Cannabis law and legislation in Slovakia

It is not permitted to grow, import or sell cannabis for medical use in Slovakia. However, it is now permitted to grow cannabis for the research purposes, subject to approval granted by the Slovak Ministry of Health. The holder of a research licence is obliged to hand over the cannabis crop to the processing organisation and to dispose of the undelivered part of the cannabis crop.

It is not possible to produce, import or sell recreational cannabis in Slovakia. Breach of this prohibition may be punished in accordance with the Slovak Criminal Code by three to seven years imprisonment.

Slovak legislation does not explicitly specify the permitted uses. It generally allows growing cannabis for industrial purposes upon authorisation granted by the Slovak Ministry of Health. Every holder of the authorisation is required to take measures to prevent the abuse of the cannabis to produce narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. 

The Ministry of Health is entitled to impose a fine for breach of laws applicable to industrial cannabis in the amount up to EUR 33 193. 

Slovak Patent Act does not contain any specific restrictions on patentability of cannabis-based product. Cannabis related products are thus potentially patentable. However, patents are generally not granted for inventions which commercial use would be contrary to public order or good morals. Therefore, if a commercial use of cannabis-based product would be considered as contrary to public order or good morals, the cannabis-based product would be not patentable.

Slovak law does not classify CBD as a highly addictive psychotropic substance as of 1st May 2021. The aim of this legislative change was to harmonize Slovak law with the EU law and relevant UN conventions. Due to the removal of CBD from the list of highly addictive psychotropic substances. Slovak Ministry of Health expects the CBD related business development mainly in the cosmetics industry. Current legal framework does not allow the possibility to also sell CBD for internal use. Since March 2024 Slovak Ministry of Health is working on the amendment of Slovak Narcotics Act, which will classify several cannabis related substances, such as Hexahydrocannabinol (HHC), its variants (HHC-P and HHC-O) and Tetrahydrocanabidiol (H4-CBD), as a new psychoactive substances, which will mean prohibition of any production, sale and distribution of these substances. The planned effectiveness of the amended Slovak Narcotics Act is October 2024.

Slovakia is one of the most conservative jurisdictions within the EU with respect to reforms related to cannabis, thus any relevant legislative change is going to be rather slowly implemented.