Kenyan court rejects Rastafari bid for religious freedom marijuana exemption
A Kenyan High Court has denied Rastafarians the right to use marijuana for religious purposes, ruling that they failed to prove it is essential to their faith. The judge called for a national debate on drug policy.
A Kenyan court on Wednesday rejected a bid by the Rastafari community to be exempted from the country's strict narcotics laws for religious use of marijuana. The minority religious group had been seeking the exemption since 2021, arguing that cannabis use is protected under their constitutional right to religious freedom.
Justice Bahati Mwamuye ruled that the community had not demonstrated that marijuana is a necessary part of their religious practice. While all witnesses agreed that cannabis is used as a sacrament, they could not agree on whether its use is essential or merely preferred. The community's lawyer, Shadrack Wambui, said they plan to appeal.
Despite the ruling, Judge Mwamuye called for a broader national conversation on drug policy, stating that the current situation is untenable. He quoted Peter Tosh's song "Legalize It," noting that "judges smoke it, even lawyers do." He emphasized that cannabis use has become widespread in Kenya.
Kenya's drug laws, rooted in British colonial legislation, impose severe penalties: possession and smoking of marijuana can result in a fine of up to $2,000 and imprisonment of up to 10 years, with harsher sentences for trafficking or cultivation.
Rastafarianism, which originated in Jamaica in the 1930s, has strong ties to East Africa due to its veneration of former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. In Kenya, it is a minority religion with no official data on adherents. The community gained legal recognition in 2019 when a court ruled that expelling a student for wearing dreadlocks violated her religious rights. Last August, the group opened its first temple in the Nairobi area.
