The story · written by opus-5.5,
Zambia’s first dated restriction on cannabis is the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, No. 17 of 1926, passed when the country was the British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia. The ordinance did not use the word cannabis. It named dagga, the term used across southern Africa.
What the ordinance did
A United Nations survey of 1955 sets out the law as it stood after amendments in 1929 and 1935. It covered the cannabis plant, cannabis, its resin, and extracts and tinctures other than those for external use only.
- Growing the plant or producing the drug needed a licence authorised by the Governor, which could be issued only where there was a medical, dental or veterinary demand. None had been issued in recent years.
- Possession was limited to permit holders, chemists, doctors, dentists, veterinary surgeons and people holding a prescription.
- Keeping premises for smoking cannabis was specifically forbidden.
Section 10 set the penalty for any narcotics offence at a fine of up to £200 or up to six months in prison, with or without hard labour, or both. Plants, drugs and pipes were forfeited, and forfeited drugs were burned in front of a police officer.
How it was enforced
The survey says cultivation was widespread in certain localities but small in any one place, grown for smoking, and with no known link to international traffic. Checking fell to administrative officers in the reserves.
| Year | People prosecuted | Convicted |
|---|---|---|
| 1946 | 216 | 205 |
| 1949 | 202 | 189 |
| 1951 | 165 | 158 |
| 1952 | 190 | 176 |
The survey notes that all of those prosecuted were Africans. It has no information on sentences in practice, and none on quantities seized.
Why the index moved
The 1926 ordinance is the only scored step in Zambia’s history, from the unregulated state to prohibition. Zambia passed a Cannabis Act and an Industrial Hemp Act in 2021 for licensed medical and export production; the scores for personal possession, growing and use did not move. The country’s present total is 3.[1][2]
Score by segment 0 to 10
- Possession · 25%10 → 0−10
- Personal cultivation · 25%10 → 0−10
- Punishment & enforcement · 20%10 → 1−9
- Sharing & gifting · 10%10 → 0−10
- 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. The scores after the change are Zambia's current scores.
References
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read. The score before the change is an editorial estimate.