Cannabis in Japan

Japan has no legal market for cannabis, no medical cannabis program and no tolerance for personal amounts. What changed recently is how the law is built. On December 12, 2024, amendments to the old Cannabis Control Law took effect: cannabis became a "narcotic" under the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Law, and using it became a crime for the first time. The remaining law was renamed the Act on Regulation of Cannabis Plant Cultivation, and a second stage on March 1, 2025 created first-class and second-class licences for growers, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW).

Penalties are heavy. Possession, transfer and use each carry up to seven years' imprisonment, rising to ten years plus a fine of up to 3 million yen when done for profit; unlicensed cultivation carries up to ten years. Police say they arrested 6,832 people for cannabis offences in 2025, a record, and 700 of them under the new use offence (Nikkei, April 2026). Counting narcotics agents and the coast guard, the total reached 7,120, with 72% under 30 (Kyodo via nippon.com, July 2026).

The same reform opened a narrow door for medicine. Cannabis-derived drugs can now be approved through the normal pharmaceutical process, but as of September 2026 none has reached patients. Jazz Pharmaceuticals' cannabidiol solution, sold abroad as Epidiolex, missed its primary endpoint in a Japanese Phase 3 trial in August 2024; in April 2026 Jazz signed an agreement with Nippon Zoki Pharmaceutical to support a future launch. There is no card, clinic or prescription route for cannabis flower.

CBD is legal and widely sold, in shops and online, but only if the finished product stays under Δ9-THC residue limits set in law: 10 ppm for oils and powders, 0.1 ppm for water-based products such as drinks, and 1 ppm for everything else, including gummies and vape liquids. Anything above those limits is treated as a narcotic. MHLW and prefectures publish warnings when test purchases fail: a CBD gummy (May 2025), a CBD drink (November 2025), two wax and liquid products (December 2025) and a CBD wax (April 2026) were all named.

Semi-synthetic cannabinoids are another trap. HHC was banned as a designated drug in March 2022 and reclassified as a narcotic from October 3, 2025; THCH followed in August 2023 and HHCH in December 2023. CBN, once sold openly as a sleep aid, became a designated drug on June 1, 2026, which bans its manufacture, import, sale, possession and use outside narrow medical exceptions.

For visitors the rules are the same as for residents. A medical card or a product bought legally in another country is no defence, and customs treats cannabis, THC products and designated drugs as prohibited imports. Our guide for travelers covers packing and arrests in detail. This page is general information, not legal advice.