Mozambique discusses cannabis legalisation
A national drugs conference in Maputo considered the commercial possibilities of cannabis, acknowledging its medicinal and economic potential.
Mozambique is exploring the commercial potential of cannabis, a plant currently treated as a police matter. A national drugs conference organised by the Attorney General’s Office in Maputo last week debated the possible legalisation of controlled cannabis production, sale, and consumption. The conference acknowledged the plant’s medicinal and scientific value, as well as its role in other countries' formal economies, citing pharmaceutical products and hemp fibre for textiles as commercial applications.
While the discussion opens the door for potential legal businesses and investment, it leaves the status of small-scale farmers growing cannabis unresolved. The conference declaration noted discussions on legalisation but did not outline a licensing system or address personal consumption. This leaves Mozambique facing a choice between creating a legal business framework for investors and potentially continuing to prosecute individual farmers for growing the plant.
This approach mirrors a familiar pattern of opportunity distribution, where companies with capital and legal resources could secure cultivation permits while small farmers might still face prosecution. Although commercial production requires controls not necessary for personal cultivation, this distinction does not inherently justify treating individual farmers as criminals. Neighbouring South Africa decriminalised private adult use, possession, and cultivation for personal consumption in 2018, while not authorising unrestricted commercial sales.
Why it mattersMozambican citizens who grow cannabis for personal use could continue to face prosecution even if commercial production is legalised.