Law library · Sierra Leone · Acts of Parliament
The Dangerous Drugs Short title
Cap. 154
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Contents
- Preamble
- Section 1 — This Ordinance may be cited as the Dangerous Drugs Short title.
- Section 2 — In this Ordinance unless the context otherwise requires-
- Section 5
- Section 6
- Section 7
- Section 8 — If any person-
- Section 9
- Section 10 — If any person-
- Section 11
- Section 12
- Section 13
- Section 14
- Section 15
- Section 16
- Section 17 — (1) Articles prohibited to be imported by virtue of this
- Section 18
- Section 19 — (1) Any person-
- Section 20 — In the last two preceding sections the expression ~e:ition
- Section 21
- Section 22
- Section 23
CHAPTER 154.
DANGEROUS DRUGS.
An Ordinance to give effect to measures decided upon in the
International Opium Convention signed at Geneva, on the
19th day of February, 1925, and to regulate the importation,
exportation, manufacture, sale and use of opium and other
dangerous drugs, in the Colony and the Protectorate.
[lOTH APRIL, 1926.]
PART I.-PRELIMINARY.
10 of 1926.
33 of 1928.
22 of 1932.
Ordinance, and shall apply to the Colony and the Protectorate.
" raw opium" means the spontaneously coagulated juice
obtained from the capsules of the papaver somniferum L.,
which has only been submitted to the necessary manipulations
for packing and transport, whatever its content of morphine;
" prepared opium " means opium prepared for smoking
and includes dross and any other residues remaining after
opium has been smoked;
"medicinal opium" means raw opium which has undergone
the processes necessary to adapt it for medicinal use in
accordance with the requirements of the British Pharmacopmia, whether it is in the form of powder or is granulated
or is in any other form and whether it is or is not mixed with
neutral materials;
" morphine " means the principal alkaloid of opium having
the chemical formula C17 H 19 N0 3 ;
" diacetylmorphine " means diacetylmorphine, (diamorphine, heroin) having the formula C21 H 23 N0 5 ;
" coca leaf " means the leaf of the erythroxylon coca
lamarck and the erythroxylon novo-granatense (Morris)
hieronymus and their varieties, belonging to the family of
erythroxylacem and the leaf of other species of this genus
from which it may be found possible to extract cocaine either
directly or by chemical transformation;
" crude cocaine " means any extract of the coca leaf which
can be used directly or indirectly for the manufacture of
cocame;
Interpretation.
1620 Cap. 154] Dangerous Drugs
"cocaine" means methyl-benzoyl lrevo-ecgonine [a] D 20°
= - 16° 4 in 20 per cent. solution of chloroform, of which
the formula is C17 H 21 N0 4 ;
" ecgonine" means lrevo-ecgonine [a] D 20° = - 45° 6 (in
5 per cent. solution of water), of which the formula is
C9 H 15 N0 3 H 2 0 1 and all the derivatives of lrevo-ecgonine
which might serve industrially for its recovery;
" Indian hemp " means the dried flowering or fruiting tops
of the pistillate plant known as cannabis sativa from which
the resin has not been extracted, by whatever name such tops
are called;
" Colony " includes the Protectorate;
" rules " mean rules made under this Ordinance by the
Governor in Council;
"prescribed" means prescribed by rules;
"approved ports" means ports approved by rules for the
importation or exportation, as the case may be, of raw
opium and coca leaves.
PART II.-RAw OPIUM AND CocA LEAVEs.
Restrictionon 3. It shall not be lawful for any person to import or bring into
importation the Colony any raw opium except under licence and intoof raw opium.
approved ports.
Restrictionon 4. (I) It shall not be lawful for any person to export from the
~~~~~~~f~m. Colony any raw opium except under licence and from approved
ports.
(2) If at any time the importation of raw opium into a
foreign country is prohibited or restricted by the laws of that
country, there shall, while that prohibition or restriction is in
force, be attached to every licence which is issued by the
Governor under this Ordinance authorising the export of raw
opium from the Colony, such conditions as appear to him
necessary for preventing or restricting, as the case may be, the
exportation of raw opium from the Colony to that country
during such time as the importation of raw opium into that
country is so prohibited or restricted, and any such licences
issued before the prohibition or restriction came into force shall,
if the Governor by Order so directs, be deemed to be subject to
the like conditions. ·
The Governor in Council may make rules for controlling orrestricting the production, possession, sale and distribution of
raw opium, and in particular, but without prejudice to the
generality of the foregoing power, for prohibiting the production,
possession, sale or distribution of raw opium except by persons
licensed or otherwise authorised in that behalf.
