Is Cannabis / THC legal in Suriname?

Also known as: weed, marijuana

Legal status

Illegal, and it is on both lists at once, which the act does deliberately. Lijst II onderdeel B prints the definition: 'Hennep, waaronder wordt begrepen elk deel van de plant van het geslacht Cannabis, waaraan de hars nog niet is onttrokken, onverschillig welke de benaming in de handel ook zij; alsmede gebruikelijke vaste mengsels van hennephars en plantaardige elementen van hennep (zoals hashish, esrar, chiras, jamba, ganja en marihuana), waaraan geen andere substanties zijn toegevoegd', hemp, meaning every part of a plant of the genus Cannabis from which the resin has not yet been extracted, whatever it is called in trade, and the usual solid mixtures of hemp resin and plant material such as hashish, esrar, chiras, jamba, ganja and marihuana, to which no other substance has been added. Lijst I onderdeel A then closes with 'Elk preparaat dat hennephars omvat, met uitzondering van vaste mengsels, omschreven op lijst II, onderdeel B', every preparation containing hemp resin except the solid mixtures described in lijst II onderdeel B, and lijst I onderdeel C prints 'Tetrahydrocannabinol' with footnote 10, 'Met inbegrip van de (stereo-) isomeren'. The text read for this cell is the consolidation that stops at S.B. 2002 no. 68, so it is twenty four years old. Article 3 lid 2 lets further middelen be designated by Staatsbesluit and article 3 lid 3 lets the Minister designate one at short notice with the approval of the Procureur-Generaal, and article 4 lid 2 does the same for lijst II. No register of those designations was located, so anything added since 2002 is outside what was read and this does not rule out a later designation.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. This act carries no death penalty and its heaviest sentence is levenslange gevangenisstraf, life imprisonment, under article 11 lid 1. Searched as 'hennep', 'cannabis', 'hasjiesj', 'hars' and 'tetrahydrocannabinol'. The routing that comes out of those searches is the most important thing on this page and no other row in the batch has it. Herbal cannabis and ordinary hashish are lijst II, so under article 11 lid 3 possession, supply and transport all carry at most thirteen years. A resin preparation that is not one of those solid mixtures, which is to say an oil, an extract or an edible, falls under the closing clause of lijst I onderdeel A and is therefore a lijst I middel, so supply and manufacture of it carry levenslange gevangenisstraf under article 11 lid 1. Isolated tetrahydrocannabinol is lijst I by its own entry at onderdeel C. And whichever list the material is on, importing or exporting it is article 11 lid 1, because that provision reaches limb A of article 4 lid 1 as well as of article 3 lid 1. Growing it is separate again: article 2 forbids telen, cultivating, 'Canabis Sativa (L)', printed with one n, and article 11 lid 1 reaches article 2, so cultivation is life exposed. The hemp definition sets no tetrahydrocannabinol threshold of any kind, so a low potency plant is inside it on the same terms as any other. One structural point governs how far an entry reaches. Only lijst I onderdeel A closes with the isomer, ester, ether and salt clauses; lijst I onderdeel B closes with an isomer and salt clause; and lijst I onderdeel C, lijst I onderdeel D and both parts of lijst II onderdeel A close with a single sentence, 'Preparaten die één of meer van vorengenoemde substanties bevatten', preparations containing one or more of the substances named above, and nothing else. There is no analogue limb and no definition by effect anywhere in the act. Article 3 lid 1 forbids four things in relation to a middel on the annexed lijst I: under A in, uit of door te voeren, importing, exporting or moving in transit; under B te bereiden, te bewerken, te verwerken, te verkopen, af te leveren, te verstrekken of te vervoeren, preparing, processing, working, selling, delivering, supplying or transporting; under C te bezitten, aanwezig te hebben of aan te wenden, possessing, having present or using; and under D te vervaardigen, manufacturing, which article 1 lid 3 extends to refining and conversion. Article 4 lid 1 forbids the same four things in relation to a middel on the annexed lijst II: under A in, uit of door te voeren, importing, exporting or moving in transit; under B te bereiden, te bewerken, te verwerken, te verkopen, af te leveren, te verstrekken of te vervoeren, preparing, processing, working, selling, delivering, supplying or transporting; under C te bezitten, aanwezig te hebben of aan te wenden, possessing, having present or using; and under D te vervaardigen, manufacturing. Article 11 lid 1 punishes an intentional breach of article 3 lid 1 under A, B or D with levenslange gevangenisstraf, or a fixed term of at most twenty years, and a fine of at most five hundred million gulden. Article 11 lid 3 punishes an intentional breach of article 3 lid 1 under C with at most thirteen years and a fine of at most two hundred million gulden. So possession and use sit in the lower band and every supply, manufacture and cross border limb sits in the higher one. The split for lijst II runs the other way from what a reader expects. Article 11 lid 1 reaches only limb A of article 4 lid 1, so importing, exporting or moving a lijst II middel in transit carries levenslange gevangenisstraf, or at most twenty years, and a fine of at most five hundred million gulden. Article 11 lid 3 reaches article 4 lid 1 under B, C and D, so preparing, selling, supplying, transporting, possessing, using and manufacturing all carry at most thirteen years and a fine of at most two hundred million gulden. Carrying it across the border is therefore the one limb that is punished as heavily as a lijst I offence. Article 11 lid 2 gives at most nine years where a limb in the higher band is broken otherwise than intentionally and article 11 lid 4 at most seven years for the lower band, and article 14 lid 1 makes the article 11 lid 4 cases overtredingen while everything else in article 11 and in article 12 is a misdrijf. Article 12 punishes preparatory acts and samenspanning, conspiracy, aimed at an article 11 lid 1 offence with at most eleven years. Article 13 lid 1 lets the fine rise to four times the value of the goods where that value is more than a quarter of the stated maximum, and article 13 lid 2 requires forfeiture. Article 1 lid 2 equates the zouten, the salts, of a substance with the substance throughout the act. The act sets no personal use tier, no quantity threshold and no tolerance rule anywhere in its fourteen articles, and nothing in it corresponds to the Dutch practice of tolerated small quantities.

