Is CBD legal in Egypt?

Legal status

Controlled in Egypt, and named. «الجدول رقم (٣) - المواد التي تخضع لبعض قيود الجواهر المخدرة», Table 3, the substances subject to some of the restrictions on narcotic substances, Section 3, «الجدول رقم (٣) - القسم الثالث», item 61 is «كانابيديول» «Cannabidiol (CBD)», «2-[1R-3-methyl-6R-(1-methylethenyl)-2-cyclohexen-1-yl]-5-pentyl-1,3-benzenediol», added by Decision 242 of 2026 (Decision 242 PDF page 3, gazette page 11) and in force from 18 August 2026. Cannabidiol itself is a Table 3 substance. A CBD product that is an extract of the cannabis plant is also reached by Table 1 Section 2 item 54 «حشيش (قنب)», which covers «خلاصة نبات القنب أو خلاصة أي جزء منه مثل زيت الحشيش» (PDF page 14, gazette page 15), so which table governs a product turns on whether it is pure cannabidiol or a plant extract. Table 2 item 5 excepts cannabis extract preparations for external use only (PDF page 21, gazette page 22). No exemption for CBD appears in Table 6, the plant parts excepted from the law. The earlier citation of Anti-Narcotics Decree-Law No. 182 of 1960, as amended by Law 122/1989, is superseded, because Decision 44 replaced every table. This is the position under Ministry of Health and Population Decision 44 of 2026, which replaced every table annexed to Law 182/1960, published in Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriya issue 39 (continued, c) on 17 February 2026 and in force from publication, as amended by Decision 242 of 2026, in Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriya issue 179 of 17 August 2026 and in force the next day, replaced item 12 of Table 1 Section 1(b), the phenethylamine group, and added items 57 to 61 to Table 3 Section 3, four alkyl nitrites and «Cannabidiol (CBD)». Decision 44's preamble cites the Supreme Constitutional Court's judgment of 16 February 2026 in case 33 of judicial year 47, read on the court's own server on 3 October 2026, which held «بعدم دستورية قرار رئيس هيئة الدواء المصرية رقم 600 لسنة 2023 باستبدال الجداول الملحقة بقرار رئيس الجمهورية بالقانون رقم 182 لسنة 1960 في شأن مكافحة المخدرات وتنظيم استعمالها والاتجار فيها», striking Egyptian Drug Authority chairman's Decision 600 of 2023, and «بسقوط قرارات رئيس هيئة الدواء المصرية السابقة واللاحقة على القرار المقضي بعدم دستوريته، الصادرة في شأن تعديل الجداول الملحقة بقرار رئيس الجمهورية بالقانون المشار إليه», so that every earlier and later decision of the Authority's chairman amending the tables fell with it. Decision 44 and Decision 242 are decisions of the Minister of Health and Population, as their own first pages state, not of the Authority's chairman, so the judgment does not reach them. The Egyptian Drug Authority laws index read on 3 October 2026 lists no amendment to the tables later than Decision 242, which does not rule out one made since.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none for pure cannabidiol, which is in Table 3; death for a product that is a cannabis plant extract, which is in Table 1, unless it is a Table 2 preparation for external use only. Article 1 of the Anti-Narcotics Law, Law 182/1960, makes Table 1 the narcotic substances and excepts the Table 2 preparations: «تعتبر جواهر مخدرة فى تطبيق أحكام هذا القانون المواد المبينة فى الجدول رقم (١) الملحق به، ويستثنى منها المستحضرات المبينة بالجدول رقم (٢)». For cannabidiol: Article 33 and Article 34, which carry the death penalty, and Articles 35, 37, 38(1) and 38(2), which carry the aggravated imprisonment terms, are written for narcotic substances, with Articles 33, 37 and 38 also reaching Table 5 plants, and Article 39, which carries imprisonment, is written for narcotic substances too; none of them reaches a Table 3 substance. Article 44, as replaced by Law 122/1989, reads «يعاقب بالحبس مدة لا تقل عن سنة ولا تجاوز خمس سنوات وبغرامة لا تقل عن ألفى جنيه ولا تجاوز خمسة آلاف جنيه» for anyone who produces, extracts, separates, manufactures, imports, exports or possesses with intent to trade any substance in Table 3 outside the cases the law authorises, so one to five years and a fine of 2,000 to 5,000 pounds, with the substance confiscated in every case. Article 45 punishes «أية مخالفة أخرى لأحكام هذا القانون أو القرارات المنفذة له» by imprisonment of at least three months and a fine of up to 2,000 pounds, or either. For a cannabis extract, in the second section of Table 1: Under Articles 33 to 45 as replaced by Law 122/1989: Article 33 punishes unlicensed import or export, and production or manufacture for trade, by death and a fine of 100,000 to 500,000 pounds. Article 34 punishes possession, purchase, sale, delivery or transport with intent to trade by death or life imprisonment and the same fine. It is in the second section, so the death only case of Article 34 that turns on the substance, cocaine, heroin and the first section, does not apply to it, though the paragraph's other cases still make the penalty death, among them using a person under 21 and offending near a school or place of worship. Article 38(1) punishes possession without intent to trade or to use by aggravated imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 to 200,000 pounds. Article 37 punishes possession for personal use by aggravated imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 to 50,000 pounds; for a person proven to be an addict the court may order treatment in a sanatorium instead, though not after an earlier sentence. Article 39 punishes knowing use in premises prepared for use by imprisonment of at least one year and a fine of 1,000 to 3,000 pounds. Each of these articles reaches anyone who commits the act and makes no exception for a foreign national, and none of Articles 33 to 39 states a minimum quantity. Law 19/2020 bars conditional release for a conviction under Law 182/1960 other than the Article 37 felony. Law 95/2003, Article 2, abolished hard labour «أينما وردت», wherever it appears, in the Penal Code or any other law, putting «السجن المؤبد», life imprisonment, in place of life hard labour and «السجن المشدد», aggravated imprisonment, in place of hard labour for a term; Article 3 of the same Law replaced Penal Code Article 14, under which aggravated imprisonment runs from three to fifteen years unless the law provides otherwise. The penalties above are named as they stand after that Law, although Law 122/1989 wrote them as hard labour.

If prescribed or medical

Pure cannabidiol is a Table 3 substance. Table 4 sets prescription maxima for «Cannabis» (600 milligrams), «Cannabis resin» and «Cannabis extract» (200 milligrams each), «Cannabis liquid extract» and «Cannabis tincture» (items 20 to 24, PDF page 31, gazette page 32), which is read as the law contemplating cannabis prescriptions in Egypt; whether any cannabis medicine is dispensed was not read, so the live cell's statement that there is no medical CBD route for the public is carried as a practical observation, not as a rule of the tables, which were read.

Documentation

No documentation legalises CBD, controlled as cannabis; travellers have been arrested despite holding a prescription.

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