The story · written by gpt-6.1-sol,
Suriname’s new Opium Act put deliberate cannabis offences under a maximum four-year prison sentence. Adopted and published on 22 September 1955, it prohibited growing the plant and holding or using cannabis without legal authority, while keeping exceptions for medicine and research.[1]
A prohibition with an earlier history
Ganja had once entered Suriname through a taxed import trade. A contemporary encyclopedia records 689 kg imported in 1913 and identifies 1 March 1918 as the deadline after which imports were prohibited under the 1908 ordinance.[2]
The government’s report for 1922 shows the ban being enforced: fourteen convictions for possessing opium or ganja brought twelve fines and two six-month prison terms. Those combined figures cannot tell us how many people were punished for cannabis alone.[3] The 1955 Act continued an established system of control, replacing a 1928 ordinance.[1]
What could bring four years
The new law distinguished dried flowering tops, resin and ordinary resin preparations from extracts and tinctures, but controlled all of them. It separately prohibited cultivating Cannabis sativa.[1]
Its deliberate-offence ceiling applied across the listed prohibitions. For a breach without deliberate intent, it provided up to six months’ detention or a fine up to 3,000 florins. The text also gave investigators search and seizure powers, requiring a warrant for entry into a dwelling against the occupant’s will.[1]
Medicine remained an exception
Pharmacists, dispensing doctors and veterinarians had specified medical exceptions. People who could show a legitimate medical need and lawful acquisition could also possess covered drugs under the stated conditions.[1] These permissions sat alongside the criminal prohibitions; they did not create an ordinary recreational shop trade.[1]
A later change added a different response after conviction. In 1980, judges gained power to place an Opium Act offender in government-provided care when they considered it in that person’s interest.[4]
The replacement brought much higher ceilings
The 1998 Drugs Act preserved much of the structure but set up to thirteen years for deliberate possession or use of ordinary cannabis, and life or up to twenty years for deliberate cultivation or importing it.[5] It took effect on 20 January 1999, replacing the amended 1955 law.[6] That later change supplies the basis for the penalties described in the Suriname profile.[5][6]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Suriname here.
References
- Suriname — Territorial Order of 22 September 1955 concerning opium and other narcotic drugs, G.B. 1955 no. 91Government of Suriname · 1955 · UN E/NL.1958/72, government-communicated English translation; arts. 1–4, 7, 11–12 and 17; pp. 1–8. Adoption/publication 22 September; commencement separately delegated.archived
- Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch West-IndiëHerman Daniël Benjamins, Joh. F. Snelleman, eds. · Martinus Nijhoff / E.J. Brill · 1917 · Ganja entry, printed p. 306: 1908 ordinance, import deadline 1 March 1918, 1907–1913 imports and duty.archived
- Koloniaal Verslag 1923, II. Suriname (reporting 1922)Government of the Netherlands · 1923 · Printed/PDF p. 8, Opiumverordening: combined opium/ganja convictions and penalties, no detected cannabis cultivation offences.archived
- Suriname — Criminal Code, historical consolidation through S.B. 2004 no. 105Article 49a and annotation 42: introduced by S.B. 1980 no. 67; court-ordered government care following an Opium Act conviction.archived
- Suriname — Drugs Act of 12 February 1998, original government-communicated textRepublic of Suriname · 1998 · UN E/NL.1999/55; arts. 2–4, 7–8, 11–12 and 17; List II part B. Original text, before 2002 amendment.archived
- Suriname — Wet verdovende middelen, S.B. 1998 no. 14, as amended in 2002De Nationale Assemblée · Article 17 and footnote 3, printed/PDF p. 8: commencement 20 January 1999 under S.B. 1999 no. 23.archived
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.