Cannabis in Lesotho

Cannabis in Lesotho is a traditional crop that remains illegal for any use, but largely tolerated.^[1] The plant is known as matekoane in Sesotho language^[2] but also called khomo ea fatše, likata or kakana.^[3]

Cannabis is widely produced in the country, being the nation's most significant cash-crop.^[4] In the 2000s it was estimated that 70% of the cannabis in South Africa originated in Lesotho.^[5] In 2017 Lesotho became the first African nation to grant a license for the cultivation of medical cannabis.

History and culture

Cannabis use dates back to at least the 16th century in Lesotho, when the Koena people traded cannabis to the local San tribes in exchange for land around 1550. By the 19th century, cannabis was a staple crop in the kingdom.^[2]^[6]

Until this day, Cannabis remains cultivated almost everywhere in Lesotho, including the capital, but the primary cultivation is in the central mountain zones and western foothills.^[2]

Legislation

In 2008, the Drugs of Abuse Act replaced Lesotho's Dangerous Medicines Act of 1973, bringing the country in line with international drugs policy standards, including the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.^[7] The Drug of Abuse (Cannabis) Regulations Act of 2018 was the latest amendemt to cannabis legislation in the country.^[3]

Enforcement

In one joint South African-Lesotho operation in 2006, 47 tons of cannabis were seized.^[8] Cultivation is for the most part tolerated, however, due to the high rate of poverty in the nation and the economic benefits that the cannabis trade provides.^[1]

Medical cannabis reform

In 2017, the Lesotho Ministry of Health licensed a South African firm to grow cannabis in Lesotho for medical and scientific purposes, the first such authorized establishment in Africa.^[9]

In late 2017/early 2018, the Lesotho government licensed 5 companies to produce medical marijuana. Three of these companies have been partially, or entirely acquired by established licensed Canadian producers:

Verve Dynamics - roughly 30% ownership by Aphria (Canada)^[10]
MediGrow Lesotho - 10% acquired by Supreme Cannabis (Canada)^[11]
Daddy-Cann - 100% acquired by Canopy Growth (Canada)^[12]
Medi-Kingdom - 100% owned Medi-Kingdom (UK)
Pharmaceuticals Development Corp (PDC) - Now owned by Corix (US)^[13]
Bophelo Bioscience and Wellness PTY - 20% acquired by Halo Labs Inc (Canada)^[14]
WeGROW Medical Cannabis Lesotho- 80% owned by ASIF420 (Israel) [1]

The reform has been criticised for failing to "provide opportunities for Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) to venture into the Cannabis business".^[3] Scholars found "questionable whether the Lesotho government are acting with due regard for its most vulnerable rural households, who have now long depended on cannabis cultivation to support themselves"^[6] and activists have regretted that

Cannabis remains illegal for the citizens […] and this means that Basotho […] people are not allowed to use, possess or cultivate Cannabis, nor are they allowed to access Cannabis products for their own benefit, whether for industrial, traditional, religious, medicinal or adult use. […] Lesotho citizens continue to be arrested on the street and in their homes whilst large quantities of Cannabis cross the border every day into South Africa.^[15]

Bioprospecting

As many other African countries, Lesotho is a country where traditional Cannabis plant varieties (strains) have been grown for generations. Because these varieties are often bioprospected,^[16]^[17] there has been complaints that cannabis strains are "now being exported across the world, most often with no benefit to the local communities who have been tending these genetics for generations"^[15] making it a genetic resource at risk of biopiracy.^[18]^[19]

References

^ ^a ^b "Cannabis in Lesotho". Sensi Seeds. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c Alain Labrousse; Laurent Laniel (29 June 2013). The World Geopolitics of Drugs, 1998/1999. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 246–. ISBN 978-94-017-3505-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c Thetsane, Regina M. (2024-05-16). "Envisaging challenges for the emerging medicinal Cannabis sector in Lesotho". Journal of Cannabis Research. 6 (1): 23. doi:10.1186/s42238-024-00229-9. ISSN 2522-5782. PMC 11097424. PMID 38755701.
^ Jean Grugel; Daniel Hammett (10 June 2016). The Palgrave Handbook of International Development. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 408–. ISBN 978-1-137-42724-3.
^ Isidro Marín Gutiérrez (April 2010). Cannabis: el movimiento cannábico en España. Popular. ISBN 9788478844654.
^ ^a ^b Bloomer, Julian (2019-07-13). "Turning Cannabis Into Cash: Agrarian Change and Lesotho's Evolving Experience". EchoGéo (48). doi:10.4000/echogeo.17612. ISSN 1963-1197.
^ Graeme R. Newman (19 October 2010). Crime and Punishment around the World [4 volumes]: [Four Volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 113–. ISBN 978-0-313-35134-1.
^ United Nations: International Narcotics Control Board (1 February 2007). Report of the International Narcotics Control Board 2006. United Nations Publications. pp. 38–. ISBN 978-92-1-148218-8.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Lesotho Just Granted Africa's First Legal Marijuana License - OkayAfrica
^ "Aphria Forms Landmark Venture with South African Company Verve Group of Companies".
^ "Lesotho attracts another major medical cannabis investment". 21 March 2018.
^ "Canopy Growth Corporation announces entry into the African market with acquisition of Daddy Cann Lesotho".
^ "Marijuana & Cannabis News, Reviews & Reports".
^ "Halo Collective to Expand Globally and Acquire Bophelo Bioscience". www.businesswire.com. 2019-06-17. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
^ ^a ^b Clarke, Myrtle (2021). Cannabis in South Africa, the People's Plant: A Full-Spectrum Manifesto For Policy Reform (PDF). Johannesburg: Fields of Green for All & FAAAT editions. p. 36. ISBN 979-10-97087-99-9.
^ Duvall, Chris S. (2019). The African Roots of Marijuana. Duke University Press. pp. 26, 219. ISBN 978-1-4780-0453-0.
^ Duvall, Chris S. (2016-01-02). "Drug laws, bioprospecting and the agricultural heritage of Cannabis in Africa". Space and Polity. 20 (1): 10–25. doi:10.1080/13562576.2016.1138674. ISSN 1356-2576.
^ Cannabis and Biopiracy: Conference at the 67th United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Vienna, Austria. 2024. Retrieved 2024-08-30 – via www.youtube.com.
^ Wyse, Joseph; Luria, Gilad (2021). "Trends in intellectual property rights protection for medical cannabis and related products". Journal of Cannabis Research. 3 (1): 1. doi:10.1186/s42238-020-00057-7. ISSN 2522-5782. PMC 7819315. PMID 33526141.