By Kelvin Chiringa
Two Namibian females were over the last weekend busted after they were found in possession with 95 grams of cannabis with a street value of N$20 000.
Reported cases of people found dealing in the drug continue to mount on a weekly basis as law enforcement agents continue to fight against a heavy tide to get the drug off the streets.
Namibia is yet to seriously confront the question as to whether it is high time the drug got legalized.
The suspects were nabbed in Gobabis at around 14h00 and are said to be of ages 32 and 40 years old.
Another two suspects also landed in police custody at Klein Manasse border post when they were found in possession of 56 packs of the potent drug whose value has not yet been confirmed.
The suspects of ages 36 and 51 years old were expected to make an appearance in court Monday of this week.
Cannabis continues to be Namibia’s all-weather drug and is being sold in small quantities around neighbourhoods.
However, legalization of the drug for medicinal purposes in Zimbabwe reignited debate last year on whether Namibia should begin its baby steps in that direction, something which health authorities stood against.
The act in Zimbabwe was met with pandemonium and mixed feelings as one famous pro-cannabis musician went into the studio and the next day he had nailed a hit song, “Ta-legalizer mbanje”which loosely means we have now legalised marijuana.
Meanwhile on 18 September 2018, the South African constitutional court ruled that “citizens have the right to consume and grow marijuana in their homes, as long it was for personal consumption”.
The country’s highest court found that the laws on drugs and medicine went against South Africans’ constitutional right to privacy (and thus the “personal use” of dagga or cannabis).
This made South Africa the third country in Africa to legalise dagga use, following Lesotho in September 2017 and Zimbabwe in April 2018, reports indicate.
Pro-marijuana activists cheered in the public gallery and chanted “Weed are free now” when the Constitutional Court gave its landmark ruling, a BBC report said at the time.
South African judges also legalised the growing of marijuana for private consumption.
