Is THC legal in Cyprus?

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A flag of Cyprus, next to the chemical structure of THC

Formal status

Cyprus is among the strictest in the EU. Possession carries up to eight years, with a two-year cap only for a first offence by someone under 25, and growing a single plant carries a maximum of life. Medical cannabis has been lawful since 2019 but no cultivation licence has ever been issued, so patients receive imported extract through one pharmacy per district. A 2018 ministerial order caps THC in foods by category, at 0.2 mg/kg outside a few hemp-seed uses.

Do we sell here?

Yes, for now: Sleep spray, Sleep capsules.

Cyprus does not set its own hemp THC number. Since 2024 its law takes the limit from EU regulation instead, which currently puts it at 0.3 per cent on a dry-weight basis. Our batches test meaningfully below 0.2 per cent, and we publish the certificates.

That figure answers the crop, though, not the finished product. A separate 2018 ministerial order caps THC in foods by category, and for most foods the cap is very low indeed. A full-spectrum extract contains trace THC by design, so we do not meet it, and we would rather say so than let a comfortable number stand in for the whole picture.

The other complication is the Cypriot rule treating CBD as a medicinal product, which applies whatever the dose, and which we set out on our CBD page. We ship to Cyprus because Cypriot enforcement here has been directed at product placed on the Cypriot market and at businesses inside the country rather than at European sellers delivering to customers. We review this regularly.

Outlook

Cyprus tied its hemp definition to the EU figure in 2024 instead of setting a number of its own, so that limit now moves only if Article 4(4) of the Regulation moves. Nothing suggests the EU figure is being revisited, and an amendment in the other direction would have to unpick that link first.

The 2018 food order described above is the more interesting one to watch. It still assumes the older 0.2 per cent hemp figure that the 2024 change moved away from, and we have found no amendment to it since it was made. Whether Cyprus revisits it to line the two up is the open question. Seized products in Cyprus are laboratory-tested, so a declared specification would need to hold up analytically if a shipment were ever examined, which is one reason we publish batch certificates.

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Κ.Δ.Π. 189/2018, the order determining maximum tetrahydrocannabinol content in foods, is made by the Minister of Health under article 20 of the Foods (Control and Sale) Laws 1996 to 2014 and published in the Official Gazette, Third Supplement (I), no. 5097, entering into force three months after publication. It prohibits the importation, production, storage, movement, possession for sale and sale of any food made wholly or partly from industrial hemp whose THC content exceeds 10 mg/kg for edible oil products, 5 mg/kg for edible seeds and seed flour, 0.2 mg/kg for other foods and drinks, and 0.04 mg/kg for soft and non-alcoholic drinks. It carries no exemption or de minimis provision, and sets no limit for cannabidiol.

Κ.Δ.Π. 189/2018, Official Gazette Third Supplement (I) no. 5097, reproduced by CyLaw

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Police raid shops in Latsia and central Nicosia over unlicensed CBD, THC and HHC products, with seized goods sent to the Health Ministry for laboratory testing. Pharmaceutical Services and the police drug squad separately confirm that CBD products may be distributed only through licensed pharmacies.

Cyprus Mail

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Ν. 7(Ι)/2024 amends the 2016 industrial hemp production and trade law, replacing the industrial-hemp definition in section 2(2) with a cross-reference to the THC limit set by Article 4(4) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, rather than writing a figure into Cypriot law. That Article currently sets 0.3 per cent dry weight, so the operative limit is 0.3 per cent and would move if the Regulation moved. Article 3 gives the amendment retroactive effect from 7 December 2021. References to 0.2 per cent survive unamended elsewhere in the base law, at section 17(2) and at paragraphs 3 and 5 of the Annex, which govern seed varieties and the evidence required before industrial hemp may be marketed.

Ν. 7(Ι)/2024, Cyprus Official Gazette no. 4981

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Joint Police and Health Ministry operation raids shops in Nicosia and Paphos, seizing 244 packages of suspected CBD product and 43 of suspected THC product. The stated basis is that CBD products are medicinal products requiring a valid circulation licence; owners face trial and possible permanent closure of the business.

Cyprus Mail

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Police, the National Cannabis Control Authority and Pharmaceutical Services report a nationwide crackdown: over 1,450 cannabis-based items totalling 29 kg seized, and 2,142 illegal preparations identified during 2024, roughly 1,800 of them containing CBD or THC. Targets are commercial retail premises, with criminal charges against shop owners.

Cyprus Mail

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Customs Department and the drug squad seize 1,440 cannabis lollipops at a Limassol transport company's premises, from three containers arriving from Greece, alongside suspected counterfeit goods. Detection followed random inspection of a consignment mis-declared as personal items.

Cyprus Mail

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Customs officers and police intercept two packages at Larnaca airport arriving from another EU member state, containing 24 kg across 1,600 cannabis-based products including tea, coffee, chewing gum, jelly and electronic cigarettes, declared as souvenirs. The consignment was destined for retail sale in Cyprus; the intended recipient and a shop employee were arrested.

Cyprus Mail

Ingredients

Browse legality of our other ingredients in Cyprus.