Is Cannabis / THC legal in Saudi Arabia?

Also known as: weed, marijuana

Legal status

Cannabis is a controlled narcotic drug in Saudi Arabia and it is reached three ways over. The plant and its resin are placed at Schedule I Category A of the schedules attached to the Law of Combating Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances, Royal Decree M/39 of 1426 AH, in the version issued on 4 September 2026, printed as «القنب الهندي... Cannabis Sativa» under «الجدول الأول... فئة (أ)», Schedule I Category A. The plant is separately a prohibited plant under Schedule IV, and tetrahydrocannabinol is separately scheduled at Schedule II Category A. So herb, resin and the isolated cannabinoid each have their own entry, and growing the plant is reached by the plant schedule rather than left to be argued from possession of the product. M/39 Article 17 governs the prohibited plants and Articles 70 to 71 keep the attached schedules current. Nothing in these schedules distinguishes cannabis by THC content for the purposes of the Schedule I placement.

Consequences if caught

Article 37(I) reaches cannabis at Schedule I Category A, and it reaches it at no stated quantity at all. There is no weight threshold anywhere in the article, which is the single most important thing for a reader arriving from a jurisdiction that grades cannabis by grams: the conduct named is smuggling, receipt from a smuggler, and import, export, manufacture, production, extraction or cultivation with intent to promote, together with the repeat promotion histories the article sets out, and a personal amount does not sit below a line because there is no line. Death under Article 37(I) is a statutory ta'zir penalty and it is not mandatory, because Article 37(II) gives the court the power to reduce it; where the court does reduce, the substitute is a prison term of not less than fifteen years with the lashes and the fine the article states. No express life imprisonment wording was found anywhere in M/39. Articles 38 to 41 are cited as the tiers below Article 37, and it is in that lower band rather than in Article 37 that a personal use case is dealt with.

If prescribed or medical

The Saudi traveller rule is a permit rule rather than a prescription rule. A controlled medicine may be brought in only under a clearance obtained from the SFDA before travel through its Controlled Drugs System, and that advance electronic clearance is required rather than optional. Cannabis sits inside the narcotics law at Schedule I Category A, as a Schedule IV prohibited plant, and through the Schedule II Category A tetrahydrocannabinol entry, and no Saudi dispensing route and no medicinal cannabis product was recorded, so nothing here should be read as saying a clearance would issue for it. A medical cannabis authorisation issued in another country is not a Saudi clearance and has no standing at the border.

Documentation

There is nothing to carry for cannabis, because no lawful import route was established for it. That holds for flower, resin, edibles, vape cartridges and oils alike, and a prescription label from a jurisdiction where the product is lawful does not travel with it. For any controlled medicine, apply through the SFDA Controlled Drugs System before travelling, carry the clearance and not the prescription alone, bring the medicine in its original dispensing packaging with the prescription and a medical report translated into Arabic and dated less than six months before travel, and declare it at customs; advance electronic clearance has been required since 1 November 2025. The permit mechanics stated here are the SFDA traveller rules recorded on the current live cell and were not re-derived from the instrument in this pass. The Schedule I Category A, Schedule IV and Schedule II Category A entries were read in the 4 September 2026 schedules on 17 September 2026.

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