mongolia; more culture

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The head of the Supreme Court's criminal chamber said on state television that courts had sanctioned 689 people forlinked to drug trafficking so far that year under a policy of rigour, and that the Penal Code punishes possession and trafficking92% with four to thirty yearsprison sentences. These totals cover drugs generally, life imprisonment and up to deathnot cannabis alone. Authorities separately reported 77 cases of marihuana growing. The broadcast's broad account of maximum drug penalties does not replace article 236's separate, lower range for simple cannabis possession.

TheMongolia adopts a replacement Criminal Code adopted, subsequently scheduled to enter into force on 3 December 2015 punishes holding narcotic drugs1 July 2017. Its drug provisions distinguish conduct without intent to distribute with a travel restriction or one to five years (Article 20.7)selling purpose, distribution with two to eight yearssale-related conduct, providing premises and growingcultivation. The consolidated text also includes later amendments, notably the raw-material plants with one2020 changes to five years (Article 20.10)7.

Mongolia — Criminal Code, Mongolian consolidated text and amendment annotations 1 unchanged

The law onnarcotics control of trafficking in narcotic drugslaw establishes authorised medical and psychotropic substances defines lawfulresearch purposes and unlawful use and restrictsprohibits circulation outside permitted purposes. It regulates manufacture, import and sale. With the Criminal Code it makes possession, sale and use, growing; criminal offences and salesentencing ranges are supplied by separate criminal legislation. The law's adoption does not establish the date of Mongolia's first cannabis crimesprohibition.

Mongolia — Narcotics control law, adopted 28 November 2002, amended English text 1 unchanged

A US judgeD.C. Superior Court accepts Randall’s medical-necessity, and the government starts supplying cannabis defence

Judge James A. Washington finds glaucoma patient Robert Randall, who had glaucoma, defeated a charge not guilty on grounds of growing marijuana by pleadingmedical necessity; a federal judge ruled in his favour on 24 and dismisses the charges. Initial federally authorised cannabis supply also dates from November 1976. The settlement ofcriminal ruling is distinct from his suit against federal agencies became the basis of a compassionate-use programme, set up in 1978, under which the government itself supplied civil settlement securing continued federal access; neither established general legal supply for all patients with cannabis grown at the University of Mississippi. Forty-three people were approved and at most fifteen were supplied at one time. It closed to new patients in 1992; in 2011 four people were still receiving cannabis from the government.

Alice O’Leary Randall — Forty-five years! (24 November 2021), memoir excerpt and ruling quotation 2 unchanged

No first law is recorded heredomestic cannabis prohibition has been established for Mongolia. Its first restrictions on cannabis are assumed to date from between theThe 1925 Geneva conventiondate is a modelling estimate, which put Indian hemp under international control, and the 1961 Single Convention, which requirednot a ban on non-medical useverified Mongolian law or treaty accession. The international conventions do not establish when Mongolia first restricted cannabis domestically.

Cuba acceded to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 on 30 August 1962. The convention lists cannabis and cannabis resin among its controlled drugs and obliges its parties to limitcalls for their production, trade, possession and userestriction to medical and scientific purposes, subject to its provisions. The accession predates the convention's international entry into force on 13 December 1964 and does not identify Cuba's first domestic prohibition or prescribe a Cuban prison sentence.

Strict prohibition with long prison sentences; the Penal Code allows upSimple cannabis possession can bring six months to death fortwo years, a fine or both. Cultivation carries four to ten years; aggravated traffickingdrug offences can carry life imprisonment or death.

Illegal with no personal-use threshold; the government describes its policy as zero tolerance. The presidentArticle 236(b) of the Supreme Court's criminal chamber said in November 2023 that2022 Penal Code punishes simple possession and trafficking carry fourof cannabis or its derivatives without the required authorisation or prescription with six months to thirtytwo years in prison, and that 92%a fine of 200–500 quotas, or both. This is separate from the 689 people sanctioned for drug offences that year were sent to prisonhigher trafficking ranges. The provision establishes no lawful personal-use quantity.

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Cultivation or productionArticle 235(1)(d) punishes unauthorised cannabis cultivation and knowing possession of significant quantities carriesits seeds or plant parts with four to twentyten years. Land can be confiscated or usufruct and occupancy rights withdrawn. Aggravating circumstances can bring a higher range.

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OneOfficials describe a policy of the Caribbean's strictest regimeszero tolerance and severe punishment. A 2025In November 2023 the Supreme Court ruling hardened prosecution standardsreported 689 people sanctioned for cannabinoid offences linked to drug trafficking that year to date, 92% with prison sentences. Those figures cover drugs generally and courts have staged public 'exemplary' trialsdo not establish a cannabis-only imprisonment rate.

