Mozambique countries/mz.yaml
Law 3/97 punishes use and personal possession with up to two years in prison plus a fine.[@law97] Above three days' average personal supply, the law sets a one-year minimum.[@law97] Courts may waive punishment for occasional users under Article 55(4). A, while a separate exemption for minors requires no repeat offence, a promise to stop and acceptance of treatment if dependent.[@law97]
Unauthorised cannabis cultivation carries three days to one year in prison under Article 34.[@law97] Growing for personal use carries up to one year or a fine under Article 55(3), with possible waivers for occasional users.[@law97]
Legal researchers argue criminalising use is counter-productive; in practice arrests are selective — a well-known rapper critical ofCourts may waive punishment for occasional users and suspend sentences on treatment conditions.[@law97] In May 2024 the government was detained overSupreme Court applied the lesser Article 36 offence to a small amount of suruma in 2011seller with 590 grams gross, cutting his sentence from seventeen years to six years plus a fine, as [that case](/history/mozambique-cannabis-seller-sentence-reduced-2024/) records.[@court24]
reflaw97, gvcourt24
Giving or selling cannabis without authority falls within trafficking, ordinarily punished with sixteen to twenty years.[@law97] Small-scale or substantially less serious cases can receive two to eight years plus a fine. In under Article 36; in May 2024 the Supreme Court applied that lesser offence to a seller with 590 grams, reducing his sentence from seventeen years to six.[@law97,court24]
Consumption is itself criminalised under Article 55, which distinguishes personal use (up to two years plus a fine) from supply above three days' average, carrying a one-year minimum.[@law97]
NoneThere is no recreational route: unauthorised growing, handling and use are all offences under Law 3/97 punishes use and possession of drugs with prison.[@law97]
reflaw97
NoneNo licensed cannabis production was found: the law punishes unauthorised production and manufacture, excepting only authorised industrial, scientific and therapeutic activities.[@law97]
wikilaw97
None.
wiki
NoThe sources reviewed establish no operating medical cannabis programme: treatment provisions address dependent users, not patient supply.[@law97]
wikilaw97
A conviction isbrings a criminal record and, for trafficking, long prison terms plus fines.[@law97,ref] Courts may suspend sentences on treatment conditions, and the Supreme Court reduces excessive trafficking sentences on appeal: seventeen years to six, plus a fine, for 590 grams in 2024.[@law97,court24]
law97, ref, court24
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@law97]
wiki, reflaw97
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone.[@law97] Use and personal possession carry up to two years plus a fine, with a one-year minimum above three days' personal supply. Courts may waive punishment for occasional users.[@law97]
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 1,856 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 1,853 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]
The annual report of the Central Office for Drug Prevention and Combat, presented by the public prosecutor's office in Maputo, counted at least 732 people detained for drug use and trafficking in 2024, 229 fewer than in 2023; Sofala province had the most, 199.[@rtp25] Seizures of cannabis were almost unchanged at 1,856 kg, against 1,853 kg the year before, with 44 kg of hashish.[@rtp25]
The African Roots of Marijuana
Wikipedia — Cannabis in Mozambique
Global Voices — Mozambique: behind the detention of MC Azagaia (2011)
5 unchanged
label Personal use or holding (article 55(1)) · treatment criminal · term Drug use · prison 2 years · note Plus a fine. Waiver and treatment possible, label Above three days' average personal supply (article 55(2)) · treatment criminal · term Drug use · prison min 1 year · note One-year minimum
label Unauthorised cultivation (article 34) · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · prison min 3 days · prison 1 year · note Waiver possible for occasional users, label Growing for personal use (article 55(3)) · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison 1 year · note Or a fine. Waiver possible for occasional users
MZN
label Trafficking (article 33) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 16 years · prison 20 years · note Plus a fine, label Small-scale trafficking (article 36) · treatment criminal · term Small-scale trafficking · prison min 2 years · prison 8 years · fine min 10000 · fine 30000 · note Law states 10–30 million pre-2006 meticais
label Personal use (article 55(1)) · treatment criminal · term Drug use · prison 2 years · note Plus a fine. Waiver and treatment possible, label Above three days' average personal supply (article 55(2)) · treatment criminal · term Drug use · prison min 1 year · note One-year minimum
Cannabis is prohibited, but personal use and holding fall under the lighter Article 55 bands, with waiver and treatment routes for occasional users and minors.[@law97] Supply draws the heavy trafficking tariffs, though courts apply the lesser Article 36 offence to small-scale sellers, as the 2024 Supreme Court cut from seventeen to six years for 590 grams shows.[@law97,court24]
law97, court24
none
No hemp exception operates: the law punishes unauthorised growing, production and manufacture, with an exception only for authorised industrial, scientific and therapeutic activities.[@law97] No THC line for hemp and no general fibre or food regime was found in the provisions reviewed.[@law97]
law97
grey
unclear
illegal
banned
Article 34 of Law 3/97 punishes unauthorised cannabis cultivation; the provisions reviewed do not mention seeds.[@law97] Growing for personal use falls under the lighter Article 55(3) tier.[@law97]
law97
Across the border the plant is mbanje, but in Mozambique it is suruma: Duvall records the name in an 1895 Quelimane wordlist, in the colonial law that banned it in 1914, and among Ndau speakers near the Zimbabwe border in 2005.[@duvall19] The atlas traces the word in [mbanje](/culture/language/mbanje/), whose history runs from [an 1851 Sierra Leone account](/history/sierra-leone-cannabis-long-in-use-1851/) of seeds brought by recaptives to the Kasai [Bena Riamba](/culture/traditions/bena-riamba/) movement.[@duvall19] Smoking itself has deep local roots: the atlas keeps an 1800 engraving of a Delagoa Bay water-pipe smoker in [the smoker's cough](/culture/traditions/the-smokers-cough/).[@duvall19]
duvall19