Lawyer Takes Marijuana Challenge To Constitutional Court
Harare lawyer Tapiwanashe Mukandi has approached the Constitutional Court challenging the dismissal of his High Court application seeking the legalisation of and cultivation of marijuana (mbanje), reported NewsDay.
On 13 July 2023, Mukandi filed an application challenging laws that criminalise the possession, consumption as well as cultivation of cannabis in Zimbabwe.
The application was dismissed by High Court judge Justice Gladys Mhuri in a judgement delivered on 31 October.
Justice Mhuri ruled that cannabis has potentially harmful health effects if left unchecked.
In his ConCourt application filed on Tuesday this week, Mukandi argued that the High Court erred in its interpretation of the provisions of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
Mukandi, through his lawyer Tererai Mafukidze instructed by Tapiwa Chivanga of Scanlen & Holderness submitted to the court:
The provisions of section 156(1)(a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) as read with the definition of ‘deal in’ in section 155 of the Criminal Law are inconsistent with sections 57, 56(1), and 52 of the Constitution and are constitutionally invalid only to the extent that they make the cultivation in a private place, use, or possession by an adult person for his or her own consumption in private a criminal offence.
Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe were cited as respondents.
Meanwhile, in 2013, Uruguay became the first country to legalise the production, sale, and consumption of cannabis for recreational use.
Since then, countries such as Spain have allowed personal use and cultivation of cannabis in private spaces.
More: Pindula News
