Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the role of cannabis in African health care systems

Paper long abstract:

African approaches to health have long been characterised by openness to alternative forms of medicine and access to health. Particularly, most African countries give due regard to traditional medicines while recognising practitioners such as traditional healers. In a context where mainstream health systems are either inadequate or inaccessible to others, local indigenous knowledge systems championed by the poor played a key role in sustaining the use of cannabis as medicine for treating different ailments. On the other hand, the same African states implemented prohibitionist approaches to drug regulation and control, making cannabis an illegal substance. Some voices from within the continent have argued that the response strategy on a continental level ought to inculcate reference to the much-trusted reservoir of traditional medicine knowledge, which they claim has stood the test of time. While cannabis has a special meaning as traditional medicine, its recent legalisation for medicinal and scientific purposes in several African countries emphasises its economic and scientific value in the western sense with traditional meanings and knowledge around cannabis largely side-lined. This paper explores the future of cannabis in the African context, and the implications of the seemingly limited inclusion of the poor in the emerging legal markets. It argues that there are dangers of cultural and economic appropriation of cannabis, a drug historically associated with the poor, for the economic benefit of those with resources to undertake the costly production in the legal cannabis sector.

Paper short abstract:

Despite the 2018 Constitutional Court of South Africa judgment declaring the prohibition of the use and cultivation of Cannabis within private spaces as unconstitutional and our government being instructed by the highest court in the land to amend the defects in the law, there has been no progress.

Paper long abstract:

Fields of Green for ALL NPC has been active in campaigning for the re-legalisation of Cannabis in South Africa since 2010. This paper will explore the solutions which we have offered and the current "Crisis Points" hampering progress. The issues will be explored within the context of our centuries-old Legacy Cannabis Industry and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Cannabis prohibition and the broader ‘war on drugs’ are policies that are a product of colonialism. This has led to a host of unintended negative consequences that are hampering development of evidence-based drug policy, fit for task in the 21st century. What is at issue is herbal Cannabis. The current conversation, internationally, is narrowly confined to pharmaceutical Cannabis without any consideration of the consequences for poorer countries with a legacy of the use, cultivation and trade in Cannabis. These are the countries that have been left behind as their former colonial masters relish the profits from high potency Cannabis that is grown indoors using excessive amounts of energy, for a market that is able to afford a pharmaceutical grade product that once grew in the wild in areas where, botanically, it was intended by nature, to grow. It was a diverse crop, a trusted and sustainable agricultural product.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores hopes and dreams of development in Kenya centred upon cannabis. It provides historical and cultural context of the substance in Kenya, and looks at how politicians and others are eyeing up economic opportunities based on the crop and pushing for policy change.

Paper long abstract:

Kenyan presidential aspirant George Wajackoyah grabbed the headlines in the 2022 election year through his unconventional manifesto centred upon the legalisation of bhang, as cannabis is usually known in Kenya. Such a policy, he claimed, could help service Kenya’s debt through exporting high quality product, as well as pay for infrastructural development in much of the country. His voice joined other recent Kenyan politicians and thinkers – mostly those from Western Kenya where there is a long history of cannabis cultivation and consumption – in promoting legalisation of cannabis both as something that could redress the harms caused by a prohibitory policy that they see as a colonial legacy, and as something that could spark industry and economic growth. This paper explores how cannabis policy has emerged as a lively point of debate in Kenyan society over the last decade, assessing how local and global narratives have combined to give this debate traction. It places this debate within the context of cannabis histories, economies and cultures of consumption within the country, and also assesses the potential for a liberalised future for Kenyan cannabis, something not unthinkable given the many changes in cannabis law through the continent and beyond.

Paper short abstract:

Cannabis cultivation in Southern Africa holds significant value in sustaining livelihoods, especially of cultivators, seemingly left out of the legalisation debate. What are their views, are they for or against legalisation, and what are the perceived impacts on the continued production of cannabis?

