São Tomé and Príncipe targets medical cannabis with a colonial ban

São Tomé and Príncipe’s colonial governor targeted cannabis used as medicine on 29 May 1958. The order followed a UN recommendation to discontinue medical use and threatened fines of 1,000–5,000 escudos for breaking its prohibition. Its preamble placed the decision within health and pharmacy policy.^[1]

The governor acted on health officials’ advice

Governor Manuel Marques de Abrantes Amaral signed the order after a proposal from the head of the provincial health and hygiene department. The permanent section of the Government Council had also been consulted. Cannabis therefore entered this particular legal record through the colonial medical administration.^[1]

The preamble cited a recommendation of the UN Economic and Social Council. It described prohibiting medical cannabis use as advisable for the province, connecting a local pharmacy decision to the international campaign against cannabis medicines.^[1]

A short rule carried a financial penalty

The operative article prohibited the import, consumption and sale for medical purposes of products made from cannabis plants. A second article set the fine and directed officials to follow the procedure in the Pharmacy Regulations. The order appeared in the colony’s official bulletin on the day it was signed.^[1]

For people supplying or using cannabis as medicine, the order announced a prohibition backed by a financial penalty. It put the health department’s recommendation into an enforceable rule, with pharmacy procedures supplying the means to handle violations.^[1]

Portugal later extended a wider criminal law

In October 1970, Portugal published an order extending its new drug law to the overseas provinces, including São Tomé and Príncipe. Overseas Minister Joaquim Moreira da Silva Cunha directed its publication in their official bulletins. The extension adapted the prescription requirements for therapeutic use to overseas pharmacy legislation.^[2]

That wider drug law expressly covered possession and cultivation. Conduct for personal use, and supply without profit, carried up to two years in prison plus a fine; ordinary trafficking carried two to eight years plus a fine. Cannabis and cannabis resin appeared in its drug list.^[3]

A national code eventually replaced colonial rules

São Tomé and Príncipe’s 2012 Penal Code described the long survival of colonial criminal legislation after independence. Its new personal-use rules allowed a fine instead of prison for a small personal quantity and let courts excuse an occasional consumer.^[4]

The country profile follows that later criminal code. The 1958 order records an earlier moment when the colonial government specifically turned against cannabis medicines.^[1][4]