Free di Herb Campaign.

Know Your Rights: UNDRIP & the Indigenous Use of Marijuana

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is a powerful legal and moral tool. It affirms the rights of Indigenous communities to practice their culture, spirituality, and traditional medicine—including the use of sacred plants like marijuana. Here's how key articles can support your advocacy:

🔸 Article 11: Right to Practice and Revitalize Cultural Traditions

"Indigenous peoples have the right to practice and revitalize their cultural traditions and customs. This includes the right to maintain, protect and develop the past, present and future manifestations of their cultures."

What this means:
If marijuana has traditionally been part of your cultural ceremonies or rites—whether as incense, medicine, or a sacred plant—then this article protects your right to continue using it. You can demand protection of these traditions from criminalization or erasure.

🔸 Article 12: Right to Spiritual Practices and Ceremonies

"Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practice, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies..."

What this means:
If your community uses marijuana in spiritual rituals, blessings, rites of passage, or as a sacrament, this article affirms your right to spiritual freedom. It supports efforts to decriminalize sacred use under freedom of religion.

🔸 Article 24: Right to Traditional Medicine and Health Practices

"Indigenous peoples have the right to their traditional medicines and to maintain their health practices, including the conservation of their vital medicinal plants..."

What this means:
This article backs your right to use marijuana for healing, wellness, or spiritual purification in line with ancestral knowledge. It recognizes cannabis as a traditional medicine, not a criminal substance, and protects your community's right to grow, prepare, and use it for health and well-being.

🔸 Article 31: Right to Protect and Control Cultural Knowledge and Expressions

"Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions..."

What this means:
This supports your right to protect sacred knowledge—like how, when, and why marijuana is used in your community. It also gives Indigenous people the power to govern and regulate these practices themselves, free from external interference or criminal law.

🛡️ How to Use This in Advocacy:

  • Use UNDRIP as a foundation to lobby governments, courts, or human rights commissions.

  • Frame your argument around cultural survival, religious freedom, and self-determination.

  • Advocate for legal exemptions or policy adjustments that respect and protect Indigenous spiritual and medicinal cannabis use.

✅ Your Rights Are Not Illegal

Your heritage, your healing practices, and your sacred ways are recognized under international law. Use UNDRIP to demand the decriminalization and cultural protection of cannabis as a spiritual plant—not a criminal act.