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Trafficking brings long sentences — recent exemplary trials have handed down around nine years for selling marijuana — and fifteenArticle 235(1)(a) includes providing illicit drugs to another person, without requiring payment in every case, within the four-to-ten-year range. Article 235(2) provides ten to thirty years, life imprisonment or death for cross-border casesspecified aggravated circumstances, including international trafficking.

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The government describes its drug policy as zero tolerance, and a person found with a drug is prosecuted for. Cannabis possession, which carries can bring prison under article 236; that provision punishes possession rather than defining a separate act of consumption. The state offersArticle 235 also punishes operating premises intended for gatherings to consume illicit drugs. Officials report free detoxification treatment.

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Since Law 87 of 1999 the Penal Code has allowedprovided fifteen to thirty years or death for specified aggravated drug trafficking by officials, international trafficking and cases that use childrenoffences. In 2023 the head of the Supreme CourtThe replacement 2022 Code's criminal chamber said the code punishes drug offences with uparticle 235(2) provides ten to thirty years, life imprisonment or death and lists broader aggravating circumstances. Simple possession has a separate lower range in article 236. No execution for a cannabis offence was found in the sources read.

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Article 190235(1)(d) of the 2022 Penal Code punishes unauthorised cultivation of Cannabis, as rewritten in 1999, punished growing the plant known as marihuana, and knowingly possessingknowing possession of its seeds or parts of the plant parts with four to ten years in prison. The 2022 Penal Code was not read, so the current wordingThis is not confirmeddistinct from article 236's simple-possession provision. No lawful personal cultivation or seed-supply route was established.

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No lawful cannabis clubs are known,-club route was established. Article 235 prohibits unauthorised cultivation and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabissupply and supplying italso punishes operating premises intended for people to another person are both prohibited,gather and the law provides for the death penalty for the most serious drug offencesconsume illicit drugs.

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There is no legalNo lawful recreational supply for anyonevisitors was established. The government describes its policy as zero tolerance; the president of the Supreme Court's criminal chamber said in November 2023 that Article 236 applies a separate simple-cannabis-possession and trafficking carry fourrange of six months to thirtytwo years in prison, a fine or both; introduction and that 92% of those sanctioned for drug offences that year were sent to prisonsupply fall under article 235's higher ranges. The code does not establish a visitor exemption.

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Official figures released in November 2023 counted 689 people sanctioned for drug- traffic … eeks of October and November 193 people were detained for trafficking and possession. The Penal Code provides four to thirty yearstotals cover drugs generally, life imprisonment or deathexcept for possession and traffickingthe separately identified cannabis-growing cases; they are not national counts of cannabis arrests or convictions alone.

Cuba — Law 151, Penal Code, Gaceta Oficial No. 93 (1 September 2022), articles 235–238 4 unchanged

Holding drugsUnauthorised acquisition or storage without intent to distribute carries a non-custodial restriction orselling purpose can bring one to five years under the 2015 Criminal Code; supplyingof travel restriction or imprisonment. Sale-related conduct carries two to eight years; organised criminal groups face a separate, higher range. Wild cannabis is widespread.

Article 20.7(1) of the Criminal Code of Mongolia (adopted 3 December 2015, as amended) in 2020, punishes illegalunlawful preparation, storage, giving to another person or deliveryacquisition of prohibited narcotic drugs without intent to distribute with a restriction of free travel forselling purpose with one to five years, of travel restriction or imprisonment for one to five years. The article setsIt supplies no small-quantity thresholdexemption. Whether aA separate administrative fine applies to very small amounts is not stated here, because the Law on Violationspenalty for consumption alone was not readverified.

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Article 20.10 punishes illegalunauthorised growing or cultivation of plants that are raw material forsupplying narcotic drugsraw materials with a restriction of free travel for one to five years, of travel restriction or imprisonment for one to five years; five to twelve years for an organised criminal group. Wild cannabis grows in 18 of Mongolia's 21 provincesThe provision establishes no personal home-growing allowance.

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The Criminal Code lets a court choose apermits travel restriction instead of prisonimprisonment for holdingArticle 20.7(1) conduct without intent to distributea selling purpose. How courts apply it isThe statute alone does not shown by the textestablish how often courts choose that alternative.

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Giving drugs to another person without a selling purpose falls within Article 20.7(21) punishes acquisition, storage, transport, delivery or distribution with intentcarrying one to distribute withfive years of travel restriction or imprisonment. Article 20.7(2) provides two to eight years in prisonfor sale-related conduct; persistent or cross-border conduct carries five to twelve years when repeated or by, and an organised criminal group twelve to twenty years or life imprisonment. Providing a place for drug use (Article 20.8) is separately punishes providing premises for drug use with a fine, one to five years of travel restriction, or imprisonment in the ordinary case.

