Nelson Havi To Go To Court To Have Marijuana Made Legal
His move, should it prove successful, would allow the growing, processing, and use of the hard drug to be made legal.
Marvin Chege 
Former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Nelson Havi has declared his plans to legalize the general use of marijuana in Kenya by going to court against a law that currently makes it illegal.
Early on Sunday morning, March 30, Havi revealed that he will file a constitutional petition seeking to have every section in the Constitution that criminalises marijuana in the country revoked.
His move, should it prove successful, would allow the growing, processing, and use of the hard drug to be made legal.
"I will, in the next coming week, file a constitutional petition to declare as unconstitutional all sections of the law criminalizing the growing, processing, sale and use of marijuana. We must level the vibes," he wrote on X.
A photo of marijuana leaves. /MEDLINE PLUS
Havi’s statement follows a thought-provoking post he shared on the same platform just a day earlier, questioning the rationale behind its criminalization.
In his post, he pointed out that the plant grows naturally and argued that it was illogical to deem its use illegal.
"I have never understood the criminalization of marijuana. It is a naturally growing plant that Jah gave to man," he stated.
His remarks come on the back of numerous crackdowns led by anti-drug abuse agencies and local authorities, including the police and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), targeting drug dens and disrupting supply channels of the drug, which carries a high value in the market globally.
Raids have seen dealers, traffickers, and even users arrested across the country, of all walks of life, over the drug, with calls to have it legalised in Kenya made but stumbling in countless attempts. Havi is thus turning to his legal expertise and the Judiciary arm of government for what would be a historic achievement.
Currently, under the Narcotics, Drugs, and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act of 2020, anyone found with 50 mg or less of the drug faces a minimum fine of Ksh10 million, a prison sentence of at least 10 years, or both.
Havi is not the only person who has been pushing for marijuana to be legalised. Roots party presidential candidate George Wajackoyah promised to legalise bhang if he were elected into power during the August 9 general elections in 2022.
Wajackoyah gained a devoted following among young people and cannabis users with his manifesto in the run-up to the elections, one which proposed legalizing cannabis sativa for cultivation as a means to clear Kenya's debt and boost the economy.
"One acre of Marijuana can earn you Ksh8 million per harvest. The whole of Nyeri County is 583,000 acres. This means that if we grew Marijuana in Nyeri County, Nyeri residents will earn Ksh4.6 trillion per harvest.
"And because Marijuana is harvested twice a year, it means Nyeri residents will earn Ksh9.2 trillion every year. This means if we grow marijuana for export, Nyeri in one year will earn the equivalent of Ethiopia’s GDP," he said in his manifesto on June 30, 2022.
Prohibition Partners estimates that, in 2022, the global sales of cannabidiol (CBD), medical and adult-use cannabis amounted to Ksh5.8 trillion (US$45 billion) and could be worth more than Ksh13.1 trillion (US$101 billion) by 2026.
Side by side image of a bhang plantation in Eldoret. /NPS
