Is Cannabis / THC legal in Jordan?

Also known as: weed, marijuana

Legal status

Cannabis is a narcotic drug under Law No. 23 of 2016, the Jordanian narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances law, and it is reached through more than one schedule entry because more than one thing is sold under the name. Article 2 provides «المادة المخدرة: كل مادة طبيعية أو تركيبية من المواد المدرجة في الجداول ذوات الارقام (1) و(2) و(3) و(4) الملحقة بهذا القانون.», a narcotic drug being every natural or synthetic substance listed in Schedules 1 to 4 attached to this Law. The schedule number for the cannabis entry is not established here, and that is a deferral rather than a gap in the reading. The dossier's row mapping prints the number as «الجدول رقم (المختص)», the relevant schedule, a placeholder where a numeral belongs, and a placeholder inside a quotation is not a quotation. The dossier's summary column says Schedules 1 and 3, but that is a summary and no entry is quoted against either number anywhere in the document, so it is not relied on here. What the schedule wording does carry for this substance is «القنب وراتنج القنب ومستخلصاته», cannabis and cannabis resin and its extracts, so the herb, the resin and an extract are each addressed and the precise product determines which schedule description applies once the number is established from the schedules themselves. The article 19(a)(1) plant limb, which reaches a plant producing narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, addresses cultivation separately again. A note on the source: the dossier's row-specific mapping for this substance prints the schedule number as «الجدول رقم (المختص)», the relevant schedule, rather than as a numeral, so the schedule numbers stated here are taken from the instrument column, which gives Schedules 1 and 3, rather than from that mapping line. Article 37 provides «لمجلس الوزراء بناء على تنسيب الوزير إجراء تعديل على أي من الجداول الملحقة بهذا القانون بحذف أي مادة منه أو إضافة أي مادة أخرى اليه أو تعديل النسب أو المواصفات أو الشروط الخاصة والمتعلقة بأي منها على ان يتم نشر ذلك في الجريدة الرسمية.», so the Council of Ministers may amend any of it by a Gazette decision.

Consequences if caught

Cannabis is scheduled, so the whole of the Law's narcotic structure is available against it and article 20 states the ceiling in the words «يعاقب بالإعدام», death. Three articles stack. Article 19(a) is the trafficking provision and its opening words are «يعاقب بالأشغال الشاقة المؤقتة مدة لا تقل عن خمس عشرة سنة وبغرامة لا تقل عن عشرة آلاف دينار ولا تزيد على عشرين ألف دينار كل من أقدم على أي فعل من الافعال التالية بقصد الاتجار», temporary hard labour of not less than fifteen years and a fine of ten thousand to twenty thousand Jordanian dinars for the listed dealing conduct committed with intent to traffic, and its first limb separately reaches a plant producing narcotic drugs, which is how cultivation is caught. Article 19(b) then provides «تكون العقوبة الأشغال الشاقة المؤبدة», and the indicative verb makes life imprisonment mandatory once a listed aggravator is proved: repeat offending, the status of a specified drug control or supervisory official, or committing the offence with or through a minor. Death under article 20 is mandatory in the same way, but only where an article 19 offence carries the specified international drug gang connection or the listed international criminal activity circumstances. Quantity is not the trigger anywhere in this structure. No weight threshold appears in article 19 or in article 20, so a personal amount is inside the same provisions as a consignment and there is no gram figure that makes a case small, whatever is lawful in the traveller's own country.

If prescribed or medical

Cannabis is controlled as a narcotic drug through the Schedules 1 and 3 entries, so any lawful medical supply would run inside Law No. 23 of 2016 rather than around it, and a foreign medical cannabis authorisation is not a Jordanian one and does not become one at the border. The trafficking offence at article 19(a) is defined by the words «بقصد الاتجار», with intent to traffic, so conduct without that intent is not that offence, which is a point about how the offence is framed rather than a permission. A prescription card, a dispensary label or a state licence from another country describes that country's scheme and carries no weight against the Jordanian schedules. What Law No. 23 of 2016 fixes is the control status, and what it does not fix is the prescribing and dispensing conditions; Jordan's separate medicines and pharmacy regimes were not audited for this table, so a route there is treated as unread rather than as absent.

Documentation

There is no document that makes cannabis lawful to carry into Jordan, and the documents most likely to be offered, a foreign medical card or a dispensary receipt, are evidence of possession rather than of permission. No traveller permit scheme, declaration form or carriage allowance appears anywhere in the text of Law No. 23 of 2016 as read for this row, and an absence in what was read is not proof that no scheme exists; Jordan does furnish the International Narcotics Control Board a traveller regulation sheet, so the regulator rather than this page settles a specific case, in writing and before travel. The product form matters if the question is ever asked, since the herb, the resin and an extract are each addressed in the schedules. The Schedules 1 and 3 placements were read on 17 September 2026.

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