Is Cannabis / THC legal in Turkey?

Also known as: weed, marijuana

Legal status

Cannabis is a controlled substance in Turkey and the dossier carries it under the schedule name «esrar». Article 3 of Law No. 2313 on the Control of Narcotic Substances, in the form given it on 22 May 1979, provides «Münhasıran esrar yapmak için kenevir ekilmesi ve her ne şekilde olursa olsun esrarın ihzar, ithal, ihraç ve satışı yasaktır», forbidding the planting of hemp exclusively to make esrar and, in whatever form, the preparation, import, export and sale of esrar. That prohibition sits in the primary statute, so cannabis does not depend on a classification decision made under article 19 the way the newer entries in this corpus do. Article 23 licenses hemp growing for fibre, seed and stalk and, since Law No. 7557 of 21 July 2025, for medicinal, health and personal care products, and it adds «Her ne maksatla olursa olsun izinsiz olarak kenevir yetiştirmek yasaktır», growing hemp without a permit is forbidden whatever the purpose. The dossier's outcome for this row is VERIFIED on the schedule name alone; the article text quoted here was read from the consolidated statute on 20 September 2026 and is not in the dossier.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. No article in this chain carries a capital or whole life route, and the ceiling is the term stated in article 188(1) of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237, «yirmi yıldan otuz yıla kadar hapis ve ikibin günden yirmibin güne kadar adlî para cezası ile cezalandırılır», twenty to thirty years and a judicial fine of two thousand to twenty thousand days for unlicensed manufacture, import or export. Article 188(3) provides «on yıldan az olmamak üzere hapis ve bin günden yirmibin güne kadar adlî para cezası», not less than ten years, for selling, offering for sale, giving to another, dispatching, transporting, storing, purchasing, accepting and possessing inside the country, and raises that floor to fifteen years where the person given or sold the substance is a child. Cannabis is not among the substances the article 188(4)(a) uplift names, so on this row the half increase reaches it only through the second limb of that paragraph, conduct within two hundred metres of a school, dormitory, hospital, barracks or place of worship. Article 191(1) sets «iki yıldan beş yıla kadar hapis cezası», two to five years, for buying, accepting or possessing for use and for use itself, and 191(2) requires the public prosecution to be deferred for five years with at least a year of denetimli serbestlik under 191(3), ending in a decision of no grounds for prosecution if the conditions are kept. Growing the plant is charged separately under article 23 of Law No. 2313, four to twelve years for cultivation to obtain esrar and one to three years where the cultivation is exclusively for the grower's own need.

If prescribed or medical

A lawful medical route exists for cannabis derived products and it runs through licensing, not through amount. Article 23 of Law No. 2313, as amended by Law No. 7557 of 21 July 2025, places the licensing and registration of medicinal, health and personal care products obtained from hemp with the Ministry of Health and provides «Bu ürünler sadece eczanelerden satılabilir», these products may be sold only in pharmacies. Article 188(6) of the Penal Code extends the trafficking paragraphs to any substance whose production depends on the permission of official authorities or whose sale depends on a prescription written by an authorised physician and which produces a narcotic or stimulant effect, and it allows the sentence to be reduced by up to half; both limbs of that test have to be satisfied before it engages, and the dossier made no finding on either. A foreign prescription is not a Turkish authorisation. The dossier carried no prescription instrument for this row, so the classification of any particular cannabis medicine is for the TİTCK to state and is deferred here.

Documentation

Carry the original dispensing packaging with the prescription and a letter from the prescriber naming the patient, the active ingredient, the dose and the treatment period, and settle the product's status with the TİTCK before travelling rather than at the border. Raw cannabis and hemp flower fall outside the pharmacy route article 23 creates, so no document makes them lawful to carry. Cannabis seeds attract their own import restriction and the live cell for this row already carried that warning. The schedule name «esrar» was read in the dossier on 18 September 2026 and the articles cited here were read from the consolidated texts on 20 September 2026.

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