Lesotho: rebuild on the 2008 Drugs of Abuse Act, tables and seven history entries

2018-05-18

2017-02-28

First African country to license medical cannabis cultivation (2017), mostly for export. Personal use remains illegal although matekoane is widely grown. The 2008 Act has no standalone possession offence; prosecutors use its licensing and trafficking provisions.

Cannabis (matekoane) is illegal to possess under theThe Drugs of Abuse Act 2008 has no standalone offence of simple possession or consumption. Small amounts usually bring[@doa08] Prosecutors use section 9, which punishes unlicensed manufacture, acquisition or administration of a finedrug of abuse with a minimum of five years or M20, though prison000, or both.[@doa08] Possession with intent to supply falls under trafficking in section 43, with a minimum of twenty years or M1,000,000.[@doa08] There is availableno statutory quantity threshold.[@doa08]

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GrowingCultivating cannabis without aan operator licence is an offence under section 9, with a crime: a conviction for harvesting cannabis carries a minimum of five years in prison or a fine of at least M20,000, or both. Yet matekoane has been a staple cash crop[@doa08] The definition covers planting, sowing, scattering seed, growing, tending and harvesting.[@doa08] Producing or preparing cannabis for highland farmers for generationssupply can also fall under the twenty-year trafficking offence, mostly sold into South Africaan overlap the Act does not resolve.[@doa08]

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Fines for small amounts;Small cases usually bring a fine, but the mandatory minimumstatutory minima are severe: five years or M20,000 for unlicensed acquisition or cultivation, and twenty years or M1,000,000 for supply.[@doa08] Enforcement falls mainly on small farmers and couriers, while licensed export companies operate under the 2018 and 2025 regulations.[@cgh] No cannabis-only arrest series is published.[@unodc_crimes]

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DealingTrafficking includes offering, distributing, selling, delivering "on any terms whatsoever", transporting, importing and exporting.[@doa08] The minimum is a crime with prisontwenty years or M1,000,000, or both, and there is no small-quantity or gift exception.[@doa08] Possessing chemicals or equipment for illicit cultivation carries ten years or M50,000.[@doa08]

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UseThere is anno standalone consumption offence in the 2008 Act.[@doa08] A user may be charged as an unlicensed acquirer or administrator under section 9, with a minimum of five years or M20,000, or the premises owner may be charged under section 44.[@doa08] In practice use is widely ignoredtolerated in rural areas.[@cgh]

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No legal source for local consumers. Licensed cultivation is for medical and scientific use, mostly export, and there is no domestic patient or dispensary route.[@doa08,thetsane24]

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In 2017 Lesotho became the first African country to licensebegan licensing cannabis cultivation for medical and scientific purposesuse in 2017 and published detailed licensing regulations in 2018. Licences are expensive[@reg2018] A 2024 study counted 33 licences, eight registered companies and went mainlyone GMP-certified exporter to the EU; the sector is export-oriented and foreign-backed companies: one wentinvestor-heavy.[@thetsane24] The 2025 amendment raised fees to a South African firmM400, the Toronto-based Supreme Cannabis Company invested in the industry,000 for an operator and a 2021 study put the licence at 10M100,000 US dollarsfor cultivation, more than smallholders can affordmanufacturing or testing. The sector has been dogged by allegations over how licences were awarded, and traditional growers remain outside it.[@reg2025]

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Licensed medical products are made for export.

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The reviewed export-production licensing does not establish aNo domestic patient treatment-access scheme. Licensed production is for medical and scientific use, but the 2024 research found no legal route for local patients to obtain medical cannabis.[@thetsane24] No such routeregistered cannabis medicine or dispensary was verified.[@tddoa08]

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A conviction is a criminal record. The 2008 Act provides for forfeiture of drugs and property connected with an offence, and the 2018 regulations add licence conditions and seed-to-sale controls for lawful operators.[@doa08,reg2018]

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The Drugs of Abuse Act 2008 Act defines cannabis as any part of the plant "including the seeds", and cultivatingcultivation as including planting, sowing and scattering the seed.[@doa08] Seed is therefore a controlled drug, lawful only for holders of a licence under the Act, such as the medical cannabis producers licensed since 20182017.[@doa08]