Power to
regulate the
production of
and dealing
in raw opium.
The provisions of this Part of this Ordinance shall apply Applicationof Part II to
to coca leaves in the same manner as they apply to raw opium. coca leaves.
PART III.-PREPARED OPIUM.
It shall not be lawful for any person to import or bringinto, or to export from, the Colony any prepared opium.
(a) manufactures, sells or otherwise deals in prepared
opmm; or
(b) has in his possession any prepared opium; or
(c) being the occupier of any premises permits those
premises to be used for the purpose of the preparation of
opium for smoking or the sale or smoking of prepared opium;
or
(d) is concerned in the management of any premises used
for any such purpose as aforesaid; or
(e) has in his possession any pipes or other utensils for use
in connection with the smoking of opium, or any utensils
used in connection with the preparation of opium for smoking;
or
(j) smokes or otherwise uses prepared opium, or frequents
any place used for the purpose of opium smoking;
he shall be guilty of an offence against this Ordinance.
pART IV.-INDIAN HEMP.
It shall not be lawful for any person to import or bringinto, or to export from, the Colony any resin obtained from the
plant cannabis sativa.
(a) produces, sells or otherwise deals in resin from the plant
cannabis sativa; or
(b) has in his possession any resin from the plant cannabis
sativa; or
Prohibition
of export or
import of
prepared
opium.
Penalty for
manufacturing, selling,
using, etc.,
prepared
opium.
Prohibition of
importation
and exportation of the
resin from the
plant cannabis sativa.
Penalty for
selling, etc.,
cannabis
sativa and
the resin
therefrom.
Restriction on
import and
export of
cocaine, etc.
Control of
manufacture
and sale of
cocaine, etc.
Cap. 151.
(c) cultivates the plant cannabis sativa; or
(d) sells or otherwise deals in the whole or any portion of the
plant cannab~s sativa (excluding its medical preparations); or
(e) has in his possession the whole or any portion of the
plant cannabis sativa (excluding its medical preparations);
he shall be guilty of an offence against this Ordinance.
PART V.-COCAINE, MORPHINE, ETC.
It shall not be lawful to import or bring into, or to exportfrom, the Colony any drug to which this part of this Ordinance
applies except under licence.
( l) For the purpose of preventing the improper use of thedrugs to which this part of this Ordinance applies, the Governor
in Council may make rules for controlling the manufacture, sale,
possession and distribution of those drugs, and in particular,
but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power,
for-
(a) prohibiting the manufacture of any drug to which this
Part of this Ordinance applies except on premises licensed
for the purpose and subject to any conditions specified in the
licence; and
(b) prohibiting the manufacture, sale or distribution of any
such drug except by persons licensed or otherwise authorised
under the rules and subject to any conditions specified in the
licence or authority; and
(c) regulating the issue by medical practitioners of
prescriptions containing any such drug and the dispensing
of any such prescriptions; and
(d) requiring persons engaged in the manufacture, sale or
distribution of any such drug to keep such books and furnish
such information either in writing or otherwise as may be
prescribed.
(2) The rules under this section shall provide for authorising
any person who lawfully keeps open shop for the retailing of
poisons in accordance with the provisions of the Medical
Practitioners, Dentists and Druggists Ordinance,
(a) to manufacture at the shop in the ordinary course of
his retail business any preparation, admixture, or extract of
any drug to which this part of this Ordinance applies; or
(b) to carry on at the shop the business of retailing,
dispensing, or compounding any such drug;
subject to the power of the Governor to withdraw the authorisation in the case of a person who has been convicted of an offence
against this Ordinance or of an offence under the Customs Cap. 271.
Ordinance, as applied by this Orainance, and who cannot, in the
opinion of the Governor, properly be allowed to carry on the
business of manufacturing or selling or distributing, as the case
may be, any such drug.
(3) Nothing in any rules made under this section shall be
taken to authorise the sale, or the keeping of an open shop for
the retailing, dispensing, or compounding of, poisons by any
person who is not qualified in that behalf, under, or otherwise
than in accordance with, the provisions of the Medical
Practitioners, Dentists and Druggists Ordinance, or to be in cap. 151.
derogation of the provisions of the said Ordinance for prohibiting, restricting, or regulating the sale of poisons.
( 1) The drugs to which this part of this Ordinance applies Drugs towhich Part V
are- applies.
