls to lista C1. Adendo 14 subjects substances and products obtained from the plant at any tetrahidrocanabinol content to lista E, saving regulatory or legal authorisation. Adendo 16 excepts regularised cannabis products and registered cannabis medicines and routes them to lista A3. Adendo 7 permits an individual to import a cannabis derived product for his own treatment on a prescription under Resolucao 660 de 30 de marco de 2022. The instrument is Portaria SVS/MS 344 de 12 de maio de 1998, whose Anexo I is the list that places a substance, and article 1 sole paragraph of Lei 11.343/2006 defines drugs for the purposes of that law as substances capable of causing dependence so specified in law or listed in lists periodically updated by the federal executive, which is the hinge between the two instruments. [Certain], the entry was read this pass in Anexo I as published with Resolucao 1.036 de 9 de julho de 2026, Atualizacao n. 101.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Article 5, XLVII, a of the 1988 Constitution provides that there shall be no penalty of death, save in the case of declared war under article 84, XIX, and article 5, XLVII, b bars any penalty of a perpetual character, so neither a death sentence nor a whole life sentence is available under the drug law. [Certain], the constitutional text was read this pass. Personal use is article 28 of Lei 11.343/2006, the statute the live Brazilian cells name in English as the Drug Law, and it carries no prison. The three penalties are a warning about the effects of drugs, provision of services to the community, and an educational measure of attendance at a programme or course. Paragraph 3 caps the second and third at five months, paragraph 4 at ten months on a repeat, and paragraph 2 leaves the personal use question to the judge on the nature and quantity seized, the place and conditions of the act, the social and personal circumstances, and the conduct and record of the agent. The statute itself fixes no quantity figure. The Supremo Tribunal Federal decided Tema 506, leading case RE 635659. Item 1 holds that no criminal offence is committed by a person who acquires, keeps, has in deposit, transports or carries cannabis sativa for personal consumption, without prejudice to the extrapenal unlawfulness of the conduct, seizure of the drug and the article 28 I and III sanctions. Item 2 sends those sanctions to a procedure of non penal character with no criminal repercussion. Item 4 presumes a user of anyone carrying up to 40 grams of cannabis sativa or six female plants for his own consumption until Congress legislates, and item 5 makes that presumption rebuttable where packaging, the circumstances of seizure, scales, commercial records or contacts indicate dealing. Item 8 lets a judge find the conduct atypical above the figure on sufficient proof of user status. [Certain], the thesis was read on the court's own repercussao geral page this pass. Supply is article 33: reclusao of 5 to 15 years and payment of 500 to 1,500 dias-multa. Article 33 paragraph 4 allows a reduction of one sixth to two thirds for a primary agent of good record who is not dedicated to criminal activity and does not belong to a criminal organisation. Article 34 puts equipment at 3 to 10 years, article 35 association at 3 to 10 years, article 36 financing at 8 to 20 years and article 37 informing at 2 to 6 years. Article 40 increases articles 33 to 37 by one sixth to two thirds on its seven listed grounds, transnationality and proximity to schools, prisons and hospitals among them. Article 40-A, inserted by Lei 15.358 de 2026, applies articles 33 to 37 in double where the agent is a member of an ultraviolent criminal organisation, a paramilitary group or a private militia. Doubling article 36 gives 16 to 40 years, and 40 years is the highest figure the statute produces on its own face. That is my derivation from the two articles as read, tagged [Certain] for each figure and [Guessing] for whether the article 40 increase then stacks on top of the doubled figure, which the text read here does not settle.

If prescribed or medical

Lista E adendo 1 forbids the importation, exportation, trade, handling and use of the items it lists. Lista E is a proscription of the plant and its derivatives rather than a prescription tier, and Resolucao 81/2008 Procedimento 1 governs importation of goods under the special control of Portaria 344/98. Lista E adendo 16 excepts from the lista E proscription cannabis products regularised under Resolucao 1.015 de 2 de fevereiro de 2026, cannabis medicines registered with ANVISA and veterinary cannabis products regularised with the Ministerio da Agricultura, and routes them to lista A3. Adendo 12 permits veterinary prescribing of authorised cannabis products against a retained special control prescription. Adendo 7 permits an individual to import a cannabis derived product for his own treatment on a prescription under Resolucao 660 de 30 de marco de 2022. Adendo 8 excepts registered medicines containing cannabis derivatives at no more than 30 mg of tetrahidrocannabinol and 30 mg of cannabidiol per millilitre. For a traveller the rule is Resolucao 81 de 5 de novembro de 2008 as amended by Resolucao 28 de 28 de junho de 2011. Its item 1 dispenses with sanitary authorisation at the point of entry for a finished medicine imported by an individual for his own use, item 1.1 brings goods in accompanied or unaccompanied baggage of a traveller arriving from abroad inside that dispensation, and item 1.2 defines own use as a quantity and frequency compatible with the duration and purpose of treatment and not amounting to trade. Item 1.3 takes medicines based on substances listed in Portaria 344/98 back out of the dispensation and sends them to Resolucao 63 de 9 de setembro de 2008. That resolution rewrote article 34 of Portaria 344/98 to forbid purchase and sale of listed substances and their medicines by reimbursement systems through any means of communication including post and electronic channels, excepting only medicines based on lista C1 substances in presentations not registered or marketed in Brazil, bought abroad by an individual for his own use, on production of a medical prescription and a fiscal document, in a quantity for individual use, with resale forbidden. That resolution was read in full this pass, through a rendering fetcher because a direct request to the publisher is refused with a challenge page and the health ministry library returns a server error, so the reading is [Certain] and the route to it is worth stating. The prescribing chapters of Portaria SVS/MS 344/1998 itself were not read this pass, so no validity period and no quantity per prescription is stated here.

Documentation

The placement was read on 21 September 2026 in the Anexo I published with Resolucao da Diretoria Colegiada 1.036, de 9 de julho de 2026, the annex that heads itself Atualizacao n. 101 and whose footer records publication in the Diario Oficial da Uniao of 13 July 2026. ANVISA's own update register at gov.br/anvisa numbers that resolution row 102 of its history and marks it the version in force, while the annex itself is headed Atualizacao n. 101. Both numbers are recorded here because they disagree and neither was preferred silently. A later update is not ruled out. Carried from the live cell and not re-derived this pass: registered cannabis products are recorded there as having been sold in Brazilian pharmacies on prescription since 2019 under Resolucao 327 de 2019. [Likely], carried.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Brazil’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.