Is Cannabis / THC legal in United Arab Emirates?

Also known as: weed, marijuana

Legal status

Cannabis is carried in two places in Decision No. 158 of 2025, Schedule 1 and Schedule 4, and the printed entry is «القنب؛ راتنج القنب؛ نبات القنب», which names the drug, the resin and the plant as three limbs of one entry. That three limb structure is why this row has a wider article set than most: the dossier attaches Articles 10, 14, 41, 42 and 57, with Article 14 the plant provision, so growing, holding plant material and holding resin are each reached rather than only the finished drug. A cannabis question in the United Arab Emirates therefore does not reduce to a single substance question, and the answer changes with which limb the material falls under. The dossier gives the content of Article 57 and does not state what Articles 10, 14, 41 and 42 provide. Schedule 10 carries the quantity bands. The placement was read on 20 September 2026.

Consequences if caught

Article 57 names Schedules 1, 2, Schedule 4 Section I and 5, and cannabis is in both Schedule 1 and Schedule 4, so the row is inside that group twice over. The dossier records the article as stating mandatory death for its trafficking or promotion trigger and as stating no quantity for it, so the capital route on cannabis is quantity free in the same way it is for the opiate rows, which is the single most counterintuitive fact on this cell. A reader who expects a weight is looking for something the article does not contain, and the Schedule 10 bands, which do exist, are recorded as not gating the Article 57 route. Below the trafficking trigger the dossier attaches Articles 41 and 42 for use and the plant provision at Article 14, without stating any of their tariffs, so no term of years is stated here for possession or cultivation.

If prescribed or medical

The dossier records at the modafinil row that a 268 entry ministry travellers list was checked and expressly not used as a schedule, so no traveller list decides placement. Attached to this substance: cannabis is in Schedule 1 and Schedule 4 at the entry «القنب؛ راتنج القنب؛ نبات القنب», and the dossier records no medical cannabis route, no prescribing pathway and no product exemption at any strength or form. Because the entry names the plant as well as the drug, a preparation, a resin and raw plant material all land inside the placement rather than outside it, which is the point at which foreign medical cannabis documentation most often fails. The permit question itself is not answered by the dossier and is deferred.

Documentation

There is no medical cannabis document recorded in this dossier for the United Arab Emirates, so on this record a foreign prescription, a dispensary label and a physician's letter are all evidence about a substance that remains inside Schedule 1 and Schedule 4. Provenance: the two placements and the entry «القنب؛ راتنج القنب؛ نبات القنب» were read on 20 September 2026, with the capital analysis resting on Article 57 and not on the Schedule 10 bands. The practical consequence is that the safest question to resolve before travelling is not how much may be carried but whether anything may be, and that is a question for the health ministry rather than for a carrier or an airport.

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