Expand Namibia (na): recreational/hemp/culture sections, penalty steps, Swartbooi entry, challenge article

namibia-activist-jailed-2023, namibia-high-court-dismisses-challenge-2026, namibia-dealing-presumption-upheld-2026

Cannabis (dagga) is prohibited byunder the apartheid-era Abuse of Dependence-Producing Substances and Rehabilitation Centres Act of 1971 Act. Possession isor use draws up to 10 years or a crime; small amounts typically bring aR20,000 fine on first conviction, and 15 years or a short or suspended sentenceR30,000 after.[@act41,unam17] Holding more than 115 g creates a legal presumption of dealing, which the High Court upheld in 2026 when it dismissed Juvani Swartbooi's innocent-until-proven-guilty challenge — Swartbooi himself had drawn 12 months for dealing.[@nam1] Review courts routinely impose far less than the maxima: two years for dealing in 2020,[@mw20] and N$3,000 or 18 months in 2016.[@haf16]

act41, unam17, nam1, wikimw20, haf16

Section 1 includes cultivation within dealing;, and section 2(a) prohibits dealing in a prohibited dependence-producing drug or its plant. Cannabis; cannabis is listed in Schedule Part I.[@act41] A first conviction draws up to 15 years or R30,000, later ones 25 years or R50,000.[@unam17]

act41, unam17

Cannabis accounts for most drug arrests: the March 2025 police statement counted 160 drug suspects (151 of them Namibian) and valued the cannabis seized at about N$3.1 million out of N$3.5 million total.[@newera25] Ganja Users of Namibia and the Rastafari United Front have marched and sued to havestrike the 1971 Act struck down, so far without success: the 2021 challenge was dismissed on prematurity grounds in July 2026, and the 115 g presumption survived a separate 2026 attack.[@nam2,nam26,nam1]

newera25, nam2, nam26, nam1

The Act’Section 1's definitions extend dealing todefinition reaches supply and, sale toand even disposal without payment. Section, so section 2(a) therefore reachespunishes unpaid transfers; the 2006 bill is not used here as an enacted penalty tariffdealing — up to 15 years or R30,000 on first conviction, 25 years or R50,000 after.[@act41,unam17]

act41, unam17

Section 2(b) expressly criminalises use as well as possession of a prohibited dependence-producing drug or plant: up to 10 years or R20,000 on first conviction.[@act41,unam17]

act41, unam17

No recreational supply route exists. Sections 4–5 preserve specified medicine-related provisions but do not establish an ordinary cannabis supply service.[@act41]

NoneNo licensed production operates: the 1971 Act criminalises cultivation and production, and reform petitions — including a 2020 petition to parliament by cannabis and hemp groups — have not changed the law.[@act41,zenna]

wikiact41, zenna

None.

wiki

No medical cannabis: cannabis remains illegal for medical use with no legal framework. Only synthetic THC (dronabinol) may be prescribed under tight restriction, with no domestic supply or dispensary network.[@zenna]

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Section 8 provides forfeiture of drugs, plants and specified property connected with an offence, subject to the Act’'s safeguards for other interests. Repeat convictions raise every tariff: dealing goes from 15 to 25 years, possession from 10 to 15.[@act41,unam17]

act41, unam17

The 1971 Act lists as a prohibited dependence-producing drug "Cannabis (Dagga) and the who … processed products made from cannabis seed that contain almost no THC and no whole seeds.[@act41,gn178]

