Mali replaces long drug sentences with a lighter personal-use tier

Mali’s replacement drug law, signed on 18 July 2001, gave small personal supplies a separate, lighter penalty. People possessing, buying or growing a small quantity could receive a fine alone, while the cannabis-related prison ranges ran from months to a year.

Long forced-labour punishments preceded it

The 1983 drug law had exposed illicit users to five to ten years of forced labour, a fine, or both. Illegal narcotic production and international trafficking could bring forced labour for life and a fine.

President Alpha Oumar Konaré signed the replacement after parliament adopted it in June. The new law expressly repealed its predecessor and set out distinct rules for high-risk drugs, other controlled drugs, supply and small personal quantities.

Personal possession and growing had their own rule

For a high-risk plant or substance, including cannabis oil, a small personal quantity carried three months to one year in prison, a fine of 25,000 to 100,000 CFA francs, or both. Cannabis derivatives other than oil carried two to six months, a fine of 15,000 to 75,000 francs, or both.

The rule applied to possession, purchase and cultivation. The quantity had to be small enough to be considered intended for the person’s own consumption. The law gave no gram or plant limit for deciding that question.

It also contained a lighter tier for drugs classed as lower risk. Its approach made both the type of substance and the purpose of holding or growing it relevant to punishment.

Production and supply still carried prison terms

Cannabis cultivation remained prohibited, and whoever owned or occupied land had to destroy plants growing there. Ordinary cultivation of high-risk drugs carried five to ten years and a fine of 200,000 to two million francs. International trafficking carried the same prison range with a higher fine.

Giving or offering a high-risk drug directly for another person’s consumption had a separate six-month-to-three-year range, a fine, or both. General local trafficking carried five to ten years, a fine, or both. These distinctions meant that purpose and conduct mattered alongside the type of substance.

Enforcement powers continued to develop

The law prohibited using controlled drugs outside a medical prescription and provided for confiscation. It also allowed additional penalties for specified supply and production offences, including a ten-to-twenty-year territorial ban on foreigners.

In 2013, Mali amended the enforcement machinery, giving the central drug office a statutory role in coordinating investigations. The personal-use tiers remained part of Mali’s drug legislation alongside that response to trafficking.^[1][2][3]