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Article 8 of the narcotics control law prohibits use outside authorised purposes. Criminal Code Article 20.7 is titled "illegal use of narcotic drugs", but the acts it lists areacts including preparation, storage, giving and deliveryacquisition; noits title alone does not establish that consumption itself carries the possession sentence. The separate penalty foradministrative treatment of use itself was foundnot verified.

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There is no legalNo lawful recreational supply for anyoneroute was established. Article 20.7 of the Criminal Code punishes illegal(1) criminalises unauthorised preparation, storage, giving or deliveryacquisition of prohibited narcotic drugs without intent to distributea selling purpose.

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Mongolia — Criminal Code, Mongolian consolidated text, Articles 20.7–20.10, including 2020 amendments 4 unchanged

Robert Randall turned a prosecution for growing cannabis into the first successful medica … he grew plants to maintain a supply. Police raided his home in August 1975. Faced with a cultivationpossession charge following discovery of his plants, Randall argued that using cannabis was necessary to preserve his vision. On 24 November 1976, federal judgeJudge James A. Washington of the District of Columbia Superior Court accepted the necessity defence and ruled in his favour. ## From acquittal to federal supply Initial federally authorised supplies reached Randall also suedthrough ophthalmologist John Merritt in November 1976. Alice O’Leary’s recollection describes medical tests with recently received cannabis on the Food and Drug Administrationmorning the criminal decision arrived. In 1978, Drug Enforcement Administration and otherdifficulties continuing treatment prompted a separate civil suit against federal agencies for access. The [settlement became](/history/us-randall-federal-settlement-1978/) restored supply under a new IND arrangement and helped establish the Compassionate IND pathway. The criminal acquittal and this later agreement were different legal basis for a compassionate Investigational New Drug programme established in 1978events. Under the programme, approved patients received cannabis grown for the federal governme … ingly built medical-cannabis campaigns outside this tightly controlled federal route. ## What moved in the indexA limited precedent The [1976 ruling accepted Randall’s necessity defence on the evidence of his own case. Federal supply depended on individual authorisation rather than a general right to possess or cultivate cannabis. His campaign with [Alice O’Leary](/historyculture/uspeople/robert-randall-ruling-1976/) opened an exceptionally narrow lawfulthen sought to extend practical access route. The [United States](/country/us/) access score rises from 0 to 1; possession, cultivation, enforcement, sharing and consumption stay unchanged because the defence and programme applied only to individually approvedother patients. Broader state medical access did not arrive untillater developed through measures such as [California'’s 1996 initiative](/history/us-california-medical-1996/).

Alice O’Leary Randall — Forty-five years! (24 November 2021), memoir excerpt Lewis A. Grossman — Medical Marijuana Regulation in Historical Context, Food and Drug Law Journal 74 (2019), pp. 292–295 2 unchanged

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*Matekoane* is the Sesotho word for cannabis. In Lesotho the plant has been a field cropBasotho farming communities have cultivated it for centuries and the country's most important source of cash for generations as a household cash crop, almost allwith much of it grown against the law andharvest sold across the border into South Africa. Since 2017 the same plantLesotho has also been a licensed exportcommercial medical cultivation, grown by foreign companies under another namecreating a different market from the one traditional growers have long supplied. ## The names | Name | Note | |---|---| | Matekoane | The usual Sesotho word | | Khomo ea fatše | Another SesothoLiterally “the cow of the ground”, a name recorded in farmers’ oral testimony | | Likata, kakana | Other names in use | | Dagga | The South African word, used in the co … for sale in South Africa, with chiefs and headmen held answerable for rooting it out. ## The cash cropFields and household livelihoods Independent Lesotho kept the ban, in the [Dangerous Medicines Act of 1973](/history/leso … in South Africa came from Lesotho, and one joint police operation in 2006 seized 47 tons. Cultivation is forEnforcement has not eliminated the most part toleratedrural trade. National production totals remain difficult to establish, becauseand a seizure figure cannot measure the entire crop. [Bloomer’s field research](https://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/17612) describes rain-fed cultivation, saved seed, and intercropping with maize and beans. Harvesting can involve extended families or paid labour. His December 2015 photograph documents a hillside field during drought, with green plants overlooking dry mountain country is poor. The household field and the trade is what many rural households live onlicensed commercial greenhouse represent different ways of organising work, land and access to a market. ## Two crops with onemarkets for the same plant In 2017 Lesotho became [the first African country to licenseissue commercial medical cannabis growingcultivation licences](/history/lesotho-first-licences-2017/) for medicine. The licences went to companies, and several were quickly bought, wholly or in part, by Canadian and other foreign firms. The reform changed nothing fornew industry attracted international investment; it did not generally bring existing smallholders into the people who grow matekoanelegal market. Scholars have asked Bloomer identifies costly licences as a barrier and questions whether the government acted "with due regard for its most vulnerableinvestment would benefit rural households, who have now long depended already dependent on cannabis. Traditional hillside cultivation" and internationally financed production consequently coexist under unequal conditions. Activists put it more bluntly [A 2024 study by Regina Thetsane](https: citizens "continue to be arrested on the street and in their homes whilst large quantities of Cannabis cross the border every day"//pmc. There is a further complaintncbi. The local varietiesnlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11097424/), tended for generationsbased on interviews with three cannabis-company managers, are collected by outsiderslikewise identifies regulatory difficulties and exportedlimited opportunities for small, "most often with no benefit to the local communities"medium and micro enterprises. The licensedIts small interview sample supplies an industry says *cannabis*;perspective, rather than a census of growers. For the hillside still says *matekoane*[Lesotho profile](/country/ls/), commercial licensing remains distinct from permission for unlicensed personal cultivation or recreational supply.

