Selling and Cultivating Opium

Question

What is the ruling on cultivating opium, and what is the ruling on trading in it — does it take the ruling of wine or is it different from it? Please explain in detail.

Answer

Consuming opium is haram, although its prohibition is of a lower degree than the prohibition of wine. This is why, if there is an Islamic government, the hadd (fixed Shari‘a penalty) is applied to one who drinks wine, but the hadd is not applied to one who consumes opium; he is, however, given a ta‘zir (discretionary)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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