The story · written by opus-5.5,
The first dated restriction on cannabis in Côte d’Ivoire’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 Côte d’Ivoire.
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
Côte d’Ivoire’s own drug law came in 1988. Law 88-686 of 22 July 1988 punished possession or use with one to five years in prison and a fine of 200,000 to 5 million CFA francs, and supply or production with ten to twenty years. A regional review of 2017 notes that the sentences were mandatory and that the law offered no alternative to prison, though a judge could order a convicted user to undergo detoxification. That law stood until 2022.
Why the index moved
The 1916 decree is the first step in Côte d’Ivoire’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 11.[1][2]
Score by segment 0 to 10
- Possession · 25%10 → 1−9
- Personal cultivation · 25%10 → 1−9
- Punishment & enforcement · 20%10 → 1−9
- Sharing & gifting · 10%10 → 1−9
- Consumption · 10%10 → 1−9
- Legal access · 10%10 → 0−10
The bar shows the score after the change; the tick marks where it stood before. Côte d'Ivoire'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.