The story · written by opus-5.5,
The first dated restriction on cannabis in Burkina Faso’s record was written in Paris. On 30 December 1916 a decree extended a French law on poisonous substances to French West Africa, the federation of colonies that included what is now Burkina Faso.
A law made for France
The law was the Act of 12 July 1916 on the importation, exportation, trade in, possession and use of poisonous substances. It was passed during the First World War for metropolitan France, and the regulations made under it there list Indian hemp, its resin and their preparations among the narcotics of Schedule B.
Three further decrees carried it into the colonies.
| Date | Decree |
|---|---|
| 30 December 1916 | extends the Act to French West Africa |
| 5 March 1918 | on the application of the Act there |
| 26 January 1926 | regulations on the trade in, possession and use of poisonous substances in French West Africa |
| 31 May 1952 | amends one article of the 1926 regulations |
What these texts said about cannabis in the colony is not confirmed. They are known from a filing France made to the United Nations in 1953, which cites them by title and date and reproduces only the 1952 amendment, a change of one word.
After independence
Burkina Faso’s own law is Law 017/99/AN of 1999.
| Offence | Article | Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Possession or use | 47 | 2 to 5 years, and or a fine of 1 to 5 million CFA francs |
| Giving a high-risk drug to someone for their own use | 50 | 2 to 5 years, and or a fine of 500,000 to 2 million CFA francs |
| Production | 44 | 10 to 20 years, and or a fine of 5 to 25 million CFA francs |
Article 61 softens the first row. A person holding a small quantity for personal consumption may be exempted from punishment if they are under the age of criminal majority, are not a repeat offender, and undertake at the hearing by solemn declaration not to start again. A revision of the law to reduce its repressive side was under discussion in 2017.
Why the index moved
The 1916 decree is the first step in Burkina Faso’s score, from the unregulated state to prohibition. The index dates the change to the extension of the French Act because that is the earliest text that reached the territory, while noting that the colonial wording has not been read. The country’s present total is 3.[1][2]
Score by segment 0 to 10
- Possession · 25%10 → 0−10
- Personal cultivation · 25%10 → 0−10
- Punishment & enforcement · 20%10 → 1−9
- Sharing & gifting · 10%10 → 1−9
- Consumption · 10%10 → 0−10
- Legal access · 10%10 → 0−10
The bar shows the score after the change; the tick marks where it stood before. Burkina Faso's scores have changed again since.
References
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read. The score before the change is an editorial estimate.