The Sesotho word for cannabis, connects generations of Basotho smallholder cultivation with South Africa’s market and Lesotho'’s most important cash crop for generations before it became anewer licensed onemedical industry.

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Julian Bloomer — Turning Cannabis Into Cash: Agrarian Change and Lesotho’s Evolving Experience, EchoGéo 48 (2019), Illustration 4 Regina M. Thetsane — Envisaging challenges for the emerging medicinal Cannabis sector in Lesotho, Journal of Cannabis Research (2024) 3 unchanged

src ../../src/assets/culture/matekoane-lesotho-bloomer-2015.jpg · fit contain · alt Cannabis plants growing on a steep hillside overlooking the rugged mountains and agricultural valleys of Lesotho. · caption Matekoane growing on the hillsides of Lesotho during drought conditions, December 2015. Photograph by Julian Bloomer. · credit Julian Bloomer / EchoGéo, 2019 · credit url https://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/17612

*Mota* is the everyday word for marijuana in Mexico, and in Guatemala, El Salvador and Co … Fernando Lara, author of the *Diccionario del español de México* at El Colegio de México, found Spaniards usingtold [AFP in 2016](https://www.malaymail.com/news/read/2016/08/08/narco-cultura-mexicos-drug-slang-enters-dictionary/1178625) that the word appeared in the eighteenth-century Spain for the fuzz left overresidue from making linen production. The drug sense comes later. "I don't know how it arrived in Mexico," he toldHe placed its established Mexican cannabis meaning at the news agency AFP in 2016, but from the end of the nineteenth century it meant marijuana, and it still doeswhile acknowledging that the connection remained unknown. A connection between fluff and dried, crumbled leaves is easy to imagine, and so is one … e of *mota* only for the four countries above, and gives *bareta* as Colombian slang. ## A word on an underground cover *MOTA Comix* is an independent Mexican publication from Editorial PirataZ. It [began in 2017](/history/mexico-mota-comix-launch-2017/), combining underground comics, cannabis culture, satire and criticism of prohibition. In its [own account of the project](https://motacomix.com/quienes-somos), the publisher connects freedom to consume and cultivate with individual liberty. It describes humour directed at prohibition and the criminalisation of consumers, alongside space for Mexican artists and alternative graphic expression. The cover of No. 8 puts *MOTA* across the top in oversized illustrated letters, above a crowded scene of fantastical characters and surreal imagery. The ordinary slang becomes a public title rather than a word spoken privately. The comic did not invent it: Lara’s account places the cannabis meaning more than a century before the publication began. ## The law's word The law does not say *mota*. Mexican decrees and rulings speak of *marihuana*, … , a form also known as *prensado*. Its blocks should be distinguished from pressed resin.

mexico-ban-1920, mexico-mota-comix-launch-2017, mexico-supreme-court-2021

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Pantera Comics — Mota Comix No. 8, original cover image MOTA Comix / Editorial PirataZ — Quienes somos VICE México — Mota Comix: historietas mexicanas para pachequearte y cuestionar el universo (11 July 2018) 4 unchanged

mexico-mota-comix-launch-2017

src ../../src/assets/culture/mota-comix-8-cover.jpg · fit contain · alt Colorful psychedelic Mexican underground comic-book cover with fantastical characters, surreal illustrations, cannabis imagery, and the title MOTA Comix. · caption MOTA Comix, an independent Mexican underground comic publication using cannabis slang as a symbol of cultural expression and resistance to prohibition. · credit Editorial PirataZ / MOTA Comix · credit url https://panteracomics.com/products/mota-8-revista-mexicana-muy-rara-solo-5000-copias

