Tanzania countries/tz.yaml
label Small quantity proved for personal consumption · treatment criminal · term Possession · fine min 500000 · prison 3 years · note Fine of at least 500,000 shillings, a three-year prison term, or both
label Unlawful cultivation of prohibited plants (mainland) · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison min 30 years · note At least thirty years in prison; no fine tier stated
label Trafficking not more than 100 kg of cannabis · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 30 years · note At least thirty years; larger amounts fall in the life-imprisonment tier
label Small-quantity consumption outside the listed group · treatment criminal · term Consumption · fine min 500000 · prison 3 years · note Fine of at least 500,000 shillings, three years in prison, or both
NoneNo lawful access: cannabis and CBD are prohibited, with no medical programme or licensing route.[@uk]
There is no legal recreational supply, and CBD is treated as cannabis — nothing is lawfully produced or sold.[@act2023,uk] Mainland law has a small-personal-use tier — a fine of at least 500,000 shillings, three y … en imposed for cannabis, including thirty years for cultivation in a 2022 case.[@ham2022] The 2012 amendments made life imprisonment the penalty for possession and trafficking ([2012 amendment](/history/tanzania-drug-law-amendment-2012/)).
act2023, ham2022, uk
Mainland law prohibits unauthorised cannabis cultivation.[@act2023] The drug-law amendments effective 2 October 2026 also broaden seed controls; the existing minimum cultivation sentence is thirty years.[@act2026,registry2026]
None; CBD is treated as cannabis.
uk
No medical cannabis programme exists: the drug law punishes possession, cultivation and trafficking with no medical channel, and CBD is treated as cannabis.[@wiki,uk,act2023]
wiki, uk, act2023
A conviction is a criminal record.[@wiki] Owners or occupiers who let premises be used for drugs face life imprisonment under the provisions the 2012 amendments introduced.[@act2023]
wiki, act2023
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@wiki,uk]
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 2,303,200 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 1,757,560 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] At home the drug authority reported a record 2,300 tonnes of all drugs seized in 2024, and keeps destroying farms: 3,007.5 hectares in a September–October 2024 crackdown alone.[@citizen25,xinhua24]
unodc_szr, citizen25, xinhua24
On the mainland, the Road Traffic Act's 2023 revised edition section 53 prohibits driving, attempting to drive or being in charge on a road or public place while drugs make proper control impossible.[@traffic2023] Section 75(2)(b) provides TSh15,000–50,000 or two–five years in prison; section 33(1)(a) requires licence cancellation and disqualification for at least three years on a first section 53 conviction.[@traffic2023] These are the published 2023 provisions, not a verified 2026 ticket tariff.[@traffic2023] Zanzibar has a separate Road Transport Act: section 123(1)(a) also uses impaired control, … e minimum fine equivalent to US$75 in shillings or at least six months in prison, or both.[@zanzibar_traffic] Repeat convictions normally entail at least fifteen months' disqualification, subject to the court's special-reasons exception.[@zanzibar_traffic] Later Zanzibar amendments, current testing procedures and a numeric THC cutoff were not verified; alcohol thresholds must not be applied to cannabis.[@zanzibar_traffic]
Xinhua via African News Agency — Tanzanian authorities destroy over 3,000 hectares of cannabis (11 October 2024) The Legitimate — Over 60 suspects arrested in Tanzania in 3 months on charges of trafficking cannabis (15 October 2023) 15 unchanged
word Bangi · lang Swahili · meaning cannabis; the Swahili word, linked to bhang and Indian Ocean exchange · sources wiki
none
No industrial-hemp exception exists: the October 2026 amendments bring mature stalk and fibre into the cannabis definition, and CBD is treated as cannabis.[@act2026,uk]
act2026, uk
Between June and September 2023 the drug authority arrested at least 69 suspects for trafficking cannabis across seven regions.[@legitimate23] A September–October 2024 crackdown detained 17 suspects connected with cannabis cultivation and trafficking.[@xinhua24]
legitimate23, xinhua24
The Swahili word for the plant is [bangi](/culture/language/bangi/), tied to bhang and the Indian Ocean exchange rather than any single voyage.[@wiki] Smoking was already established on the coast by the 19th century, carried inland by Nyamwezi traders, before colonial Tanganyika consolidated its drug law in the [Dangerous Drugs Ordinance of 1935](/history/tanganyika-dangerous-drugs-ordinance-1935/).[@wiki] The 2012 amendments then made life imprisonment the penalty for possession and trafficking ([2012 amendment](/history/tanzania-drug-law-amendment-2012/)),[@act2023] and the [2026 seed controls](/history/tanzania-seed-possession-law-2026/) closed the last definitional gap.[@act2026] Nineteenth-century travellers already suspected the loud coughing after a pipe was put on — the atlas keeps those accounts in [the smoker's cough](/culture/traditions/the-smokers-cough/).[@wiki]
wiki, act2023, act2026