Is Weed Legal in Greece? Understanding Greece Cannabis and Marijuana Laws (2026)

Medical cannabis is available through regulated prescribing and pharmacies in Greece, while recreational possession, use and home cultivation remain criminal matters. Industrial hemp is a separate licensed crop. Greece’s 2026 changes prohibit consumer sales and use of dried hemp flower, but do not abolish the rules allowing approved medicinal cannabis products.

Is Medical Cannabis Legal in Greece?

Yes. Patients can obtain authorized finished medicinal cannabis products through the medical system. These products are subject to the National Organisation for Medicines (EOF) approval framework; a cannabis shop’s product is not interchangeable with an approved medicine.

The Greek pharmaceutical market includes dried-flower preparations as well as other regulated formulations. EOF’s published product-pricing documents include Tikun-branded medicinal flower. The relevant distinction is an approved pharmaceutical product supplied on prescription, rather than a general permission to buy loose flower for smoking.

On May 28, 2026, EOF expressly clarified that the existing provisions for finished medicinal cannabis products fall outside the new consumer cannabis-product legislation. The retail hemp-flower ban should therefore not be described as a ban on all prescribed cannabis flower.

Which Medical Conditions Are Covered?

EOF’s revised core product guidance covers adult use for:

• Severe nausea or vomiting associated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or combination treatment for HIV or hepatitis C.
• Chronic pain associated with cancer or central/peripheral nervous-system conditions, including specified neuropathic pain.
• Spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis or spinal-cord injury.
• Appetite stimulation in palliative care for patients receiving cancer or AIDS treatment.
• Symptom management in inflammatory bowel disease, including abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and appetite loss.

The inflammatory-bowel-disease provision specifies that cannabis does not replace established treatment for Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. The guidance places medicinal cannabis after established medicines prove unsuitable, intolerable or ineffective, and contraindicates it in children/adolescents, pregnancy and breastfeeding, among other circumstances.

A condition appearing in the guidance does not guarantee that every product is suitable or that a prescription will be issued. Patients need a clinician’s assessment and the exact product’s approved information. Pharmacy availability and treatment costs should be checked before starting treatment.

Is Recreational Cannabis Legal in Greece?

No. Article 29 of Law 4139/2013 provides up to five months’ imprisonment for acquisition, possession, use, or cultivation justified exclusively by the person’s own use. It does not set a universal number of grams or plants that everyone may possess.

Personal-use purpose is assessed using factors including substance, purity, quantity, frequency of use, daily dose and the individual’s needs. A court may leave the conduct unpunished if it finds it entirely occasional and unlikely to recur. That is a judicial assessment, not an automatic first-offense exemption.

Article 29 also provides that convictions under its first paragraph are not entered on copies of criminal-record certificates. This limited provision does not mean that the conduct is lawful or that authorities keep no record. Supply and trafficking fall under more serious provisions and should not be assessed using the personal-use maximum.

Is Cannabis Decriminalised?

No. Greece retains criminal liability for recreational personal possession and use, despite the possibility of a lenient outcome. A court’s decision not to punish an occasional case is different from removing the offense from criminal law.

Other European countries have different systems, so older claims that every EU state necessarily criminalizes all personal cannabis possession are unreliable. Travelers must follow Greece’s rules rather than importing assumptions from a country with a different policy.

What Changed for Hemp Flower in 2026?

Article 43 of Law 5302/2026 raised the industrial-hemp threshold in the relevant narcotics-law exception from 0.2% to 0.3% THC. It also expressly prohibits retail sale, distribution and supply to consumers of dried hemp flower, together with consumer purchase and use, whether the flower is processed or raw.

EOF’s May 21, 2026 enforcement notice confirms that the consumer dried-flower ban applies regardless of THC or cannabinoid content. A “CBD flower” or “low-THC” label therefore does not restore a lawful retail market.

The law preserves importation, storage, wholesale supply and movement of dried flower intended exclusively for industrial processing, such as manufacturing compliant cosmetics. That business-to-business exception is not permission to sell the flower to consumers. The separate medicinal-product rules continue to apply.

Is CBD Legal in Greece?

CBD products require assessment by product category. It is incorrect to say that all CBD oils, capsules and supplements below the hemp THC threshold can be sold without further restrictions.

EOF’s supplement guidance distinguishes permitted edible hemp ingredients, such as seeds, seed oil and seed flour, from processing that alters naturally occurring cannabinoid concentrations. Extracts fall within novel-food rules. Ordinary hemp-seed oil should not be confused with an oil enriched with CBD.

EOF has also prohibited a CBD/CBN supplement because it contained unauthorized novel ingredients. This directly contradicts a blanket claim that processed CBD supplements are lawful. Cosmetics must meet their own composition, safety and claims requirements; medicinal products require the relevant medicine authorization.

Can Individuals Grow Cannabis?

There is no personal recreational or medical home-growing entitlement. A prescription authorizes a specific treatment, not private cultivation.

Licensed industrial hemp is different. Greece’s official cultivation-permit procedure accepts both natural persons and legal entities meeting its conditions. It is therefore inaccurate to say that only companies can ever lawfully cultivate hemp. Applicants must comply with the current law and licensing requirements; older administrative pages still displaying 0.2% should be read alongside the 2026 statutory change.

Can Visitors Bring Medical Cannabis?

Do not assume that a foreign prescription automatically permits entry with a cannabis product. Confirm the exact medicine, quantity, country of origin and required documentation with EOF and the Greek consular authorities before travel. Commercial import restrictions and an individual patient’s travel arrangements are separate questions.

Official UK travel guidance advises carrying prescription medicines in their original labeled packaging with a doctor’s letter stating the quantity required. Those general instructions do not themselves authorize a particular cannabis preparation. Obtain a product-specific answer instead of relying on a retailer’s assurance or another traveler’s experience.

Will Greece Legalise Recreational Cannabis?

The operative rules allow regulated medicinal products and licensed industrial production while prohibiting recreational cannabis and consumer dried hemp flower. A medical-market expansion or a legal challenge to hemp restrictions is not itself recreational legalization. Any future change must be assessed from the enacted measure and its effective date.