MPs from the ruling coalition agreed on Wednesday to put the bill on the agenda of Thursday's plenary session.
The proposed legislation, amended by the parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, calls for supplementing the Code of Administrative Offences with a provision that the unlawful production, processing, acquisition, possession, transport or dispatch of small quantities of cannabis (its parts), cannabis oil, resin, extracts or tinctures without the intention to distribute them is punishable by a warning or by a fine of between 30 and 250 euros.
Fines of between 250 and 400 euros could be imposed for repeated offences. In all cases, the cannabis, its parts, oils, resins, extracts or tinctures would be confiscated.
The draft legislation also provides for obliging offenders to enroll in alcoholism and drug addiction prevention, early intervention, health care and resocialization programs and courses.
A person would be exempted from administrative liability if he or she voluntarily seeks medical assistance or surrenders illegally acquired cannabis or cannabis products to a public authority.
The health minister would define what quantity of cannabis would be considered as small.
Currently, possession of a small quantity of any kind of narcotic drug is punishable by criminal law.
An earlier attempt to decriminalize the acquisition and possession of small amounts of narcotic drugs failed through in the parliament in November 2011.
In 2018, the parliament twice rejected amendments aimed at decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of narcotic drugs.
The Drug, Tobacco and Alcohol Control Department said early this year that the prevalence of drugs in Lithuania had increased one and a half times over the last five years.