Guide · · 6 min read
Trafficking or Personal Use? (TPC arts. 188 and 191)
The Turkish Penal Code addresses narcotic substances in two separate places. Article 188 covers manufacture and trafficking; article 191 covers buying, accepting, possessing or using a substance for personal consumption. A situation that looks identical on the surface — a substance found on a person or at their home — becomes an entirely different prosecution depending on which article applies.
The distinction turns on the purpose of possession. In practice several criteria are weighed together: how the quantity found relates to personal-use thresholds, whether the substance was in a single piece or divided into small packets ready for sale, the presence of tools such as precision scales and packaging material, communication records and money movements, and any report on whether the person is a substance user.
No single criterion decides the matter; the file is assessed as a whole. Where a person is established to be a user and the quantity stays within personal-use limits, the case is as a rule treated under article 191, whereas sale-ready packaging or messages with buyers can move the picture towards article 188.
This is why the statement stage is decisive: what is said about the purpose of possession directly shapes the course of the file. Proceeding with a lawyer from the outset matters both for having the statement recorded accurately and for gathering favourable evidence in time.