Plain-language summaries, not legal advice. Check the official source linked on each rule.
Possession
Personal use is a minor offence
Recreational possession is illegal, with no amount that is allowed. Possessing a quantity for your own use is a minor offence under Article 29 of Law 4139/2013, and courts usually suspend the sentence for a first offence. Smoking in public is prohibited.
Penalties
Up to 5 months for personal use, at least 8 years for supply
Using, possessing or growing cannabis for your own needs can bring up to five months in prison, and the conviction is not entered on the criminal record if there is no new drug offence within five years. Supplying or trafficking carries at least eight years in prison and fines of 50,000 to 500,000 euros, up to 1 million in special cases; people dependent on drugs or sharing within a group can get up to three years instead.
Retail Sale
Only hemp and CBD products
There are no cannabis shops. Shops may sell hemp and CBD products made from EU approved hemp varieties with up to 0.3% THC, but there is no dedicated CBD law, so labelling and quality vary.
Homegrow
Home growing is not allowed
Growing cannabis at home is illegal. A few plants clearly for your own use are treated like personal possession, with up to five months in prison; anything suggesting supply is prosecuted as trafficking. Only licensed companies may grow, for medical or industrial hemp use.
Medical
Medical cannabis on prescription in pharmacies
A joint ministerial decision in June 2017 allowed medical use on a doctor's prescription, and Law 4523/2018 of March 2018 allowed licensed companies to grow and produce medical cannabis. After long delays, prescriptions filled in pharmacies became available in 2024, as oils and flower, for conditions such as cancer pain, epilepsy and chronic pain. A foreign prescription does not allow you to bring cannabis into Greece.
Recent changes
After years of delays, prescriptions for medical cannabis became available through Greek pharmacies in 2024, building on the 2017 medical decision and the 2018 production law.