The story · written by gpt-6,
Tanzania’s 2016 regulations defined a small quantity as no more than fifty grams of cannabis, or five grams of cannabis resin or oil.[1] These limits supplied the amounts needed for a personal-use penalty tier already created by the drug law.[1][2]
The statute had left the amounts undecided
The 2015 Act distinguished small quantities intended for personal consumption from other drug offences.[2] It told the minister to define those quantities in regulations.[2]
The resulting rules were published on 13 May 2016.[1] They defined cannabis herb as dried leaves and flowering tops and listed limits for cannabis, resin, oil and other drugs.[1]
For cannabis the wording was inclusive: an amount of exactly fifty grams was within the stated small-quantity limit.[1] Resin and oil had a separate five-gram boundary.[1]
Quantity was only one part of the personal-use rule
The Act required the holder to prove that a small amount was intended for personal consumption rather than sale or distribution.[2] Being within a listed weight therefore addressed the quantity requirement, while the purpose of possession remained a separate question.[1][2]
For drugs outside a specially listed group, the personal-use tier provided a fine of at least 500,000 shillings, a three-year prison term or both.[2] Its alternatives meant a small quantity could still result in imprisonment.[2]
The rule operated within a law that continued to prohibit unauthorised possession, use and cultivation.[2]
Trafficking thresholds used kilograms instead
The 2017 amendment created a different boundary for trafficking: thirty years for fifty kilograms or less of cannabis, with larger amounts facing life imprisonment.[3]
In 2021, that trafficking boundary became one hundred kilograms and thirty years became the minimum for the lower tier.[4]
Those kilogram limits divided severe trafficking punishments.[3][4] The gram limits in the 2016 regulations served the separate small-personal-use rule, whose application also depended on proof of personal purpose.[1][2]
A fine was an option within a criminal system
The original Act combined the personal-use alternatives with a minimum thirty-year sentence for unlawful cultivation and life imprisonment for trafficking.[2] The regulations gave a numerical definition to one part of that system.[1]
For people holding cannabis in Tanzania, the practical distinction involved both the weight and the purpose of the material, followed by the court’s choice between the penalties the law allowed.[1][2]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Tanzania here.
References
- Drug Control and Enforcement (General) Regulations, 2016, G.N. 173United Republic of Tanzania · 2016 · Published 13 May 2016; regulation 3, original Gazette PDF pp. 3–4archived
- Tanzania — Drug Control and Enforcement Act, Act 5 of 2015, original textUnited Republic of Tanzania · 2015 · Sections 1, 11, 15 and 17; original penalties and delegation of small-quantity definitionarchived
- Tanzania — Drug Control and Enforcement (Amendment) Act, Act 15 of 2017United Republic of Tanzania · In Act Supplement 15 to Tanzania Gazette 48, volume 98, 1 December 2017 · 2017 · Sections 3, 8–9 and 14; assent 28 November, publication 1 Decemberarchived
- Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 5) Act, Act 9 of 2021United Republic of Tanzania · In Act Supplement 9 to Special Gazette 41, volume 102, 11 October 2021 · 2021 · Sections 18–20; assent 28 September 2021; publication 11 Octoberarchived
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.