Madagascar raises rongony penalties to as much as five years

Madagascar raised the maximum punishment for cannabis offences to five years under an ordinance signed on 28 July 1960. Growing, preparing, transporting, selling, possessing or consuming rongony could bring six months to five years in prison, a fine, or both; the same penalties extended to people helping those activities.

Officials wanted longer sentences

The government argued that earlier rules had failed to contain cannabis consumption. Its explanatory memorandum cited police reports describing its spread and pointed to a price far below that of opium. Officials used those arguments to support stronger punishment.

The 1915 colonial decree had prohibited preparation, peddling, sale and consumption, with a maximum of one year in prison. A 1958 decision added cultivation and possession offences with shorter prison terms and fines. The new ordinance explicitly repealed both texts.

One rule covered growers, sellers and consumers

The opening article prohibited cannabis cultivation throughout the territory. The next extended prohibition to preparation, transport, sale, possession and consumption. All those activities fell under the same penalty clause.

That clause allowed six months to five years in prison and a fine of 10,000 to one million francs, or either punishment alone. It provided no separate shorter sentence for someone who held only a small amount for personal use. The maximum rose substantially above that recorded for the earlier smoking-and-sales decree.

Helping could cost a vehicle or premises

The ordinance also reached people who facilitated offences by providing a vehicle or premises, whether they charged for it or offered it free. The same sanctions applied to assistance by other means.

For those cases, the court had to confiscate the vehicle or close the premises. A ban on residence also followed. The explanatory memorandum highlighted these consequences when describing how the new law would act against people organising the rongony trade.

A later law separated personal quantities

President Philibert Tsiranana signed the ordinance with the ministers responsible for the interior and justice. It appeared in Madagascar’s official journal on 6 August 1960 and remained a reference in the country’s later drug legislation.

The replacement law promulgated in 1997 expressly repealed it and introduced distinct sentences for small quantities intended for personal consumption. The earlier law’s shared penalty for growing, selling and consuming had given way to a more differentiated system in Madagascar.^[1][2][3]