Madagascar distinguishes personal cannabis supplies from trafficking

Madagascar’s replacement drug law, promulgated on 4 November 1997, separated small personal cannabis supplies from the broader offences of production and trafficking. Small quantities of non-oil cannabis derivatives could bring two to six months in prison, a fine, or both, while cannabis oil had a three-month to one-year range with the same alternatives.

A single cannabis penalty gave way to distinctions

The 1960 rongony ordinance had placed growing, preparing, transporting, selling, possessing and consuming cannabis under a shared penalty of six months to five years, a fine, or both. The new law expressly repealed it, along with older colonial drug controls.

Parliament had adopted the replacement in October, and President Didier Ratsiraka promulgated it the following month. The law organised controlled drugs into schedules and covered lawful pharmaceutical handling as well as illicit production, trade and consumption.

Small personal quantities had their own sentences

The personal-quantity rule covered possession, purchase and cultivation when the amount was small enough to indicate that it was intended for the person’s own consumption. It distinguished non-oil cannabis derivatives from cannabis oil and other drugs classified as high risk.

Both cannabis ranges permitted a fine alone, imprisonment alone or the two together. The rule used the purpose and smallness of the quantity rather than stating a fixed gram limit in that article. It also allowed courts to waive punishment or its execution under conditions concerning age and previous offences.

Supplying another person had a separate rule

The general production and trafficking offences allowed forced labour, fines or both. Offering or giving a high-risk drug directly for another person’s consumption had a distinct sentence of one to five years, a fine, or both, with higher punishment possible in aggravated circumstances.

Cultivation remained prohibited. Owners, operators and occupants of land were required to destroy cannabis plantations growing there. The law therefore combined a specific personal-quantity rule with offences directed at wider production and supply.

Large-scale cultivation continued

The legal restrictions coexisted with a substantial cannabis market. A GI-TOC investigation drawing on gendarmerie information reported close to 53 tonnes seized in 2020, with major crop-destruction operations and arrests in northern growing areas.

Its fieldwork described cannabis as a source of rural income supplying domestic buyers and neighbouring islands. Those findings show the continuing importance of cultivation and trade to the people affected by Madagascar’s drug laws.^[1][2][3]