Cannabis in Iceland

Cannabis in Iceland is illegal. Offenses such as sale and cultivation are heavily punished and can result in jail time.^[1]^[2] Possession of small amounts will not result in jail time, but offenders will still be subject to arrest and payment of a fine.^[3]

History

Cannabis was first banned on 14 October 1969, when a regulation was set to ban cannabis.^[4] The regulation added cannabis to an existing anti-opium regulation, due to concerns about rising popularity among youth.^[5] In 1974 the ban was added to the Icelandic legislation.^[1]

Statistics

6.6% of the population consumes cannabis regularly. That number is commonly believed to be 18.3% due to data confusion; 18.3% is the number of Icelanders who consume cannabis regularly out of the subset of the population who has ever consumed cannabis.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b Lög um ávana- og fíkniefni 1974 nr. 65 21. maí, www.althingi.is, archived from the original on 6 October 2013, retrieved 2009-02-09
^ Mapes, Terri (20 April 2018). "Marijuana in Iceland". TripSavvy. Archived from the original on 21 August 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
^ ^a ^b Sveinn Helgason, Magnús (26 August 2015). "Do Icelanders really smoke more cannabis than anyone else?". Iceland Magazine. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
^ "Marihuana og LSD loks bannað hér!" (in Icelandic). No. 235. Tíminn. 25 October 1969. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
^ Helgi Gunnlaugsson; John F. Galliher (January 2000). Wayward Icelanders: Punishment, Boundary Maintenance, and the Creation of Crime. Univ of Wisconsin Press. pp. 92–. ISBN 978-0-299-16534-5.