AI Generated Image
Rastafarians Lose Their 6-Year Cannabis Fight
Newser • • world
Key Points:
- Kenya's High Court rejected a six-year petition by the Rastafarian community seeking legal exemption to use cannabis in religious worship, ruling that the group failed to prove cannabis use is essential to their faith.
- Justice Bahati Mwamuye noted that while witnesses agreed cannabis is used as a sacrament, they disagreed on its essentiality, and expressed concerns that allowing exemptions could facilitate illegal cannabis trafficking.
- Under Kenyan law, possession of cannabis for personal use can result in up to five years imprisonment or an $800 fine, with harsher penalties for cultivation and trafficking.
- The Rastafarian community plans to appeal the ruling, emphasizing their religious desire to use cannabis as a sacred incense in worship.