(a) medicinal opium;
(b) any extract or tincture of Indian hemp;
(c) morphine and its salts, and diacetylmorphine (commonly
known as diamorphine or heroin) and the other esters of
morphine and their respective salts;
(d) cocaine (including synthetic cocaine) and ecgonine and
their respective salts, and the esters of ecgonine and their
respective salts;
(e) any solution or dilution of morphine or cocaine or their
salts in an inert substance whether liquid or solid, containing
any proportion of morphine or cocaine, and any preparation,
admixture, extract or other substance (not being such a
solution or dilution as aforesaid) containing not less than
one-fifth per cent. of morphine or one-tenth per cent. of
cocaine or of ecgonine;
(f) any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance
containing any proportion of diacetylmorphine;
(g) dihydrohydroxycodeinone, dihydrocodeinone, dihydromorphinone, acetyldihydrocodeinone, dihydromorphine, their
esters and the salts of any of these substances and of their
esters, morphine-N -oxide (commonly known as genomorphine), the morphine-N-oxide derivatives, and any other
pentavalent nitrogen morphine derivatives;
(h) thebaine and its salts, and (with the exception of
methylmorphine, commonly known as eodeine, and
Power to
apply to
other drugs.
Power to
remove
application
from drugs.
*
Prohibition of
trade, etc., in
new drugs
and power to
apply Part V
to certain
drugs.
ethylmorphine, commonly known as dimlin, and their
respective salts) benzylmorphine and the other ethers of
morphine and their respective salts;
(i) any preparation, admixture, extract or other substance
containing any proportion of any of the substances mentioned
in paragraph (g) or in paragraph (h) of this sub-section.
For the purpose of the foregoing provision the expression
" ecgonine " means lawo-ecgonine and includes any derivatives
of ecgonine from which it may be recovered industrially, and the
percentage in the case of morphine shall be calculated as in
respect of anhydrous morphine.
(2) If it appears to the Governor in Council that any new
derivative of morphine or cocaine or of any salts of morphine
or cocaine or any other alkaloid of opium or any other drug of
whatever kind is or is likely to be productive, if improperly used,
or is capable of being converted into a substance which is, or is
likely to be productive, if improperly used, of ill-effects
substantially of the same character or nature as or analogous to
those produced by morphine or cocaine, the Governor in Council
may by Order declare that this part of this Ordinance shall
apply to that new derivative or alkaloid or other drug in the
same manner as it applies to the drugs mentioned in sub-section ·
(I) of this section, and make any verbal alterations in the list
of drugs specified in sub-section (I) incidental to the declaration
contained in such order.
(3) If the Governor in Council thinks fit, by Order, to declare
that a finding with respect to any preparation containing any
of the drugs to which this Part applies has in pursuance of
Article 8 of the International Opium Convention signed at
Geneva on the nineteenth day of February, nineteen hundred
and twenty-five been communicated by the Council of the
League of Nations to the parties to the said Convention, the
provisions of this part shall as from such date as may be
specified in the Order cease to apply to the preparation specified
therein.
(I) It shall not be lawful for any person in the Colony totrade in or manufacture for the purpose of trade any products
obtained from any of the phenanthrene alkaloids of opium or
from the ecgonine alkaloids of the coca leaf, not being a product
which was on the thirteenth day of July, nineteen hundred and
thirty-one, being used for medical or scientific purposes:
*Now in the purview of the United Nations.
Provided that if the Governor in Council is at any time
satisfied as respects any such product that it is of medical or
scientific value, the Governor in Council may by Order direct
that this sub-section shall cease to apply to that product.
If any person acts in contravention of this sub-section, he
shall be guilty of an offence against this Ordinance.
(2} If it is made to appear to the Governor in Council that a
decision with respect to any such product as is mentioned in
sub-section (1} of this section has in pursuance of Article II of
the International Convention signed at Geneva on the thirteenth
day of July, nineteen hundred and thirty -one been communicated
by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations to the parties *
to the said Convention, the Governor in Council may by Order,
as the case requires, either declare that the provisions of this
Part of this. Ordinance shall apply to the product in the same
manner as they apply to the drugs mentioned in section13 (1} of
this Ordinance or apply this Part of this Ordinance to that
product with such modifications as may be specified in the Order.
(3} The Governor in Council may by Order apply this Part of
this Ordinance, with such modifications as may be specified in
the Order to any of the following drugs, that is to say,
methylmorphine (commonly known as codeine), ethylmorphine
(commonly known as dionin) and their respective salts.
PART VI.-DANGEROUS DRUGS IN TRANSIT.
