The legal challenge to have the ban on cannabis declared unconstitutional in Namibia got under way in the Windhoek High Court on 2 July 2025 with the lawyer for the plaintiffs making oral arguments before three judges.

Ganja Users of Namibia (GUN) President Brian Jaftha brought the case against the government, arguing that the laws prohibiting the possession and use of cannabis were inconsistent with the constitution and outdated, as they were enacted during the country’s apartheid-era period under South African rule and have no place in a modern democracy.

Jaftha is also asking the court to release all individuals arrested for cannabis-related offences.

Jaftha himself was released from prison earlier this month after serving almost two years on a charge of possessing less than 100g of cannabis; the conviction followed his arrest in a sting operation by plainclothes police officers in 2023.

 Kadhila Amoomo, the lawyer representing Jaftha, who is supported in the application by GUN’s Secretary General Borro Ndungula, accused the government of misapplying the legal doctrine of ripeness when oral arguments got underway.

The government has claimed that the case is not yet ripe for legal intervention and should be in the jurisdiction of the Law Reform and Development Commission  (LRDC) and Parliament. However, Amoomo argued that the government was misusing the ripeness doctrine to avoid addressing a constitutional challenge and to try to delay the case.

In an exclusive interview with Cannabiz Africa on the eve of the court case, Jaftha flagged the government’s tactic to make the case a civil affair as an attempt to undermine the authority of the courts. “What they are saying is that the issue must go out of the hands of the courts and into the community because it’s a complex social issue,” Jaftha said during the interview.

The court case is the latest stage in cannabis activists’ attempts to have prohibitionist laws, mainly the Abuse of Dependence-Producing Substances and Rehabilitation Centres Act 41 of 1971 (RSA) and the Medicines and Related Substances Act 101 of 1965 (“the Medicines Act”) amended, on the grounds that they unnecessarily criminalise and disenfranchise many of the country’s citizens by perpetuating historical injustices and thereby violating a raft of human rights protocols.

In calling for the amendment of antiquated legislation that criminalises cannabis possession and use earlier last month, the four leading pro-cannabis lobby groups in Namibia filed a joint application with the government, following an invitation by the Ministry of Justice and Labour Relations for citizens to submit proposals for law reform. Ganja Users of Namibia (GUN), Cannabis and Hemp Association of Namibia (CHAN), Medical Marijuana Association of Namibia (MMAN) and Rasta United Front (RUF) of Namibia joined hands in requesting that draconian colonial-era legislation be dropped.

The three judges hearing the high court challenge are Dinnah Usiku, Claudia Claasen and Philanda Christiaan.

 #