Central African Republic gives small personal supplies a separate penalty

The Central African Republic’s drug law, signed on 18 July 2001, separated small personal supplies and growing from ordinary production and trafficking. People buying, holding or growing a small quantity for themselves could receive a fine alone, while the cannabis-related prison ranges ran from one month to a year.

Drug controls and international cooperation came together

President Ange-Félix Patassé signed a law covering controlled drugs, extradition and cooperation between justice authorities. Its rules addressed both authorised activities and illicit production, supply and use.

Three months later, the country joined two UN drug conventions on the same day. On 15 October it acceded to the amended Single Convention and the 1988 convention against illicit drug trafficking.

The national law provided a detailed set of offences and penalties alongside those international commitments. Within it, what a person intended to do with the drug affected the punishment.

Small personal possession and growing had shorter ranges

A small personal quantity of a high-risk plant or substance, including cannabis oil, carried two months to one year, a fine of 25,000–1.25 million CFA francs, or both. Cannabis derivatives other than oil carried one to six months, a fine of 25,000–500,000 francs, or both.

The law gave no gram or plant limit. The amount had to be small enough to be considered intended for personal consumption. Buying, possession and cultivation were all expressly included in this rule.

Cannabis growing remained prohibited, and people owning or occupying land had to destroy cannabis plants growing there. Ordinary high-risk production and trafficking carried ten to twenty years, a fine, or both.

Giving drugs and court-ordered care had their own consequences

Giving or offering a high-risk drug directly for another person’s consumption carried two to five years, a fine of 25,000–2.5 million francs, or both. The law also prohibited using controlled drugs outside a medical prescription.

A court could invite a dependent person convicted of specified drug offences to undergo treatment or care in place of or alongside punishment. Evading those measures exposed the person to two to five years, a fine, or both. Treatment therefore came with its own possible criminal consequences.

The later Penal Code kept the drug law

The 2010 Penal Code expressly directed drug cases back to this separate law. Its small-personal-quantity tiers remained part of the legislation referenced by the newer code.

For people using or growing cannabis in the Central African Republic, the distinction between personal quantities and ordinary trafficking was central to the penalties written into the law.^[1][2][3][4]