Paper long abstract:

Cannabis cultivation is documented as a long-standing practice in Africa and Southern Africa specifically. The growing of cannabis is concentrated in three African regions; Pondoland in South Africa, the Mokhotlong district in Lesotho and the Hhohho district in Swaziland, with the majority of farmers growing the crop for subsistence. Cannabis thus holds significant value in supplementing incomes and sustaining livelihoods, especially of cultivators. Considering their geographic and economic positions, the contribution of cannabis to the livelihoods of those who live in the poorest parts of the country is great, yet has been largely ignored despite the changing legislative context of cannabis law in South Africa. Moreover, as changes to the legislative framework emerge and the cannabis legalisation debate deepens, one is challenged in locating the voices of the rural subsistence farmers who have cultivated cannabis for generations. As an important source of information, they appear to be left out. What are their views? Are they for or against legalisation and why? What are the perceived impacts of legalisation on their continued production of cannabis?

In an attempt to garner and understand their views, needs and concerns, the thesis aimed to showcase these, and further open up a small window of opportunity to relay the voices of the seemingly voiceless. It emphasises that, without their voices, a nuanced legalisation debate and support for a holistic, progressive, informed, sustainable legislative framework will be tainted.

Paper short abstract:

In Senegal, cannabis production is carried out by small farmers in spite of prohibition; no national enforcement strategy was developed for agrobusiness and licit marketing. However, advocacy ‘from below’ for legislation update and cannabidiol production might allow change.

Paper long abstract:

The experience of countries such as Morocco has shown that the opening of an international cannabis market requires a change at the national level in drug legislation, an economic development strategy for agricultural production, and investor initiatives connected to international firms, and may be facilitated by activists (Rusenga, 2022). Is Senegal following this pathway?

To respond to this query, this presentation is based on an ethnographic survey as part of an ongoing doctoral project on the social and health issues surrounding cannabis in Senegal.

Cannabis production dates back to the post-colonial period and is carried out by small-scale farmers, whose income enables them to survive in the absence of other alternative resources. The lack of a national strategy for production is linked to present repressive policies, the marginalisation of cannabis as an illicit drug, and its association with the Casamance independence movement. There are however seeds of change at the local level that are opening up with some growers being offered seeds to grow by Westerners and their willingness to develop the cultivation of cannabis for therapeutic use, particularly through cannabidiol (CBD), which is little known by Senegalese users. Drug users' and activists' movements have recently developed, but they are more concerned with harm reduction and access to care and are slowly moving towards decriminalisation of cannabis.

Cannabis production and market in French speaking West Africa are similar to Senegal. Differences with English speaking-countries are a key topic in the current debate on African cannabis futures.

Paper long abstract:

This paper draws on preliminary findings from a study on the cannabis economy in Nigeria. In-depth interviews and observations were used to gather data from farmers, traders, and consumers in Oyo, Ondo and Lagos states in southwestern Nigeria. Data revealed that the cultivation and distribution of cannabis is a means of livelihood in the context of poverty and limited opportunities in the legal economy. These activities provided income to meet basic needs for many poor people. Some participants even described cannabis as ‘leaf of wealth’ (ewé ọlà), which helped them fulfil their ideas about prosperity.

The participants, however, highlighted the precarious nature of cannabis livelihoods and the persistent threat to illicit livelihoods arising from stigmatization of those engaged in these activities. Another even more potent threat was posed by corrupt law enforcement officers who, taking advantage of the illegal status of cannabis, benefited from these economic activities through exploitation of farmers and sellers.

Overall, social and legal threats did not discourage those engaged in these economic activities. We found that both farmers and sellers had resources set aside for bribing police. They also had alliances with the latter to evade raids. Further, participants’ accounts and observational evidence suggests some normalizing attitudes toward cannabis, which are partly due to the socio-cultural, medicinal and economic benefits of its production, trade and consumption. We argue that cannabis production and trade are driven by livelihood concerns, even though they are of a precarious nature. Effective policies will be those that take these concerns seriously.