Angola countries/ao.yaml
Article 23 of Law 3/99 punishes anyone who unlawfully uses, or holds, buys or grows for their own use, a plant or substance in Tables I to IV with up to three months in prison.[@lei3] If the amount exceeds the average individual need for three days, the penalty is up to one year.[@lei3] Cannabis, its resin and its oil are in Table I-C.[@lei3] A court can suspend the sentence of a user it finds dependent, on condition of treatment (Article 26).[@lei3]
label Personal use, up to three days' supply · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison 3 months · note The statute sets prison, not a fine, label Personal use, over three days' supply · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison 1 year · note Amount exceeds the average individual need for three days
Growing for your own use falls under the same Article 23 offence (up to three months, or up to a year above three days' supply).[@lei3] Cultivation without authorisation for any other purpose is trafficking under Article 4: 8 to 12 years.[@lei3]
label Growing for own use · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison 3 months · note Up to a year above three days' supply, label Unauthorised cultivation (trafficking, Article 4) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 8 years · prison 12 years
The statute sets prison, not a fine, for personal use, but only up to three months, and allows a suspended sentence with treatment.[@lei3] Anonymous health care is guaranteed to a user who asks for it (Article 24).[@lei3] How often users are jailed is not shown by the statute.
Giving or handing cannabis to another person without authorisation is trafficking under Article 4 (8 to 12 years).[@lei3] If the aim is only to get the drug for personal use, Article 9 sets up to two years and a fine, unless the amount exceeds five days' supply.[@lei3]
label Getting the drug for personal use (Article 9) · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison 2 years · note Up to two years and a fine, unless over five days' supply, label Giving or handing to another person (trafficking, Article 4) · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 8 years · prison 12 years
Using cannabis is itself a crime under Article 23 (up to three months in prison).[@lei3]
No lawful source for personal use.[@lei3] Trading without authorisation is punished under Article 4; the law leaves authorised activity to licences.[@lei3]
Cannabis is known as *[diamba*](/culture/language/diamba/) or *liamba*.[@wiki] The Portuguese [maconha](/culture/language/maconha/) comes from Kimbundu, a language of Angola.[@duvall19] [Livingstone recorded](/history/angola-livingstone-observation-1857/) that under Portuguese … bis the most common illicit drug in the country, grown in almost every province.[@incb09] The smoking technology came with the plant: calabash-based water pipes, earliest documented in Angola in 1832, are kept in [the calabash water pipe](/culture/traditions/the-calabash-water-pipe/).[@duvall19] The travellers' tales of the loud cough that followed a pipe live on in [the smoker's cough](/culture/traditions/the-smokers-cough/).[@duvall19] Angolans argued over legalising liamba in 2018, with no bill in sight ([2018 debate](/history/angola-liamba-debate-2018/)).[@voa18]
wiki, tni_rd, incb09, duvall19, voa18
No licensed production is documented: cultivation without authorisation is punished as trafficking with 8 to 12 years, and even personal-use growing is a crime.[@wiki,lei3]
wiki, lei3
Law 3/99 punishes anyone who, without authorisation, cultivates, sells, buys, transports or holds plants listed in its tables with eight to twelve years in prison.[@l399] The law does not mention seeds.
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@lei3]
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone.[@lei3] Law 3/99 punishes using a listed drug, or holding, buying or growing it for one's own use, with up to three months in prison, or up to one year where the amount exceeds the average individual need for three days.[@lei3]
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 22,362 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 33,032 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 trade runs on: in October 2024 investigators destroyed a two-hectare liamba field of over 20,000 plants in Lunda-Norte, and a Humpata farm holding 52,165 kg was dismantled.[@afpress24,afpress23]
unodc_szr, afpress24, afpress23
The African Roots of Marijuana Africa-Press (ANGOP) — SIC destroys cannabis cultivation field in Lunda-Norte (30 October 2024) Africa-Press — SIC dismantles farm with more than 52 thousand kg of liamba in Humpata Africa-Press — Province records more than 100 drug trafficking crimes (Malanje) VOA Português — Liberalização da "liamba" não está em debate em Angola (6 August 2018) 6 unchanged
word Diamba · lang Portuguese (Angola) · meaning cannabis; the Bantu word sold openly in Luanda's market since the 1850s · sources wiki, tni_rd, word Liamba · lang Portuguese (Angola) · meaning cannabis; the variant spelling used by police and press today · sources wiki, afpress24
none
No industrial-hemp exception was verified: Law 3/99 lists cannabis, its resin and its oil in Table I-C with no low-THC distinction, and no hemp production is documented.[@lei3,wiki]
lei3, wiki
No national arrest breakdown was found. Malanje province recorded more than 100 drug-trafficking crimes, with 5,700 liamba plants seized and destroyed.[@afpress25] A 31-year-old was detained when investigators dismantled a Humpata farm holding 52,165 kg of liamba.[@afpress23]
afpress25, afpress23