Djibouti's colonial rules put cannabis behind permits and prescriptions

Cannabis and its resin, extracts and tinctures appeared together in the French Somali Coast’s revised controlled-drug rules in 1932. Possession and trade required permission, while a person without a permit could obtain these substances only on a therapeutic prescription.

French controls already reached the colony

The decree’s preamble traced the earlier rules to France’s poisonous-substances law, extended to the colony in December 1916, and local regulations made in February 1923. The territory covered what is now Djibouti.

President Albert Lebrun issued the revision on 25 May 1932, on the colonies minister’s recommendation. The acting governor promulgated it locally on 16 June. The colony’s official journal published both the promulgation and the revised rules on 30 June.

The revision replaced the controlled-drug chapter and its list of substances. Cannabis appeared under the name Indian hemp, alongside resin, resin preparations, extract and tincture.

A governor’s permit controlled commercial handling

Manufacturing, preparing, holding, buying, selling and distributing listed drugs needed authorisation. The governor issued personal permits after consulting the hygiene council and could withdraw them through the same process.

A person convicted of illicit drug trafficking in France or the colony could not receive or keep a permit. Each permit named the substances covered; industrial operators also had authorised annual quantities.

For a public pharmacy, registering the pharmacist’s diploma counted as permission to prepare and dispense the listed substances in that shop. Other people needed a therapeutic prescription to obtain them, with separate arrangements for hospitals and laboratories.

Each shipment left a paper trail

Imports and exports needed permission for each operation. Export certificates identified the drug, its quantity and, for preparations, their ingredients. Sellers had to retain those certificates for three years.

Purchases and transfers, including gifts, went into a special register identifying the parties and quantities. These registers had to be kept for ten years. Listed drugs, apart from coca leaves, had to be stored in locked cupboards or rooms; quantities found outside them could be seized.

Pharmacy controls preceded later criminal laws

The revision also regulated prescription renewals and introduced a seven-day limit for specified prescriptions. Existing authorised operators received six months to meet certain new permit, labelling and registration requirements.

Decades later, the territory published France’s revised drug penalties and treatment rules. Those later rules placed criminal punishment and treatment alongside the earlier system of permits, pharmacy dispensing and commercial records.^[1][2]