If prescribed or medical

Any medicinal cannabis question runs through the list the material is on, and there are three possible answers rather than one. There is a lawful prescription route and it is narrow. Article 5 lid 1 allows a middel covered by article 3 or article 4 to be prescribed op recept only where the recept meets requirements laid down by or under Staatsbesluit, and article 5 lid 3 makes it a separate offence to present a vals of vervalst recept, a false or forged prescription, which article 11 lid 3 punishes with at most thirteen years. Article 7 lid 2 disapplies limbs B and C for gevestigde apothekers en apotheekhoudende geneeskundigen, established pharmacists and dispensing physicians, and for gevestigde dierenartsen, established veterinarians, where they hold the substance only for a medical purpose. Article 7 lid 3 disapplies the transport part of limb B and the whole of limb C for a person who shows that they need the substance, in de bevonden hoeveelheid, in the quantity found, for the practice of geneeskunst, tandheelkunst or diergeneeskunst, or voor eigen geneeskundig gebruik, for their own medical use, and that they obtained it langs wettige weg, by lawful means. Article 7 lid 4 gives the same relief to a carrier acting on the order of an authorised person, except as regards aanwenden, using the substance. Whether the Staatsbesluiten that article 5 lid 1 and article 7 contemplate have been made was not established here.

Documentation

There is no tolerated quantity, no coffee shop rule and no personal use tier anywhere in this act. Carry any controlled medicine in its original packaging with the prescription that authorised it, and note the limit that article 7 sets. Neither article 7 lid 1 nor article 7 lid 3 touches limb A of article 3 lid 1 or of article 4 lid 1, the import, export and transit limb. The eigen geneeskundig gebruik exemption therefore covers possession and carriage inside Suriname and does not cover bringing the substance into the country or taking it out. Article 6 lid 1 is the only route for that: it disapplies limb A where the movement is made met toestemming van de Minister, with the permission of the Minister, na goedkeuring door de Procureur-Generaal bij het Hof van Justitie, after approval by the Procurator General at the Court of Justice, and article 6 lid 2 allows a fee to be charged for it. Article 10 gives opsporingsambtenaren, investigating officers, a power under lid 5 to search the body and clothing of a suspect and under lid 6 to seize. The text relied on stops at S.B. 2002 no. 68. Any lijst, onderdeel or numbered part named in this cell are read from the annex to the act itself and are not printed in the quoted dossier extract, whose quotation column for this jurisdiction carries no division marker for any substance.

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