The public stigma associated with cannabis generally, is preventing the hemp industry gaining any form of traction in Kenya. This is one of the main reasons contributing to the legislative inaction in passing enabling legislation for the commercial trade in industrial hemp.

The legislative vacuum is causing immense frustration amongst potential hemp entrepreneurs who have watched the legalization of industrial cannabis sweep through eleven other African states, yet passed them by.

Although there has been the promise of a roll-out of mass hemp production with the passing of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, 2022 which legalised cannabis for medical and scientific use, the commercial trade in the plant, or recreational use thereof, remains prohibited.

Stakeholders have complained that the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1994 has not been amended despite earlier assurances and continues to operate alongside the new legislation which approved scientific and medicinal cannabis use under license. 

“We have not moved since 2021,” said industrial hemp campaigner, Victoria Mwanzia, speaking on the webinar Rise 4 Africa earlier this year. She described the policy inertia as “heartbreaking”.

Cannabiz Africa discovered that there is a culture of reticence that tends to shroud open discussion of cannabis in Kenya.

Even apparently influential people tended to self-censor or withhold commentary, with some sources refusing to volunteer information despite being promised anonymity. For instance, more than three weeks after acknowledging receipt and despite numerous follow-ups, an academic, lawyer and author did not furnish answers to a questionnaire that he had requested we forward.

The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada), a semi-statutory body with a mandate that includes policy leadership, education, regulation and research coordination, also chose to not comment and only offered a terse response, stating that “in Kenya cannabis is illegal in line with the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act”.

Avoidance and doublespeak appear to form part of cannabis lore in Kenya. In 2019, GoIP Global, a New York-based company, announced it had procured a licence to grow cannabis on a 500-acre plot, only for the Kenyan government to strenuously deny the development.

Even KeHeCon 2025, the Kenya Hemp Conference held earlier this year in Nairobi did not assuage local observers’ concerns that the country was not yet ready to open up and democratise the cannabis market. Although well-attended, it was by invitation and held at an exclusive hotel.

In view of this climate, one understands the frustration that Mwanzia and others have articulated, along with their claim that attempts to get industrial hemp production fully legalised in Kenya have been met with a ‘roadblock’.

She has suggested a massive informative and awareness-raising campaign to familiarise the populace on the difference between industrial hemp, which possesses lots of industrial-use properties, and THC cannabis, which is grown for medicinal and health purposes.

Even so, medicinal cannabis can be dispensed under prescription but doctors are reportedly hesitant to prescribe it out of suspected concerns of possible repercussions.

However in 2022, the pervasive conservatism was challenged by Roots Party of Kenya outlier presidential candidate, George Wajackoyah, who ran on a ticket to legalise cannabis for industrial and medicinal benefits. And despite prevalent anti-cannabis attitudes, traditional medicinal use is common in areas around Kisumu.

As authorities dither on finalising enabling legislation, a cannabis black market continues to thrive, with extensive illegal cultivation around Mount Kenya and the coastal regions.

Meanwhile, investors wait on the sidelines for the government to greenlight mass industrial hemp production so that Kenya can move beyond current research and scientific hemp trials.

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