For three years in the 1970s the Comoros, an island state in the Indian Ocean, allowed cannabis. The man who allowed it was Ali Soilih, who seized power less than (1937–1978) led the Comoros through a monthbrief socialist revolutionary period after independence and tried to remake an old Muslim society into a modern socialist state, with the young as his alliesfrom France. Cannabis was oneHis government legalised cannabis as part of the things he gave themreforms challenging established religious and traditional authority. It went when he did. He was bornThe policy made his rule an unusual episode in 1937 in Majungacannabis history, in Madagascar,but it belonged to a government that also restricted freedoms and educatedused coercion. The photograph reproduced by Le Mohelien is identified there as Mayotte, 1975. It shows Soilih at outdoor microphones beside uniformed men and in Franceother attendees. InIt documents the early 1960s he moved topolitical leader; its caption does not identify a cannabis-related gathering or the Comoros to work in agriculture and development, was elected to the National Assembly in 1967, and became ministerannouncement of equipment and tourismlegalisation. He turned against France, the colonial power, and against religion; he renounced Islam and became an atheist. ## TheFrom independence to revolution The Comoros declared independence from France in July 1975. On 3 August Soilih overthrewparticipated in the August coup against the first president, Ahmed Abdallah, with assistance from the help of the French mercenary Bob Denard, and. He became head of state in January 1976 became head. Originally an agronomist, Soilih sought a radical transformation of administration and society. The [Library of Congress country study](https://countrystudies.us/comoros/5.htm) describes decentralised local centres, a secular state and a campaign against inherited hierarchies. He advocated limits on the privileges of religious jurists, bringing established sources of authority into conflict with the revolutionary state. ## Cannabis among the social reforms His programme mixed Maoism with Islamic philosophygave young people greater political responsibilities and lowered the voting age to fourteen. | Soilih Women's reforms emancipation was another stated aim, including challenging the veil and involving young women in revolutionary organisations. | Policy | Place in the programme | |---|---| | The young | Voting age lowered to fourteen; teenagers put in positions of authority | | Cannabis | [LegalisedBrief legalisation](/history/comoros-legalisation-1975/), associated in biographical accounts with appealing to the young | | WomenYouth | The removalA lower voting age and positions of the veil encouragedresponsibility | | Women | Challenges to established dress and social expectations | | Custom | TheRestrictions on the costly *anda*, theor grand marriage, and traditional funeral ceremonies abolished | | Security | The Moissy, a youth militia modelled on China's Red Guards | The legalisation Legalisation was one element of this wider political project. The exact cannabis decree and its enactment date have not been established by the campaign againstsources retained here; the veil were amongtimeline places the reforms meant to win overepisode in the young1975–1978 revolutionary period. In ## Reform through coercion Youth participation also took a referendum in 1977coercive form through the Moissy revolutionary militia. The country study describes violent attacks on elders, 56political opponents and mosques.63 per cent Imposing changes to customary ceremonies and religious authority could mean restricting the choices of voters endorsed his presidency. ## The fall Thethose who resisted the revolution made many enemies. France cut off all aid Contemporary [Amnesty International reporting](https://www. Traditional leaders resented the loss of their customsamnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/nws210091978en.pdf) records political detentions under Soilih, including prisoners held since April 1976 and the teenage Moissy behaved as a law unto themselves, rapingfurther arrests in 1977–1978. Cannabis liberalisation and killing with impunity, until most Comorians saw them as a force of repressionauthoritarian government existed together; the former does not establish that his administration protected civil liberties generally. There were four failed coups. On 13 May 1978 Denard returned ## Overthrow, now working for Abdallah, with about fifty mercenaries,death and renewed prohibition Mercenaries led by Denard overthrew Soilih in May 1978. OnHe was killed on 29 May. The official claim that he was shot dead, accordinghad tried to the government while trying to escape from house arrest should be identified as the government's explanation, rather than an independently established account of his death. He was forty-one. Abdallah The succeeding government reversed his decrees, renamed the country the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros, and [bannedrestored cannabis againprohibition](/history/comoros-ban-restored-1978/). ## Afterwards Cannabis has stayed illegal in Amnesty also reported arrests of about 150 supporters of the Comoros sinceformer revolution after the coup and warned against political revenge. The For the [Comoros today](/country/km/), the relevant legislation extends beyond the [1995 code](/history/comoros-penal-code of -1995/). The [replacement code promulgated in 2021](/history/comoros-penal-code-19952021/) names hashish and Indian hemp and punishes growing or selling them with upprovides ten to fifteen years for unlawful holding, acquisition or use of narcotics under Article 208, and ten to twenty years in prisonfor illicit production under Article 206. Soilih's social reforms left marks that are still visible, above all on the island of Anjouanpermissive cannabis policy survived only within his short-lived political experiment.

