Tanzania has some of the most draconian anti-cannabis laws in Africa with offenders risking up to 30 years in jail if convicted of possession or cultivation, despite Tanzania’s double distinction as the country with the highest number of cannabis users in East Africa and one of the world’s leading cannabis producers. Use and possession are governed by the Drug Control and Enforcement Act of 2019.

Against this backdrop, it is something of a surprise that no opposition politician in the 17 parties contesting the CCM to rule the country has taken up the mantle for cannabis. However, as politicians and government continue along a prohibitionist trajectory, local activists are urging the government to reconsider its longstanding anti-cannabis stance and adopt a national cannabis draft.

Innocent Tigano Massinde (pictured here) has emerged as arguably the most articulate of these pro-cannabis campaigners. He has pleaded with authorities to put the country on the path to legalisation so that Tanzania can “plant prosperity” and reap the dividends of the “green gold” like counterpart African countries that have already legalised cannabis.

“It is time for marijuana reform to move from whispered debates into the national spotlight. It must be part of the election agenda – and every candidate running for Parliament should have a clear, public answer,” he writes.

He describes the period leading up to the elections as a crossroad that will determine the country’s future economic outlook depending on which way it chooses to go. “One path leads to economic opportunity, youth empowerment, and international competitiveness. The other continues the cycle of outdated laws, clogged courts, ruined young lives, and missed prosperity”.

Up to 100 000 mainly young people are thought to be serving jail time for cannabis-related offences, mostly for possession of small amounts. Meanwhile, along the coastal areas and in the northern Arusha region where anti-narcotics police recently announced a huge bust the black market continues to thrive.

To counter ever more intrepid growers, the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) has increasingly resorted to intelligence-driven operations which resulted in police confiscating 200 containers of cannabis saplings. Planting in containers enables illicit growers to move their crop for when they get wind of a police operation.

For Massinde, the huge underground market is an indication of the missed opportunities in economic growth, rural development and healthcare innovation and billions in lost tax revenue. “Other nations see cannabis as a crop; we see it as a crime. That thinking must change,” he warns.

However, come election time, African politicians are known to habitually pander to a large, uninformed conservative constituency that is opposed to legalisation and politicians in Tanzania are reflecting that pattern.

With current Health Minister Jenister Mhagama having in the past stated that regulating cannabis will put the mental health of the country’s youth at risk, the odds are currently stacked against the pro-legalisation lobby.

#