No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@act41]

wikiact41

There is no legal recreational supply for anyone. Possession: possession is a crime under the Abuse of Dependence-Producing Substances and Rehabilitation Centres Act of 1971; small amounts typically bring a fine Act.[@act41] Medical visitors have no route either. Namibia does not recognise foreign medical cannabis prescriptions — bringing cannabis in any form, including CBD, hemp oil or a shortedibles, is illegal — and while synthetic THC may be prescribed, there is no supply or suspended sentencedispensary network for a tourist to use.[@zenna]

nam1act41, wikizenna

The published Road Traffic and Transport Act section 82(1) prohibits driving a vehicle on a public road while under the influence of a drug having a narcotic effect.[@traffic2008] It also covers occupying the driver’'s seat of a motor vehicle with its engine running.[@traffic2008] This is a drug-influence offence; the separate blood-alcohol and breath-alcohol provisions do not establish a cannabis concentration limit.[@traffic2008] The available NamibLII edition is dated 9 December 2008, so it is a qualified statutory baseline rather than certification of all current amendments.[@traffic2008] A current cannabis fine, prison ceiling, licence-ban tariff and drug-specific sampling or refusal procedure were not established in this review.[@traffic2008]

The Namibian Police's media statement for March 2025 counted 160 suspects arrested for dru … on would price cannabis at ten Namibian dollars a kilogram, so the unit is probably grams.[@newera25]

University of Namibia — LL.M. thesis on drug offences under Act 41 of 1971 (April 2017) The Namibian — Attempt to legalise cannabis fails in High Court (12 July 2026) Namibian Sun — Cannabis activist jailed (18 Oct 2023) S v Mwatongwe [2020] NAHCNLD 88 (20 July 2020) S v Hafeni [2017] NAHCNLD 50 (13 June 2017) ZennJet — Namibia RED: medical cannabis travel guide (Aug 2025, PDF) The African Roots of Marijuana Wikipedia — Cannabis in Namibia 6 unchanged

NAD

label Possession or use, first conviction (section 2(b)) · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 10 years · fine 20000 · note Rands in the 1971 text, label Possession or use, second or subsequent conviction (section 2(b)) · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 15 years · fine 30000 · note Rands in the 1971 text

NAD

label Cultivation as dealing, first conviction (sections 1, 2(a)) · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison 15 years · fine 30000 · note Cultivation counts as dealing; rands in the 1971 text, label Cultivation as dealing, second or subsequent conviction (sections 1, 2(a)) · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison 25 years · fine 50000 · note Rands in the 1971 text

Recreational cannabis is fully prohibited: the 1971 Act criminalises possessing or using a prohibited dependence-producing drug or plant, and cannabis (dagga) — whole plant, portions and products — sits in Schedule Part I.[@act41] Reform has come through the courts and lost: Ganja Users of Namibia and the Rastafari United Front sued in August 2021, calling the ban irrational, outdated and partly racist;[@nam2] their leader Brian Jaftha was jailed for two years for possession in October 2023;[@jaf23] and in July 2026 Judge Claasen upheld the government's special plea, holding cannabis policy is for the executive and legislature while the Law Reform and Development Commission reviews the law.[@nam26]

act41, nam2, jaf23, nam26

none

No hemp exception operates: "Cannabis (Dagga) and the whole plant or any portion or product thereof" is prohibited, and only processed seed products with almost no THC and no whole seeds are exempt under the 2008 medicines regulations.[@act41,gn178]

act41, gn178

Cannabis dominates drug seizures: the March 2025 police statement valued seized cannabis at about N$3.1 million out of N$3.5 million total.[@newera25] The statement prints the cannabis weight as 312,560 kilogrammes, which on its own valuation would price cannabis at ten Namibian dollars a kilogram, so the unit is probably grams.[@newera25]

newera25

Dagga is the southern African word for cannabis, and its origin is disputed. In the 1950s a German missionary in what is now Namibia guessed it came from the Arabic dukhan (smoke), taken via Khoikhoi — a derivation reported with no historical, linguistic or other evidence supplied.[@duvall19] Travellers carried dagga north into Namibia into the 1880s; it also arrived from the east and from Angola, where Ovambo speakers introduced cannabis, tobacco and pipes to Herero speakers.[@duvall19] Herero keeps a dedicated word for the water pipe: onyungu.[@duvall19] The word survived into the statute book: the [1971 Act](/history/namibia-south-african-act-1971/) still calls it "Cannabis (Dagga)".[@act41]

duvall19, act41

no

No patient or adult-use purchase route verified