Cannabis in East Africa: export yes, recreational use no

The boundaries depend on who draws them. In the United Nations geographic classification, the "Eastern Africa" region covers about twenty countries and territories: those of the East African Community, the Horn of Africa, but also Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands. Réunion and Mayotte are included too, and French law applies there in full.

This overview follows that broad definition. It covers the countries that changed their law and the three large countries that did not.

Zimbabwe legalised the production of cannabis for medical and scientific use in 2018, through regulation SI 62 of 2018. The country's medicines agency, MCAZ, spells it out in its February 2025 FAQ: medical production is, for now, for export only. The same document separates industrial hemp, defined in Zimbabwe as containing less than 1% THC, from medical cannabis, above that level.

Malawi followed in 2020. Parliament passed a law on 28 February 2020 covering the cultivation, processing, import, export and use of medical cannabis and industrial hemp. An article in the Malawi Medical Journal notes that the text separates marijuana, which remains illegal, from industrial hemp and medical cannabis, and that it sets up a regulator in charge of licences.

In May 2021, Zambia passed two twin laws: the Cannabis Act, No. 33 of 2021, signed on 19 May 2021, and an Industrial Hemp Act, No. 34 of 2021. The first restricts the cultivation, manufacture, import and export of cannabis to medical, scientific or research purposes, under licence from the Zambian medicines regulator.

In Rwanda, the Cabinet approved on 12 October 2020 guidelines on "high value therapeutic crops", the phrase used for medical cannabis. The legal framework is Ministerial Order No. 3 of 2021, published in the Official Gazette on 28 June 2021. It covers the cultivation, processing, distribution and use of cannabis for medical and research purposes, with renewable five-year licences and export permits. Medical use requires a prescription from a specialist doctor. In March 2024, the New Times reported that a first company, KKOG, had obtained an export licence. We found no public record of a first export.

Uganda went through an often misunderstood episode. On 5 May 2023, the Constitutional Court struck down the 2015 narcotics act because Parliament lacked a quorum when it was passed. Several media outlets concluded that cannabis had been legalised. The Ugandan judiciary denied it in a press release of 9 May 2023: the restrictions of the older drugs law still applied.

Parliament then passed a new narcotics act, known as the 2023 Act, signed into law in February 2024. Growing a prohibited plant now requires a licence from the health minister; without one, the penalty is up to 5 years in prison, and up to life for a repeat offence. The national drug authority issues export licences. According to the Daily Monitor newspaper, a first cultivation and export licence was granted in July 2025 to a private farm.

Kenya applies the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act of 1994, which replaced a 1933 law. A bill tabled in 2018 to regulate cannabis never came to a vote. The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) traces this Kenyan debate on decriminalisation, which led to no change in the law.

Tanzania is the strictest country in the region. Its 2015 drug control and enforcement act lists cannabis among prohibited plants: growing them carries at least 30 years in prison. In April 2024, the minister in charge told Parliament that the question should not be rushed.

Ethiopia punishes personal use of narcotics, cannabis included, under article 525 of its Criminal Code. The Ministry of Justice states a penalty of up to 7 years in prison and a 50,000 birr fine.

All these laws sit within the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which lists cannabis and cannabis resin in Schedule I. On 2 December 2020, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs removed cannabis from Schedule IV, the list of substances with particularly dangerous properties, by 27 votes to 25 with one abstention. Cannabis stays in Schedule I: its non-medical use remains prohibited under the conventions. The vote eased the way for medical schemes, without opening any recreational market.

Nothing, directly. In France, the framework remains the order of 30 December 2021: only hemp varieties listed in the official catalogues, with no more than 0.30% Δ⁹-THC, are authorised, and the same limit applies to products that contain them. The Rwandan, Ugandan and Zimbabwean schemes produce THC-rich medical cannabis for regulated markets; a private individual cannot import it.

Receiving a parcel from these countries brings French customs rules into play, described in our article on CBD and customs. For comparison with other regions, see our overview of Central Africa, the case of Morocco and its legal sector, and our summary of the three legal models worldwide.