Ask people in Moscow whether they smell weed on the street and you might get a strange look. Someone put that question to Reddit's AskARussian forum. Most replies were a quick no. One person said they hardly ever noticed the smell. Others didn't want anything to do with cannabis at all. It's quite a contrast with walking past a coffeeshop in Amsterdam.
Russia still takes a hard line on weed. Even a small amount can mean trouble with the police. If you're caught carrying more than six grams, it can become a criminal case. And something being sold as CBD in another country doesn't mean it's allowed in Russia. Hemp grown for clothing and other materials is treated differently. That doesn't make ordinary cannabis legal.
Still, not everyone in the discussion said nobody smokes. A few people mentioned home growers and groups of friends who keep things private. One commenter knew a shop selling clothes and other things made from hemp. Others said they were happy with the strict laws. It wasn't exactly a friendly chat between the two sides.
A Russian poll from 2025 found that 69% supported criminal penalties for drug use in general. That figure wasn't about cannabis alone. And the comments on Reddit are only people's experiences, not a survey of the whole country. But they do tell you something about the atmosphere. If there's a cannabis scene in Russia, you're unlikely to find it by following the smell down the street.
