Parliament has given the green light for the industrial use of cannabis, following the endorsement of the Narcotics Control Commission Regulations 2023.
The decision permits the legal cultivation of cannabis, provided that its THC content is no more than 0.3%.
However, Interior Minister Ambrose Dery was quick to clarify that the move did not legalise recreational marijuana.
He added that Ghana did not currently cultivate cannabis with such low THC levels but was preparing to import relevant strains.
Prior to the approval, Minority Chief Whip, Governs Kwame Agbodza expressed concerns about potential abuse of the drug and the impact it could have on mental health, cautioning that the move might not positively impact the country.
“And none of you is talking about the potential of abuse and how that can degenerate into mental health problems we already have in this country. Why are we pretending that this is going to solve our problem? Minister? Do you even know how many people in this country are smoking weed?”
“Even electricity that the sources we produce we are known, we are unable to police the amount of electricity we produce in this country. You are not talking about giving license to people to produce weed. While I don’t have the potential of stopping this, the fact is that Ghana is blessed enough with gold, diamond and just recently we found E-Levy, none of them is able to save our country.”
By Vincent Kubi