The story · written by gpt-6,
On 22 December 2025, Botswana brought into force an amendment that removed imprisonment from a defined category of small cannabis possession. The boundary was 60 grams or less, which the amended law calls low-level possession.
The change appears in Act 26 of 2025, amending the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The Attorney General’s commencement record identifies the operative date through S.I. 163/2025.
A fine, with imprisonment excluded
New section 4(2A) provides a fine not exceeding P10,000 or alternatives to imprisonment as prescribed. The following subsection expressly states that a person found in this low-level category shall not be imprisoned.
This replaces the earlier treatment of small possession with a specific statutory protection. It does not make possession lawful: the provision continues to describe an offence. Nor does its fine ceiling mean every case necessarily receives a P10,000 fine.
The threshold includes exactly 60 grams. Describing it as only covering amounts below 60 grams would omit part of the category Parliament established.
Notices and rehabilitation
The amendment sets out a notice procedure for a person reasonably suspected of the low-level offence. A drug enforcement officer must serve a notice requiring payment within 21 days of receipt.
The person is also subject to mandatory rehabilitation as prescribed. If the fine is not paid, the law directs the use of another prescribed alternative to imprisonment. Nonpayment therefore should not be described using the older formula of a fine followed by prison in default.
The statutory wording establishes these requirements, but does not itself demonstrate how rehabilitation programmes or other alternatives operate in every case. Their implementing rules and practical availability require separate verification.
Larger quantities and preparations
The amendment also changes the quantity references in the existing larger-possession provisions from 60 grams to one kilogram. The published consolidation provides up to P20,000 or three years, or both, below one kilogram, subject to the special low-level protection; above one kilogram it provides up to P500,000 or ten years, or both.
The wording leaves the treatment of exactly one kilogram unresolved. A profile should preserve that uncertainty rather than silently inventing an inclusive boundary.
A separate new provision concerns cannabis preparations outside medicinal products or research purposes. It carries up to P20,000 or three years, or both. The low-level raw-cannabis rule cannot automatically be applied to every preparation.
A narrower change than legalisation
The reform creates no recreational retail market or personal cultivation entitlement. Botswana’s separate Cannabis Act concerns licensed medicinal, scientific, research and industrial activities.
The country profile now distinguishes the low-level possession protection from larger quantities, preparations and licensed access. The December amendment matters because it limits punishment while retaining an offence.[1][2][3]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Botswana here.
References
- Botswana Attorney General's Chambers — Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Act 26 of 2025archived
- Botswana Attorney General's Chambers — Act 26 of 2025 commencement recordarchived
- Botswana Attorney General's Chambers — amended Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, section 4archived
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.