The revolutionary president of the Comoros who, courting the young,Comorian leader whose government briefly legalised cannabis in 1975, the year of independencewhile challenging traditional authority. He was overthrownYouth participation and killedwomen’s emancipation coexisted with militia violence and political repression; his overthrow in 1978, and brought the ban came back with his successor.

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Le Mohelien — Ali Soilihi, historical photograph captioned Mayotte, 1975 (25 June 2025) Library of Congress Country Study — The Soilih Regime, reproduced by CountryStudies.us Amnesty International — Newsletter, September 1978, New Comoro Government Frees Detainees, Arrests Others, p. 2 Comoros — Penal Code, Law 20-038/AU of 29 December 2020, promulgated 16 February 2021, articles 206 and 208 Wikipedia — Cannabis in the Comoros 1 unchanged

src ../../src/assets/culture/ali-soilih-public-address-1975.png · fit contain · alt Historical black-and-white photograph of Comorian revolutionary leader Ali Soilih delivering a speech at outdoor microphones, accompanied by armed soldiers and government officials. · caption Ali Soilih addressing a public gathering in Mayotte, 1975, during the revolutionary period that briefly brought legal cannabis to the Comoros. · credit Le Mohelien, historical photograph, original photographer unknown · credit url https://lemohelien.com/ali-soilihi-un-tyran-fou-et-sanguinaire-le-pol-pot-de-locean-indien

Leonard Percival Howell was the first to preach in Jamaica that Haile Selassie(1898–1981), crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930known as “The Gong” and “The First Rasta”, was the returned Messiahamong Jamaica’s earliest Rastafari preachers. He is often called the first Rasta. The settlementfarming and religious community he founded at Pinnacle, in the hills1940 became an important centre of St Catherine,early Rastafari life. Ganja was grown alongside food crops, linking the first Rastafari community,’s livelihood and ganja was among its cropsreligious identity to a plant colonial law prohibited. He was born in 1898 in Clarendon and spent some twenty years abroadHis prominence should not erase other early teachers, as a seaman and in Panama and New Yorkincluding Joseph Hibbert, where he joined Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement AssociationArchibald Dunkley and Robert Hinds. Deported fromHowell became especially influential through the United States,community he returned to Jamaica in December 1932organised and began preaching the next yearopposition his preaching provoked. ## Preacher and prisoner The colonial authorities treated hisHowell returned to Jamaica in 1932 after years abroad, including Panama and New York. His preaching presented Haile Selassie, crowned emperor of Ethiopia in 1930, as seditiondivine and challenged colonial authority and racial subordination. In [1934 he was triedimprisoned for it, defended himself with a photograph of Haile Selassie, and was sentenced to two years in prisonsedition](/history/jamaica-howell-sedition-1934/). His tract *The Promised Key*, published under the name G. G. Maragh, attacked theset out teachings that challenged established churches and colonial rule. In 1938 heThe legal conflict concerned anti-colonial preaching as well as later cannabis enforcement; it was sent tonot simply a prosecution for using ganja. Howell did not wear dreadlocks. His appearance in a suit and tie is consistent with the Bellevue asylumpublic figure recorded in Kingstonaccounts of early Rastafari, rather than the visual shorthand often attached to the movement today. ## Building Pinnacle In [1940 he bought landHowell established Pinnacle](/history/jamaica-pinnacle-founded-1940/) near Sligoville, Jamaica's first free village, built after in the endhills of slavery, and founded Pinnacle on its hilltopSt Catherine. The residentsResidents farmed, kept livestock and rantraded, seeking a bakerymeasure of independence from the institutions that excluded or pursued them. [Michael Barnett’s study](https://www.ideaz-institute.com/Ideaz%20J%20Volumes/IDEAZ15.pdf) describes food production and ganja as a school, and sold their surplus outsidecash crop supporting the community. AccordingCannabis belonged to his son Monty, interviewed by the *Jamaica Observer* in 2014settlement’s economy as well as its developing Rastafari culture. Pinnacle was a place of everyday work and communal life, the crops included ganjanot merely a symbolic retreat. ## Raids and dispersal Jamaica had [bannedprohibited ganja in 1913](/history/jamaica-ganja-law-1913/), and in [. In 1941 the colony [made imprisonment mandatory for ganja offences](/history/jamaica-mandatory-prison-1941/), the year after Pinnacle was founded, the colony made a prison term mandatory for it. The while [police raided Pinnacle that same year, arrested many of its people and called it a communist experiment; Howell was caught, tried again for sedition and jailed for two more years. | Year | Event | |arrested residents](/history/jamaica-pinnacle-raid-|1941/). The raids brought the community’s cultivation into direct conflict with colonial enforcement. The major [1954 raid](/history/jamaica-pinnacle--| | 1933 | Begins preaching the divinity of Haile Selassie | | 1934 | Two years in prison for sedition | | 1940 | Founds Pinnacle near Sligoville | | 1941 | Police raid Pinnacle; Howell jailed again | | -1954 | Pinnacle/) destroyed in a police raid | | 1981 | Dies in Kingston | ## The raids Between 1941dwellings and 1954cannabis crops and drove residents away. Some returned, Monty Howell recalled, the police raided Pinnacleso describing that year as a matter of course, seizing the community'’s cash as the supposed proceeds of ganja and arresting people on ganja chargessingle, a woman of seventy among themfinal ending is too simple. In 1954 they came in force, burned houses, including Barnett also records [Monty Howell'’s account of a final eviction in 1958](/history/jamaica-pinnacle-dispersal-1958/), and drove the people off the land; many were jailedbased on ganja chargesa June 2020 interview. The *Gleaner*This is a son’s retrospective testimony, looking back in 2022distinct from a contemporary police record. Together, describes the accounts describe repeated disruption and eventual dispersal rather than an intact village as completely destroyeddisappearing in one operation. Some Displaced residents returned, but Pinnacle never recovered. The people who left took the faith with them,moved to the slums ofnearby settlements and west Kingston and elsewhere. The sacramental use of ganja that Pinnacle practised’s influence continued through them, and communal ganja use became part ofassociated with Rastafari across the island and beyond; its history the original settlement. The broader religious practice is described in [the Rastafari sacrament](/culture/traditions/rastafari-sacrament/). ## Afterwards Howell spent later years in and out of court overRemembering the ownership of Pinnacle andindividual Howell died in Kingston in 1981, months after he was beaten and slashed at Tredegar Park, not far from Pinnacle. The government later declared the lot where his house stood a national monument, and in 2022Jamaica posthumously awarded him anthe Order of Distinction in 2022, and campaigns for fuller recognition continue alongside disputes over Pinnacle’s heritage. Who owns The portrait reproduced by WiredJA shows Howell himself in formal clothing. Its original photographer, capture date and restoration history are unverified, so the landreproduction is still disputednot dated circa 1940. His enduring place in cannabis history rests on the documented community and its encounters with prohibition, rather than on an assumed date for this image.

