The cannabis fraternity in Namibia is holding its collective breath that a proclamation by government inviting the public to make suggestions for new laws or for the amendment of existing ones might work in its favour by ushering in some form of decriminalisation amid mounting calls from pro-cannabis and human rights activists for the government to drop archaic prohibitionist legislation.

This comes as Namibians are this week rushing to meet next Friday’s deadline for inputs to current legislation as the government set a 13 June 2025 cut-off date when it invited the public to submit the proposals.

Among those hoping for legislative relief are cannabis users.  Namibia still retains draconian colonial-era drug legislation imposed by former South African authorities before its independence in 1990. Of particular concern for Rastas and other users of cannabis is the Abuse of Dependence-Producing Substances and Rehabilitation Centres Act 41 of 1971.

Pro-cannabis campaigners have complained that the government has used this piece of legislation to discriminately target Rastafarians and people using cannabis for a variety of purposes including health reasons.

Brian Jaftha, the leader of Namibia’s leading pro-cannabis campaign group, Ganja Users of Namibia (GUN), has been in custody for almost two years following his arrest in a set-up and subsequent conviction and incarceration in October 2023.

His N$160 000 vehicle was forfeited to the state in terms of the 1971 statute which mandates the seizure of assets of those convicted of cannabis-related offences. GUN Secretary General Advocate Borro Ndungula has recently highlighted that cannabis users are losing homes and other prized assets on a daily basis because of the continued application of the outdated law.

Whereas Jaftha lost his movable asset after being bust for possession of less than 100 grams of cannabis worth less than N$2 000, Ndungula and advocates of the law’s repeal point out that violent criminals are conversely exempt from asset seizures; it is this discriminatory application of the law that has made cannabis a human rights issue in Namibia, where critics also state that medicinal cannabis can be a worthy pain relief alternative in a health system failing to cope with rising point-of-service demand.

Jaftha has raised the disparity in an application he filed against the state from behind bars for the denial of his religious and human rights after his dreadlocks were forcibly cut off following his admission to a correctional facility. His parole is said to have already been approved but he still remains in prison; an inmate facing similar charges as Jaftha was released recently after serving only a year of a two-year prison term.

But there is reason for cautious optimism as campaigners recently established lines of communication with the new government of President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, a development they have welcomed as historical, given previous administrations’ refusal to entertain queries from the cannabis lobby.

On 2 July 2025, three judges of the Windhoek High Court will hear oral arguments in a challenge by Jaftha and Ndungula contesting the constitutionality of the ban on cannabis, in the latest legal salvo for legalisation in Namibia.

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