Although Lesotho legalized cannabis exports in 2018, Africa has been a slow starter in joining the ranks of those countries pushing for reform and regulated markets. Although fewer than a quarter of the continent’s countries have partially legalized cannabis, primarily medical cannabis for export and industrial hemp, Africa has the potential to be a future powerhouse on the international cannabis stage. Stay in the loop with all the news, policy, legislative, regulatory and market developments with Cannabiz Africa, your reliable content guide to the African cannabis environment.
A 28 year old Nigerian man has been sentenced to seven years in prison without the option of a fine for advertising cannabis for sale on social media. The sentence has been welcomed by drug enforcement officials, but has been criticized as ‘jungle justice’ by proponents of justice reform.
A Nairobi judge has dismissed a legal bid by the Kenyan Rastafarian community for religious exemption from cannabis laws, but has called for a ‘national conversation about cannabis. Judge Mwamuye said the country’s approach no longer reflected social reality and the status quo was untenable
Botswana’s high cannabis and hemp licensing fees, published in January this year, have provoked sharp criticism from local stakeholders who feel intentionally locked out of the market. Now, months after promising to review the licensing structure, the Government remains silent as to how it intends incorporating local farmers into the new cannabis sector.
GUN President Brian Jaftha says that Namibia now stands at a cannabis crossroads. With the legal route to legalization closed, Jaftha, is now taking the fight into the political arena. Here he explains his vision in forming the Ganja Users of Namibia Party and how he intends mobilizing it into a credible political force.
Kenya has a stable, thriving cannabis retail market that links cities and villages, builds rural economies and offers the poor a means of wealth creation. Yet it’s all illegal in the eyes of the Nairobi government officials, who remain blinded to the plant’s potential in helping its own citizens.
Ganja Users of Namibia president Brian Jaftha (pictured here) says his organization has decided to form a political party to push for the legalization of cannabis. This after the Windhoek High Court dismissed GUN’s challenge, saying the ultimate legalization decision should be taken by policy-makers, not the courts.
The Windhoek High Court has dismissed the Ganja Users of Namibia (GUN) application to overturn colonial-era cannabis prohibition laws. However, this does not mean the State has rejected cannabis legalization; its lawyers successfully argued that this was a policy decision best handled by the legislature and not by the courts.
Kush is the West African word for a high potency polydrug cocktail of cannabis laced with synthetic opioids such as nitazene. It’s high addiction rate has seen its use amongst the youth soar to such an extent that the UN has identified it as a public health crisis engulfing the region as a whole.
Mauritius has been hearing public submissions on relaxing it’s prohibitive cannabis laws. The Lalit Hospitality Group made a wide-ranging submission to the National Agency for Drug Control to halt arrests, create a regulated adult-use and medical cannabis sector and allow people to grow their own ‘gandya’.
The Moroccan film, Halima, about the Kingdom’s illicit cannabis trade has swept Shanghai’s International Film Festival with Yassine El Idrissi (pictured here) and actress Khadija scooping the best director and best actress Golden Goblet awards respectively .
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