Act on Regulation of Cannabis Cultivation

• A first-class grower is licensed by the governor of the prefecture where the field is, to grow the plant for raw materials of products made from it — limited to seed or mature-stalk products and the others a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets — and the licence runs to 31 December of the year after next. A second-class grower, who grows it for raw materials of medicines (医薬品) as the Act on Securing Quality, Efficacy and Safety of Products Including Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, a separate Act, defines them, and a research grower, who grows it for research, are licensed by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. Their licence runs to 31 December of the year it is granted.(Art. 2(4), Art. 5(1), Art. 8(1), Art. 2(5), Art. 2(6), Art. 13(1), Art. 14(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• No licence is granted to a person whose licence was revoked under Article 12-6(1) — for a breach, a crime or wrongful act in the business, or a disqualifying ground — less than three years before, a narcotic addict (麻薬中毒者), a person sentenced to imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a heavier penalty, a minor, a person a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names as unable to do the work properly because of a mental or physical condition, a member of an organized crime group (暴力団員) or someone who left one less than five years before, or a person whose business such members control. A corporation or other body is refused too if one of its officers falls within any of the first six of these, except for a research licence.(Art. 5(2), Art. 13(2), Art. 12-6(1), Art. 12-7(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A first-class grower must grow from seeds or other material whose content of the substance in item 42 of Appended Table 1 of the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act, a separate Act, does not exceed a standard a Cabinet Order sets, and must stop at once growing plants that come to exceed it. To process the plant, extraction of its components included, a first-class or second-class grower needs the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare's permission for each half-year, except for processing seeds or mature stalks in cases a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets. A grower given that permission must report to the Minister, within 30 days after the half-year ends, what was used and what was made.(Art. 12-3(1), Art. 12-3(2), Art. 12-4(1), Art. 12-4(3), Art. 17(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Licensed growers must keep books of the cannabis (大麻) and untreated seeds they harvest, hand over, receive or destroy, keep them for two years, and report each year's planted area and stocks by 31 January of the next year. They must keep cannabis not growing in the field in a locked facility at their office (first- and second-class growers keep narcotics made in processing in a locked, sturdy one), and report without delay the loss or theft of cannabis, untreated seeds or such narcotics. They must give notice before destroying cannabis and destroy it by the method a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, or, off the field, in an official's presence; and they may not take it off the field without the licensing authority's permission, except after giving notice to destroy it elsewhere.(Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), Art. 9(1), Art. 15(1), Art. 12-5(1), Art. 16(1), Art. 16(2), Art. 12-2(1), Art. 12(1), Art. 12(2), Art. 11(1), Art. 17(1), Art. 17(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A licensed grower who hands over cannabis seeds must first treat them so they cannot germinate, unless handing them to another licensed grower or in other cases a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets. Untreated seeds may be imported only with the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare's permission, by a licensed grower or by someone who will treat them within three months of importing them. Treated seeds may be imported only by someone the Minister has given a certificate that they have been treated.(Art. 18(1), Art. 19(1), Art. 19(2), Art. 20(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 1 June 2025

  The text on this site

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc. (extract)

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律　抄

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 March 2025

  Act Partially Amending the Cannabis Control Act and the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act

  大麻取締法及び麻薬及び向精神薬取締法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 84 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 12 December 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Cannabis Control Act and the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act

  大麻取締法及び麻薬及び向精神薬取締法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 84 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 13 December 2023

  Act Partially Amending the Cannabis Control Act and the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act

  大麻取締法及び麻薬及び向精神薬取締法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 84 of 2023The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2023

  Act Partially Amending the Civil Code, etc.

  民法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 24 of 2021The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 17 June 2022

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 28 April 2021

  Act Partially Amending the Civil Code, etc.

  民法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 24 of 2021The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 14 December 2019

  Act on the Development of Related Acts to Rationalize Measures concerning the Restriction of Rights of Adult Wards, etc.

  成年被後見人等の権利の制限に係る措置の適正化等を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律

  Act No. 37 of 2019The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 14 September 2019

  Act on the Development of Related Acts to Rationalize Measures concerning the Restriction of Rights of Adult Wards, etc.

  成年被後見人等の権利の制限に係る措置の適正化等を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律

  Act No. 37 of 2019The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 14 June 2019

  Act on the Development of Related Acts to Rationalize Measures concerning the Restriction of Rights of Adult Wards, etc.

