Origin from 2026
On 15 July 2026, Justice Bahati Mwamuye of the High Court at Nairobi's Milimani Law Courts dismissed a constitutional petition brought by the Rastafari Society of Kenya seeking an exemption from Kenya's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act to allow cannabis use in religious meditation and worship. The judge held that the petitioners had not shown how the 1994 statute violated their constitutional right to freedom of religion, and that granting the community an exemption from a law carrying penalties of up to ten years' imprisonment would require a stronger constitutional and legal foundation than the petition supplied. Mwamuye nonetheless acknowledged that recreational cannabis use is already widespread in Kenya and described the existing legal framework as potentially untenable, calling for a national debate on drug policy reaching beyond the Rastafari community alone. Following the ruling, Rastafarians gathered at Nairobi's Freedom Corner to protest, and the petitioners' lawyer, Shadrack Wambui, said the decision would be appealed to the Court of Appeal.
Facts
Dates
StatusSuppressed marks a court's refusal to grant a religious exemption from Kenya's cannabis laws, not a ban on Rastafari practice or belief itself, which remains legal in Kenya, and not a final resolution, since the petitioners have said they will appeal to the Court of Appeal. Cross-Tradition Connections
Occurred In
Spread Event Of
Adds a fact not yet on the map: a second and separate cannabis rights case lost in a different country's courts the same year as this timeline's existing citation of the United States Supreme Court's dreadlocks ruling, showing the legal fight over sacred cannabis use continuing in East Africa as well as North America.
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