The firstAn early Rastafari preacher and founder of Rastafari in Jamaica. His hilltop community at Pinnacle, founded in 1940,a Jamaican farming and religious community that grew ganja among itsalongside food crops. Colonial raids repeatedly disrupted the settlement and was raided again and again by police until it was destroyed in 1954dispersed its residents.

jamaica-ganja-law-1913, jamaica-howell-sedition-1934, jamaica-pinnacle-founded-1940, jamaica-pinnacle-raid-1941, jamaica-mandatory-prison-1941, jamaica-pinnacle-raid-1954, jamaica-pinnacle-dispersal-1958

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WiredJA — PNP backs recognition for Leonard P. Howell (16 June 2026), portrait reproduction Michael Barnett — The Legacy of Charismatic Leadership in the Rastafari Movement, IDEAZ 15 (2020), pp. 56–79, especially pp. 57–60 3 unchanged

jamaica-howell-sedition-1934, jamaica-pinnacle-founded-1940, jamaica-pinnacle-raid-1941, jamaica-pinnacle-raid-1954, jamaica-pinnacle-dispersal-1958

src ../../src/assets/culture/leonard-howell-wiredja-portrait.jpg · fit contain · alt Historical black-and-white portrait of Jamaican Rastafari pioneer Leonard Percival Howell wearing a formal suit and tie. · caption Leonard Percival Howell (1898–1981), an early Rastafari preacher and founder of the Pinnacle community in Jamaica. · credit WiredJA; original photographer, date and restoration history unverified · credit url https://wiredja.com/categories/newsberg/news/jamaica-pnp-backs-push-for-national-day-of-recognition-for-leonard-howell-founder-of-rastafari

