The story · written by opus-5.5,
The first dated restriction on cannabis in Mali’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 Mali.
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
The French decrees of 1926 and after are still listed among Mali’s drug texts. An order of 13 June 1972 set a special court procedure for drug offences, a law of 31 May 1983 created Mali’s own drug offences, and the present text is Law 01-078 of 18 July 2001.
| Offence | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Personal consumption | 6 months to 3 years, and a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 CFA francs |
| Growing or producing a high-risk plant or substance | 5 to 10 years, and a fine of 200,000 to 2 million CFA francs |
| Supplying it, or trafficking across borders | 5 to 10 years, and a fine of 5 to 50 million CFA francs |
The law draws no clear line between possession and use.
Why the index moved
The 1916 decree is the first step in Mali’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 9.[1][2]
Score by segment 0 to 10
- Possession · 25%10 → 2−8
- Personal cultivation · 25%10 → 1−9
- Punishment & enforcement · 20%10 → 2−8
- 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. Mali'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.