A Kenyan group has gone to court seeking to be allowed to consume cannabis for “spiritual” purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Rastafari Society of Kenya, which identifies itself as a minority religious group, said its members live in fear because of laws that are hostile to their religious practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rastafarians were often subjected to prejudice, intimidation, and unwarranted searches in their homes and designated places of worship, the group added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawyers Shadrack Wambui and Alexander Mwendwa argued that cannabis was a “sacrament” connecting believers to their “creator”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They blamed the authorities for not ensuring that the group’s religious rights were respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2019, a high court in Kenya ruled that the Rastafarian movement was a religious group just like any other and should be treated as the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision followed a case where a man had sued a school for sending away his daughter for having dreadlocks. The father said his daughter had dreadlocks because the family subscribed to the Rastafarian faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Kenyan group has gone to court seeking to be allowed to consume cannabis for “spiritual” purposes. The Rastafari Society of Kenya, which identifies itself as a minority religious group, said its members live in fear because of laws that are hostile to their religious practices. Rastafarians were often subjected to prejudice, intimidation, and unwarranted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":23920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[356,98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-23919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big-story","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n