Last year, Princess Miriam Onuoha, a member of the House of Representatives, proposed “The Cannabis Control Bill, 2020’.
The Bill has been appointed to regulate the cultivation, possession, availability, trade and research into medical marijuana, to generate revenue in Nigeria.
The objectives of the Bill include:
Providing and establishing registration and licensing systems for Cannabis farmers and processors;
Regulating the cultivation, process, availability and trade of Cannabis for medical and public awareness purposes;
The use of Cannabis concerning its medical and health purposes;
And, to generate revenue from trading marijuana.
Princess Onuoha, told TVC News Nigeria, that due to Covid-19 and the decrease in global oil prices, the Nigerian currency, Naira, is crashing. The ‘Cannabis Control Bill’ is a bid to revive Nigeria’s economy once the law comes into effect.
Endorsers by the Civil Society Organization Stakeholders on Farming for Medical Use Initiative contended this as a “strategic” bill that will unlock the medical potential of cannabis.
Nigeria already grows cannabis
Cannabis is currently illegal in Nigeria, however, despite the threat from legislation, marijuana is mostly cultivated in the south of Nigeria, where the drug is readily available and affordable on the streets.
Research shows it is the second most-used psychoactive substance, ranking below alcohol in Nigeria. Police crackdowns are common for its users, who are widely tarnished as ‘social deviants’. A study, held last December, found police raids weren’t reducing the use of weed, but displacing the cannabis street market.
This study interviewed 23 Nigerian undergraduates and graduates, concluding that the pressure from parents and Nigeria’s high achievement culture in academia and employment, motivated the use of cannabis to boost their confidence and performance. Marijuana is readily accessible in the city.
Historically Nigeria being apart of the British empire, saw the cultivation and use of marijuana criminalised in the 1935 Dangerous Drugs Act. This was due to its so-called effects on labourers who used it.
Opening the doors to trade in the new green gold could be one of the alternatives to reduce its dependence on the capricious rises and falls in the price of black gold, a market controlled mainly by Western powers.
