Ethiopia sets up to fifteen years for allowing drug use on premises

Ethiopia’s drug law of June 1999 exposed people who allowed illicit narcotic drug use on their premises to seven to fifteen years in prison and a fine. It also punished promoting drug abuse and supervised the licensed medicine trade.

Hosting carried a much heavier penalty

The earlier penal code had already punished knowingly providing a place for drug use, even in private. Its ordinary penalty began at three months in prison, with heavier punishment available in specified cases.

The new law put an owner or occupier who caused or permitted illicit narcotic drug use in a house, compound or other place within a separate offence carrying seven to fifteen years and a fine of 30,000–50,000 birr. It made providing the setting for consumption a serious offence in its own right.

The same penalty covered publishing or displaying material that promoted or encouraged drug abuse. Administering narcotic drugs without a prescribing licence, prescribing without sufficient reason or above the standard dose, and supplying against a prescription known to be forged, altered, cancelled or expired were also covered.

A new authority supervised controlled medicines

The government said it wanted both safe, effective medicines and a system that deterred illicit drug production, trafficking and use. The law created a Drug Administration and Control Authority to oversee that work.

Its definition of narcotic drugs included drugs controlled by the UN conventions Ethiopia had ratified. Cannabis therefore fell within the treaty-based definition following Ethiopia’s accession to the Single Convention.

Importing, exporting, manufacturing or distributing narcotic drugs required a special licence. Each import or export shipment also needed its own permit, valid for ninety days. The law prohibited sending these drugs through the post or by ship.

Prescriptions and stocks had to be controlled

Only registered practitioners with a special licence could prescribe narcotic drugs. Prescriptions needed special paper, and practitioners could not prescribe controlled drugs for themselves.

Stocks and their invoices, registers and prescriptions had to be kept in a locked metal cupboard or special room, with the key held by the authorised professional. Businesses had to keep records and report to the authority. Property used in or derived from the specified offences was liable to confiscation.

Later laws replaced the code and the medicine controls

In 2005, Ethiopia replaced its older penal code with rules distinguishing trafficking from private use. The replacement preserved special criminal laws. In January 2010, a wider health law repealed the 1999 law while retaining controlled-drug permits and the seven-to-fifteen-year penalty for advertising that encouraged drug abuse. Ethiopia’s drug controls continued through successive laws governing both illicit supply and the medicine trade.^[1][2][3][4]