(1) vVhere any drugs or articles to which this Ordinanceapplies are consigned to some place elsewhere than within the
Colony and are brought within the territorial waters of the
Colony by a ship by which on the same voyage they are intended
to leave such territorial waters, none of such drugs or articles
shall be-
Dangerous
drugs in
transit.
(a) removed from the ship, or
(b) removed from such territorial waters,
except under and in accordance with an appropriate written
authority issued for that purpose by the Comptroller of Customs
or by some Customs Officer empowered by the Comptroller of
Customs to give such authority.
Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of this
sub-section shall be guilty of an offence against this Ordinance.
(2} Subject to any rules which may be made under this
section, the granting of any such authority and the revocation of
*Now by the Secretary·General of the United Nations.
S.L.-VoL. III-28
Licences.
Application
of section 62
of Cap. 271.
the same shall lie in the absolute discretion of the Comptroller of
Customs or such Customs Officer, and theComptrollerofCustoms
or such Customs Officer may grant such authority subject to
any conditions he may think fit to impose.
(3) The Governor in Council may make rules-
(a) providing for notice being given by masters of ships as
to whether they have on board any drugs or articles to
which this Ordinance applies, and prescribing the particulars
to be given with such notice;
(b) prescribing the cases in which, and the conditions on
which, the authority mentioned in the first sub-section of
this section rnay be given;
(c) providing for notice being given of the removal from
the territorial waters of the Colony of any such drugs or
articles by the ship bringing the same into such waters; and
(d) for purposes incidental to any of the matters referred
to in this sub-section.
pART VII.-GENERAL.
Licences or authorities for the purposes of this Ordinancemay be issued or granted by the Governor, and may be issued
or granted on such terms and subject to such conditions
(including in the case of a licence the payment of a fee) as the
Governor in Council may by order prescribe.
Ordinance shall be deemed to be included among the goods
enumerated and described in the table of prohibitions inwards
contained in section 62 of the Customs Ordinance, and the
provisions of this Ordinance relating to the prohibition of the
export of articles shall have effect as though they were included
in that Ordinance, and the provisions of that Ordinance and
ofany Ordinance amending or extending that Ordinance shall
apply accordingly .
. (2) If any goods prohibited to be exported by virtue of this
Ordinance are exported from the Colony in contravention
thereof, or brought to a quay or other place to be shipped for
the purpose of being so exported or of being waterborne to be
so exported, the exporter or his agent shall be liable to the
same penalty as that to which a person is liable under section 62
of the Customs Ordinance for illegally importing prohibited
goods.
f.
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Dangerous Drugs [Cap. 154 1627
(1) Any constable or other person authorised in that ~owers. ofbehalf by any general or special order of the Commissioner of ~r:S~~fz':e.
Police or of a Provincial Commissioner shall, for the purposes of
the execution of this Ordinance, have power to enter the
premises of any person carrying on the business of a producer,
manufacturer, seller or distributor of any drugs to which this
Ordinance applies and to demand the production of and to
inspect any books or documents relating to dealings in any such
drugs, and to inspect any stocks of any such drugs.
(2) If a magistrate or a district commissioner is satisfied by
information on oath that there is reasonable ground for
suspecting that any drugs to which this Ordinance applies are,
in contravention of the provisions of this Ordinance or any rules
made thereunder, in the possession or under the control of any
person in any premises, or that any document directly or
indirectly relating to or connected with any transaction or
dealing which would, if carried out, be an offence against this
Ordinance, or in the case of a transaction or dealing carried out
or intended to be carried out in any place outside the Colony,
an offence against the provisions of any corresponding law in
force in that place is in the possession or under the control of
any person in any premises, he may grant a search warrant
authorising any constable named in the warrant, at any time or
times within one month from the date of the warrant, to enter,
if need be by force, the premises named in the warrant, and to
search the premises and any persons found therein, and if there
is reasonable ground for suspecting that an offence against this
Ordinance has been committed in relation to any such drugs
which may be found in the premises or in the possession of any
such persons, or that any document which may be so found is
such a document as aforesaid, to seize and detain those drugs or
that document, as the case may be.
(3) If any person wilfully delays or obstructs any person in
the exercise of his powers under this section or fails to produce
or conceals or attempts to conceal any such books, stocks,
drugs or documents as aforesaid, he shall be guilty of an offence
against this Ordinance.
(a) who acts in contravention of, or fails to comply with,
any rule made under this Ordinance; or
(b) who acts in contravention of, or fails to comply with, the
conditions of any licence issued or authority granted under
or in pursuance of this Ordinance; or
S.L.-VoL. Ill-28*
Search
warrant.
Penalty for
obstruction.
Offences and
penalties.
