Ghana legalizes cannabis…
In the midst of the ongoing global covid-19 pandemic, the West African nation of Ghana quietly made a huge leap forward in legalizing cannabis for medicinal use last week. On 23 March, their parliament passed the Narcotics Control Commission Bill, legalizing hemp (including hemp-based CBD products), becoming only the sixth African nation to loosen laws surrounding cannabis and the second this year after Malawi decriminalised cannabis for medicinal industrial purposes in February.
Economy, Environment & Public Health…
While some observers have falsely assumed the bill legalizes cannabis for recreational use (it does not), there can be no mistaking that this is a step in the right direction for the nation and region. Nana Kwaku Agyemang, president of the Hemp Association of Ghana, doesn’t mince words: “We are not promoting smoking, we are promoting the industry, we are promoting cleaning up the environment, we are promoting creating a new revenue stream for the government in terms of taxing from cultivation and export and we are talking about promoting medicines that are far better than opioids.”
Creating jobs across the country…
In addition to the hemp-based CBD products hitting the local market in 2020, Ghana’s new laws will allow for a local hemp industry that could include creating biofuel, in addition to paper and textile manufacturing, among other products, employing Ghanians and raising tax revenue for the nation.
MBC says:
Public health experts have long campaigned for narcotics users and addicts to be properly rehabilitated, not treated as criminals. The new law also contains a provision classifying drug abuse as a public health issue, another monumental social benefit for the people. Go Ghana!
