Is Weed Legal in the UK? The 2026 Law, Penalties and Exceptions

About 6.5% of adults aged 16 to 59 in England and Wales used cannabis in the year to March 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics, and cannabis has been the most-used illegal drug in every survey since records began. Widespread use has not changed the law, and it helps to know where the lines actually sit.

Cannabis in UK law at a glance

The same criminal law applies in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; what differs is how police and prosecutors deal with small amounts.

Legal status

Class B controlled drug (Misuse of Drugs Act 1971)

Possession, maximum

5 years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both

Supply or production, maximum

14 years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both

Small amount, first time

Police may give a warning or an on-the-spot fine of up to £90

Medical use

Legal on a specialist's prescription since 1 November 2018

Home grow

Illegal: cultivation offence, section 6 of the 1971 Act

Drug driving (England and Wales)

Limit of 2 micrograms of THC per liter of blood

What happens if police find cannabis on you?

For a small, personal amount, the likely outcome is an out-of-court resolution rather than a court case, but it depends on your history and the circumstances.

GOV.UK says police can give a warning or an on-the-spot fine of up to £90 if you are found with cannabis. The Crown Prosecution Service's drug-offences guidance describes the usual ladder: a cannabis warning for a first offense involving a small amount for personal use, a penalty notice for disorder for a second, and arrest and charge after that. It also lists factors that push a case up the ladder, such as smoking in public or near premises used by young people, and repeat offending.

Forces don't all use the same tools. A 2021 House of Commons Library briefing noted that a group of forces had adopted a "two-tier" framework under which simple cautions, penalty notices and cannabis warnings are not used for adults, with conditional cautions and community resolutions used instead. Ask the officer, or a solicitor, which outcome is being offered and what it means for background checks.

The medical exception: legal since November 2018

A doctor on the General Medical Council's Specialist Register can prescribe cannabis-based products for medicinal use, under regulations in force since 1 November 2018. Patients collect the medicine from a pharmacy and must not smoke it.

The NHS prescribes three licensed products for a narrow set of conditions, so most patients go private. Our UK prescription guide covers eligibility, clinic fees and dispensing step by step, and our guide to comparing UK cannabis clinics explains how to check one before you pay.

Five things that are still illegal, even for patients

A prescription covers one product, from one pharmacy, used as directed. Everything around it stays under the 1971 Act.

• Growing your own — cultivating any plant of the genus Cannabis is an offense under section 6, with no exception for patients. See our guide to cannabis seeds and home growing.
• Smoking prescribed flower — the 2018 regulations bar smoking cannabis-based medicines; patients vaporize or use oils.
• Sharing your medicine — giving prescribed cannabis to anyone else is supply.
• Buying "THC" or "HHC" products online — THC is Class B, and the government has said it will control HHC and similar semi-synthetic cannabinoids as Class B too. Gummies advertised as "legal THC" are one of the most common online traps.
• Driving with THC above the limit — unless the medicine was prescribed and taken as directed, and you are not impaired. Details in our UK drug-driving guide.

Where CBD fits in

CBD on its own is not a controlled drug, so CBD oils, gummies and drinks can be sold legally, within limits. In England and Wales a CBD food must be on the Food Standards Agency's public list, and a product containing THC or another controlled cannabinoid stays outside drug law only if no single component part contains more than 1 mg of it, according to the Home Office drug-licensing factsheet.

"CBD flower" sold for smoking is the trap: hemp flowers and leaves are controlled parts of the plant, whatever the THC percentage. Our explainer on what UK CBD shops can sell covers the rules in full.

Is the UK about to legalize or decriminalize cannabis?

Not on current evidence. Reform has been proposed from outside government, and ministers have repeatedly said no.

1. 2018-11-01

   Cannabis-based products for medicinal use become prescribable by specialist doctors.

2. 2025-03-17

   In a written answer, Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson says the government has no plans to legalise cannabis.

3. 2025-05-28

   The London Drugs Commission, chaired by Lord Falconer, recommends removing natural cannabis from the 1971 Act and regulating it under the Psychoactive Substances Act, which would decriminalize personal possession. The Home Office says it has no intention of reclassifying cannabis.

4. 2025-06

   The Home Office commissions the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to review how the 2018 medical rules are working.

5. 2026-05-11

   The government confirms THCA, the acid form of THC, will be controlled as Class B, alongside earlier plans to ban HHC.

Scotland and Northern Ireland: same drug law, some differences

The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and its penalties apply UK-wide. Differences show up at the edges.

• Scotland has had its own drug-driving limits since 21 October 2019, including the same 2 µg/L THC limit.
• Northern Ireland has no fixed drug-driving limits; the offense there is driving while impaired by drugs. Its medical cannabis rules are set by separate regulations published on nidirect.