No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@doa08]

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Unlicensed cannabis is one of Lesotho's most significant cash crops, though it appears in no official economic statistics.[@cgh] Farmers treat it as a crop to fall back onfallback when other income declines, and for some it is the centre of their livelihood. A 2021 study of the region describes the trade as quasi-legal: growing and selling remain crimes, enforcement does not match the scale of production.[@cgh] UNODC records 6, and the law is applied only now and then670 kg of cannabis herb seized in 2024, against 2,175 kg in 2023.[@unodc_szr] No figures for Lesotho'sreliable output wereestimate was found.[@cgh]

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There is no legal recreational supply for anyone. Cannabis is illegal to possess under the Drugs of Abuse ActThe 2008; small amounts usually bring Act's licensing and trafficking provisions apply to visitors as to residents, with supply carrying a fineminimum of twenty years or M1, though prison is available000,000.[@doa08]

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The published Road Traffic Act section 92 makes it an offence to drive or attempt to drive a motor vehicle on a public road while drink or a drug makes the driver incapable of proper control. Its specimen-evidence provisions permit consideration of drug analysis from blood taken with consent by[@traffic1981] The 1981 edition sets a medical practitionerM1, or000 fine and one year in prison, and permits blood, urine or breath supplied by the accused. Refusalevidence; refusal without reasonable cause supports prosecution evidence about the accused’prosecution's condition; it is not worded as an automatic findingevidence of drug impairmentcondition. The available LesLII text[@traffic1981] There is the 1981 edition, not a verified current penalty consolidation. Current fines, licence consequences, drug-testing practice and ano numeric THC cutoff remain unverified.[@traffic1981]

Lesotho — Drugs of Abuse (Cannabis) Regulations 2018, Legal Notice 40 of 2018 Mayet & Associates — Lesotho publishes the 2025 cannabis regulations amendment (7 November 2025) Thetsane — The legal cannabis industry in Lesotho, Journal of Cannabis Research 6:23 (16 May 2024) Lesotho — Road Traffic Act 8 of 1981 UNODC Data Portal — Drug seizures, reported seizures in kilogram equivalents UNODC World Drug Report 2026 — drug-related crimes annex Sunday Express — Israeli farmer demands cannabis back (25 October 2026) LesLII / Office of Parliamentary Counsel — Road Traffic Act 8 of 1981, published edition Wikipedia — Cannabis in Lesotho TalkingDrugs — Lesotho cannabis legalisation Public Eye — Green rush tainted (2025) 2 unchanged

LSL

label Unlicensed acquisition or administration · treatment criminal · term Acquisition · prison min 5 years · fine min 20000 · note Minimum five years or M20,000, or both, label Possession for supply or trafficking · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 20 years · fine min 1000000 · note Minimum twenty years or M1,000,000, or both

LSL

label Unlicensed cultivation · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison min 5 years · fine min 20000 · note Minimum five years or M20,000, or both, label Producing for supply · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 20 years · fine min 1000000

LSL

label Supply or delivery, including gifts · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 20 years · fine min 1000000 · note Minimum twenty years or M1,000,000, or both, label Chemicals or equipment for illicit cultivation · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 10 years · fine min 50000

All recreational use is prohibited. The 2008 Act has no simple-possession offence; prosecutors use section 9 for unlicensed acquisition or administration (minimum five years or M20,000) and section 43 for supply (minimum twenty years or M1,000,000).[@doa08] There are no quantity thresholds, and giving cannabis away can be charged as trafficking.[@doa08]

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none

No separate hemp or CBD regime and no THC threshold. "Cannabis" covers any part of the plant, including seeds and leaves, and cannabis is a Schedule 1 drug.[@doa08] Industrial hemp would need the same cannabis licence, and no consumer CBD market was found.[@doa08]

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In 2024, 105 people were brought into formal contact with the police for drug offences and 88 were prosecuted; the figures cover all drugs and are not cannabis-specific.[@unodc_crimes] UNODC records 6,670 kg of cannabis herb seized in 2024, against 2,175 kg in 2023.[@unodc_szr] No 2025 or 2026 aggregate was published; recent cases concern licensed-import disputes and the Srugo plants case.[@srugo26]

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