Senegal countries/sn.yaml
The 1997 Drug Code classifiestreats cannabis (yamba) as a narcotic. Possession of ahigh-risk drug: small quantityquantities bought, possessed or grown for personal consumption carriesfall under Article 109, carrying two months to one year in prison and a fine of three times the drug's value. Courts[@cdd97,mo] Minors, first-time offenders and people who solemnly undertake not to reoffend may be excused punishment, and courts may order treatment instead of or alongside prison; refusing treatment carries two to five years.[@mo]
cdd97, mo
Cultivation was upgraded from a misdemeanourArticle 8 of the [1997 Drug Code](/history/senegal-code-des-drogues-1997/) bans growing the cannabis plant anywhere in the country, and obliges landholders to destroy plantations or report them.[@cdd97] High-risk growing, production and manufacture carry five to ten years and a serious crime byfine of three times the 2007 'Latif Guèye' lawvalue of the drugs seized (Article 95); small personal growing falls under the lighter Article 109 tier.[@cdd97,mo]
cdd97, mo
Short prison terms for users andThe Code pairs light personal-use bands with very long ones for traffickers; use remains widespread despite decadestrafficking sentences, raised to ten to twenty years' forced labour by the [2007 revision](/history/senegal-trafficking-law-2007/).[@cdd97] Use persists regardless: gendarmes seized 5,238 kg of repressioncannabis and arrested 1,302 people in 2025, most of them tied to informal-sector distribution networks, as [that seizure report](/history/senegal-cannabis-seizures-2025/) records.[@soleil26]
mocdd97, soleil26
TraffickingSupply of high-risk Table I drugs carries five to ten years and a fine of 2 to 10 million francs, or either alone (Article 97).[@cdd97] Trafficking was raised to ten to twenty years since' forced labour by the 2007 revision.[@cdd97] Giving or offering drugs for another person's own use carries two to five years and a fine of three times the value (Article 99).[@cdd97,mo]
cdd97, mo
Use outside a medical prescription is prohibited; drugs found on an offence underillicit user are seized and confiscated by judicial decision even without prosecution (Article 108).[@cdd97] Users face the Drug Codepersonal-use tier of Article 109.[@cdd97,mo]
cdd97, mo
NoneThere is no recreational route: unauthorised growing, handling and use are all offences under the Code.[@cdd97]
Reliable national information about lawfulNo licensed production exists: growing cannabis is banned everywhere, and no licensed cannabis production was not established byfound in the retained sources reviewed.[@cdd97]
cdd97
Reliable national information about legally available cannabis products was not established by the retained sources.
The retained sources do notreviewed establish whether ano operating medical cannabis programme operates.[@cdd97]
cdd97
A conviction isbrings a criminal record.[@mo] Refusing court-ordered treatment carries two to five years.[@mo]
Article 8 of the 1997 Drug Code bans growing the cannabis plant anywhere in the country, and landholders must destroy such plantations or report them.[@cdd97] The articles read do not mention seeds. The copy read stops at Article 108 and predates the 2007 amendments.[@cdd97]
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@cdd97]
mocdd97
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone. Under the 1997 Drug Code, possession of a small [@cdd97] Small-quantity possession for personal consumptionuse carries two months to onea year in prison and a fine of three times the drug's value; courts may order treatment instead.[@cdd97,mo]
cdd97, mo
Figures presented in Dakar in February 2026 put seizures of cannabis in 2025 atGendarmes seized 5,238 kg, with of cannabis and arrested 1,302 people arrested in anti-drug operations in 2025, most of them tied to distribution networks in the informal sector. The gendarmerie's spokesman said in October 2025 , as [that seizure report](/history/senegal-cannabis was the largest drug seized by weight that year-seizures-2025/) records.[@soleil26]
soleil26, soleil25
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 23,024 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 12,738 kg in 2023, and 38.8 kg of cannabis resin seized in 2024, against 23.1 kg in 2023.[@unodc_szr] The UN publishes them as kilogram equivalents, and countries count seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@unodc_szr]
Magna Brice Sylva — Drug users and criminal justice in Senegal (law thesis, Gaston Berger University, 2006)
The African Roots of Marijuana
Mémoire Online — Les usagers de la drogue et la justice pénale au Sénégal
Le Soleil via AllAfrica — Colonel Ibrahima Ndiaye: La saisie de cocaïne a doublé par rapport à l'année 2024 (22 October 2025)
3 unchanged
label Small quantity for personal use (article 109) · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison min 2 months · prison 1 year · note Fine is three times the drug's value. Waiver and treatment possible
label Growing high-risk drugs (article 95) · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison min 5 years · prison 10 years · note Fine is three times the value of the drugs seized, label Small amount grown for personal use (article 109) · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison min 2 months · prison 1 year · note Fine is three times the drug's value. Waiver and treatment possible
XAF
label Supply of high-risk drugs (article 97) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 5 years · prison 10 years · fine min 2000000 · fine 10000000 · note Prison or a fine, or both. Raised to 10–20 years in 2007, label Giving or offering for another person's own use (article 99) · treatment criminal · term Supply to a user · prison min 2 years · prison 5 years · note Fine is three times the drug's value
label Use outside a medical prescription · treatment criminal · term Drug use · prison min 2 months · prison 1 year · note Confiscation possible without prosecution. Same tier as possession
Cannabis is prohibited: growing is banned everywhere, Table I handling is prohibited, and use outside prescription is an offence.[@cdd97] Personal possession, purchase or growing of a small amount carries two months to a year, with waiver for minors, first-timers and sworn undertakings, and courts may order treatment.[@cdd97,mo] Enforcement is heavy: gendarmes seized 5,238 kg of cannabis and arrested 1,302 people in 2025, most tied to informal-sector distribution networks.[@soleil26]
cdd97, mo, soleil26
none
The Code sets no THC line for hemp: cannabis growing is banned everywhere and Table I handling is prohibited, with no fibre or food exception in the provisions reviewed.[@cdd97]
cdd97
In Senegal cannabis is yamba, grown and smoked pretty much everywhere in the country by the 1950s.[@duvall19] French clinicians documented intoxication cases in a 1962 study, kept in the timeline as [that study](/history/senegal-yamba-clinical-study-1962/).[@duvall19] The atlas traces the wider word in [diamba](/culture/language/diamba/), part of the western word patch running from Côte d'Ivoire to Senegal.[@duvall19]
duvall19