1628 Cap. 154] Dangerous Drugs
(c) who for the purpose of obtaining, whether for himself
or for any other person, the issue, grant or renewal of any
such licence or authority as aforesaid, makes any declaration
or statement which is false in any particular, or knowingly
utters, produces or makes use of any such declaration or
statement or any document containing the same; or
(d) who in the Colony aids, abets, counsels or procures the
commission in any place outside the Colony of any offence
punishable under the provisions of any corresponding law in
force in that place, or does any act preparatory to, or in
furtherance of, any act which if committed in the Colony
would constitute an offence against this Ordinance;
shall be guilty of an offence against this Ordinance.
(2) Every person guilty of an offence against this Ordinance
shall, in respect of each offence, be liable-
(a) on conviction in the Supreme Court, to a fine not
exceeding one thousand pounds, or to imprisonment for a
period not exceeding ten years, with or without hard labour,
or to both such fine and imprisonment; or
(b) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding two
hundred and fifty pounds, or to imprisonment, with or without
hard labour, for a period not exceeding twelve months, or to
both such fine and imprisonment;
and shall, in every case on conviction for the offence, forfeit
to Her Majesty all articles in respect of which the offence was
committed, and the court before which the offender was
convicted may order any forfeited articles to be destroyed or
otherwise disposed of as the court thinks fit.
(3) Subject as hereinafter provided, no person shall, on
conviction for any offence of contravening or failing to comply
with any rule under this Ordinance relating to the keeping of
books or the issuing or dispensing of prescriptions containing
drugs to which this Ordinance applies, be sentenced to imprisonment without the option of a fine or to pay a fine exceeding
fifty pounds, if the Court dealing with the case is satisfied that
the offence was committed through inadvertence and was not
p;reparatory to, or committed in the course of, or in connection
with, the commission or intended commission of any other
offence against this Ordinance.
(4) If any person attempts to commit an offence against this
Ordinance, or solicits or incites another person to commit such
an offence, he shall, without prejudice to any other liability,
be liable on summary conviction to the same punishment and
forfeiture as if he had committed an offence under this
Ordinance.
{5) Where a person convicted of an offence under this
Ordinance is a company, the chairman and every director and
every officer concerned in the management of the company
shall be guilty of the like offence unless he proves that the act
constituting the offence took place without his knowledge or
consent.
(6) Any proceedings before a magistrate for an offence
against this Ordinance, or for attempting or soliciting or inciting
another person to commit such an offence may, notwithstanding
any Ordinance prescribing the time within which such proceedings may be brought, be brought either within the time so
prescribed or within three months from the date on which
evidence sufficient in the opinion of the Attorney General to
justify a prosecution for the offence comes to his knowledge,
whichever is the longer, and for the purposes of this sub-section,
a certificate purporting to be signed by the Attorney General
as to the date on which such evidence as aforesaid comes to
his knowledge shall be conclusive evidence thereof.
"corresponding law" means any law stated in a certificate ~xpre~sion
purporting to be issued by or on behalf of the Government of :· colesf,ondany country outside the Colony to be a law providing for the mg aw.
control and regulation in that country of the manufacture, sale,
use, export and import of drugs in accordance with the
provisions of the International Opium Convention signed at
the Hague on the twenty-third day of January, nineteen hundred
and twelve or of the International Opium Convention signed
at Geneva on the nineteenth day of February, nineteen hundred
and twenty-five or of the International Convention signed at
Geneva on the thirteenth day of July, nineteen hundred and
thirty-one, and any statement in any such certificate as to the
effect of the law mentioned in the certificate, or any statement
in any such certificate that any facts constitute an offence
against that law, shall be conclusive.
Any constable may arrest without warrant any person Power ofwho has committed, or attempted to commit, or is reasonably arrest.
suspected by the constable of having committed or attempted
to commit, an offence against this Ordinance, if he has reasonable ground for believing that that person will abscond unless
arrested, or if the name and address of that person are unknown
to and cannot be ascertained by him,
Meaning of
importation
and exportation under
licence.
Burden of
proof.
For the purposes of this Ordinance, any article shall bedeemed to be imported under licence or exported under licence
if the importer or exporter, as the case may be, is the holder
of a licence issued under this Ordinance authorising the
importation or exportation, as the case may be, of the article
and complies with the conditions, if any, of the licence, but
not otherwise.
In any proceedings against any person for an offenceagainst this Ordinance, it shall not be necessary to negative
by evidence any licence, authority or other matter or exception
or defence, and the burden of proving any such matter shall
lie on the person seeking to avail himself thereof.
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