  成年被後見人等の権利の制限に係る措置の適正化等を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律

  Act No. 37 of 2019The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 11 amendments already in force

• For 50 days after a licence expires (unless the holder is licensed again) or is revoked, or the grower dies or is dissolved, the cannabis may be handed over to the other licensed growers, narcotics manufacturers or narcotics research facilities the Act names for each kind of licence, and a second-class grower's narcotics made in processing to a narcotics manufacturer or research facility. For that handing over and receiving, Articles 24(1) and 26(3) of the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act, a separate Act, do not apply, and for holding the cannabis, and the narcotics made in processing, in those 50 days its Article 28(1) does not apply.(Art. 12-8(1), Art. 17(1), Art. 17(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may, notwithstanding the Act, import or receive cannabis seeds for forensic work on cannabis crimes, and hands them to national or prefectural forensic bodies, whose staff may use or grow them for that work.(Art. 21-2(1), Art. 21-2(2), Art. 21-2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A person holding two or more licences is treated as a separate person for each licence under the rules on handing over and receiving untreated seeds.(Art. 21-3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A grower who on 28 February 2025 held a licence as a 大麻草採取栽培者 (cannabis harvest grower), granted by the prefectural governor under the Act as it then stood, or as a research grower, keeps the rules of this Act and of the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act, a separate Act, as they stood before 1 March 2025, penalties included, for as long as that licence is valid.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 8(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

• Growing the cannabis plant without lawful grounds (みだりに) is punished with imprisonment (拘禁刑) of one to ten years. Doing it for profit is punished with imprisonment for a fixed term of one year or more, with a fine (罰金) of up to 5 million yen as well where the circumstances call for it. Attempts are punished too.(Art. 24(1), Art. 24(2), Art. 24(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A first-class grower who grows from seeds or material above the Cabinet Order standard is punished with imprisonment of up to seven years. For profit, the penalty is imprisonment of one to ten years, with a fine of up to 3 million yen as well where the circumstances call for it. Attempts are punished too.(Art. 24-2(1), Art. 24-2(2), Art. 24-2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Preparing to grow the plant unlawfully, or knowingly providing or carrying the money, land, buildings, vessels, aircraft, vehicles, equipment or materials (seeds included) for it, is punished with imprisonment of up to five years. These crimes, and the unlawful growing of Article 24, are punished even when committed outside Japan, by anyone, as Article 2 of the Penal Code (刑法) provides.(Art. 24-3(1), Art. 24-4(1), Art. 24-5(1), Penal Code Art. 2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to 500,000 yen, or both, punish: taking cannabis off the field without permission; processing the plant without permission; disobeying an order to stop growing or processing; handing over seeds that have not been made unable to germinate; and importing untreated seeds without permission, or not treating imported seeds within three months.(Art. 24-6(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to 200,000 yen, or both, punish handing over or lending a licence certificate, not keeping the books, not writing them up or falsifying them, not preserving them for two years, destroying cannabis against the rules, false notices or reports, breaking the storage rules, and not handing over or destroying untreated seeds within 50 days after a licence ends or the grower dies or is dissolved. Not giving notice of a loss or theft, of a grower's death or dissolution, or of handing over cannabis or seeds after a licence ends, or not reporting on processing, is punished with imprisonment of up to six months, a fine of up to 200,000 yen, or both. Not making the annual report or making a false one, importing treated seeds without a certificate, and refusing or obstructing an inspection are punished with a fine of up to 200,000 yen.(Art. 25(1), Art. 25-2(1), Art. 26(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a representative or employee commits, in the course of a business, the for-profit growing crime of Article 24, the for-profit crime of Article 24-2, an attempt at either, or an offence of Articles 24-6 to 26, the business itself, whether a corporation or an individual, is fined as well. Failing to apply for a new licence certificate after damaging or losing one, or to return a certificate, within 15 days is liable to a non-penal fine (過料) of up to 100,000 yen.(Art. 27(1), Art. 28(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The cannabis plants, cannabis or seeds involved in the crimes of Articles 24 to 24-3 and 24-6 that the offender owns or holds are confiscated (没収), though those owned by someone else need not be. Vessels, aircraft or vehicles used to carry the plants in unlawful growing, or in preparing for it, may also be confiscated.(Art. 24-7(1), Art. 24-7(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The prefectural governor may revoke a first-class licence, or order growing stopped for a set period, if the grower breaks this Act, a decision made under it or a condition on a licence or permission, commits a crime or wrongful act in the business, or comes to fall within a ground for refusing a licence; the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may do the same for second-class and research licences. If a first-class or second-class grower breaks this Act or a condition of a processing permission, or commits a crime or wrongful act in the business, the Minister may also revoke the permission to process, or order processing stopped for a set period. Licences and permissions may carry conditions, which may be changed, limited to the minimum needed to prevent harm from cannabis abuse and imposing no undue duty.(Art. 12-6(1), Art. 12-6(3), Art. 17(1), Art. 17(2), Art. 22-2(1), Art. 22-2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where especially necessary to enforce the Act, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare or the prefectural governor may require reports from growers and others, and have national or prefectural narcotics agents (麻薬取締官, 麻薬取締員) or other officials enter fields, warehouses, laboratories and other places, inspect the business and its records, and take, free of charge, the smallest samples needed for testing. The officials must carry identification and show it when asked, and this power is not one granted for criminal investigation.(Art. 22-3(1), Art. 22-3(2), Art. 22-3(3)) (the provisions it rests on)