Robert C. Randall had(1948–2001) was an American medical cannabis advocate with severe glaucoma and used marijuana to treat it. WhenArrested in 1975 after police discovered the cannabis he was charged with growing itfor his condition, he answeredargued that he had no choice: he needed it forprotecting his eyessight justified his otherwise unlawful possession. A federal court accepted that defenceHe became the first American in the modern prohibition era to receive federally authorised cannabis for medical treatment. The November 1976, photograph preserved by Alice O’Leary Randall shows him smiling beside his first legal supply. The containers and cigarettes are part of the government thathistorical evidence: a patient who had been prosecuted him began to supply him withnow possessed cannabis supplied under federal authority. He was the first person ## Necessity in the United States to receive it legally since theD.C. Superior Court On [Marihuana Tax Act of 193724 November 1976](/history/us-marihuanarandall-taxruling-act-19371976/). ## Necessity The case, Judge James A. Washington of the District of Columbia Superior Court accepted Randall’s defence of medical necessity in *United States v. Randall*, turned on. The court found him not guilty and dismissed the old legalcharges. The defence of necessity: that breaking the law is excused when it is the only way to avoidconcerned avoiding a greater harm. It had never before been extendedRandall’s circumstances and medical evidence supported his claim that cannabis was necessary to possessing or growing marijuanaprotect his vision. On The ruling decided his criminal case; it did not establish a general right for every American patient to obtain cannabis. [24 November 1976Alice’s recollection](https:/history/uswww.aliceolearyrandall.com/medical-randallmarijuana-rulingmemory-1976blog/https/wwwaliceolearyrandallcom/blog-page-url/new-post-title) places a visit to ophthalmologist John Merritt on the judge ruled in Randall's favour. He then suedmorning the decision arrived. Merritt was already conducting tests with recently received federal agencies,cannabis. Initial authorised supply and the later civil settlement gave him suppliestherefore belong to different stages of the cannabis grown for government research atcase. ## Keeping the University of Mississippifederal supply In early 1978, provided throughdifficulties transferring his treatment to another physician threatened that access. Randall sued federal agencies, and a doctor at Howard University Hospital[separate settlement in 1978](/history/us-randall-federal-settlement-1978/) restored supply under a new Investigational New Drug arrangement. His[Legal historian Lewis Grossman](https://www.fdli.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/4-Grossman-Final.pdf) describes this settlement becameas the modelbasis for a federal programme, the Compassionate Investigational New Drug program, set up in 1978IND process used by other patients. Under itGovernment research cannabis grown at the government itself suppliedUniversity of Mississippi could reach a small number of patients with cannabis frompeople through physician-supervised federal authorisation. This continuing pathway followed the same Mississippi farmsettlement, rather than being created in full by the 1976 acquittal. | Year | Event | |---|---| | 1975 | Arrested after police discover his home-grown cannabis | | 1976 | Acquitted on grounds ofInitial authorised supply and medical-necessity acquittal | | 1978 | TheCivil settlement secures continued federal compassionate-use programme beginsaccess | | 19811980 | FoundsEstablishes the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics with Alice O'’Leary | | 1988 | A DEA judge recommends rescheduling cannabis | | 1992 | TheCompassionate programme closes to new patients | | 2001 | Dies on 2 June | ## Other patients With his wife, Alice O'Leary, Randall spent the following years helping other patients through the same process. In 1981 they foundedThey established the [Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics in 1980](/history/us-alliance-cannabis-therapeutics-1980/), which ledhelping patients seek access and joining the petitioncampaign to move cannabis out of the strictest federal schedule. In [1988](/history/us-dea-judge-y … n, with O'Leary, in *Marijuana Rx: The Patients' Fight for Medical Pot*. He died in 2001.

An American with glaucoma who, charged with growing marijuana, argued that he needed it for his eyespatient whose medical-necessity defence and won. Hefederal supply became landmarks of the first person since 1937 to receivemodern medical cannabis legally frommovement. With Alice O’Leary, he campaigned to open the US governmentsame route to other patients.

us-randall-ruling-1976, us-randall-federal-settlement-1978, us-alliance-cannabis-therapeutics-1980, us-dea-judge-young-1988, us-compassionate-program-closed-1992, us-marihuana-tax-act-1937

us-randall-ruling-1976, us-randall-federal-settlement-1978, us-alliance-cannabis-therapeutics-1980

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Alice O’Leary Randall / Project 50 — About Robert, November 1976 photograph Alice O’Leary Randall — Forty-five years! (24 November 2021), recollection and memoir excerpt Lewis A. Grossman — Life, Liberty, [and the Pursuit of Happiness]: Medical Marijuana Regulation in Historical Context, Food and Drug Law Journal 74 (2019), pp. 292–295 Alice O’Leary Randall — Summary of Life Experience Alice O’Leary Randall — Convergence, Medical Marijuana Comes Together, account of ACT’s September 1980 public launch 3 unchanged

src ../../src/assets/culture/robert-randall-first-legal-1976.webp · fit contain · alt Black-and-white photograph of Robert Randall smiling in glasses beside his first legal supply of government-provided marijuana cigarettes in November 1976. · caption Robert Randall with his first government-authorized supply of medical cannabis, November 1976. Photograph preserved by Alice O'Leary Randall. · credit Alice O'Leary Randall / Project 50 · credit url https://www.aliceolearyrandall.com/aliceolearyrandallrobert