Tanzania: Revealed - Tanzania's Six Top Regions in Marijuana Growing

Photo: James St. John/Flickr

Cannabis sativa (marijuana plants).

6 November 2019

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

Dodoma — The government said on Wednesday, November 06, 2019 that though it was succeeding

in the fight against drugs, it was still finding it difficult to contain the growing of marijuana in six regions.

The regions, revealed by the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (Policy, Parliamentary Affairs, Labour, Employment, Youth and the Disabled), Ms Jenista Mhagama, are: Mara, Tanga, Morogoro, Arusha, Kagera and Ruvuma.

She was speaking to journalists during an event to officially launch a report on the state of drugs in Tanzania.

She said the government was almost winning the war on drugs, basing her argument on a recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

"According to the UNODC, the entry of heroin into Tanzania's market has dropped by 90 per cent," she said.

She said in 2018, authorities seized 24.3 tonnes of marijuana, involving 10,061 suspects and 8.97 tonnes of Khats, involving 1,186 suspects.

Responding to calls by some legislators for Tanzania to legalise marijuana, Ms Mhagama said the decision would require a lengthy process, noting however that as things stand, dealing in the plant remains illegal.