The Executive secretary of the Nacotics Control Board, Mr Aklesi Sarpong has said that the law banning the use of marijuana should be decriminalized to allow people legal access to the use of marijuana, adding that smoking the so-called ‘one roll’ of marijuana should not constitute the user being a dealer in narcotics trade.
In an exclusive interview with Rite news, Mr Aklesi sarpong said it was the right of the Ghanaian to smoke or drink alcohol or use the marijuana for medicinal purposes which should not constitute crime since the constitution of the land gives this right to every Ghanaian. ”It is their basic human rights to smoke marijuana and drink alcohol; what constitutes the crime in smoking,” Mr. Sarpong quizzed.
He further stated that marijuana popularly known as wee should be regulated to allow people to use the substance in an appropriate way, adding that so far as cigarettes is regulated in this country and is generating huge income to the nation, so should same be applied to the use of marijuana.
Citing the case of sex workers as an example, Mr. Sarpong noted that since it is not a sin for a woman to engage in the act of prostitution, no man of God or evangelist should come out and say that it is proper to regulate alcohol and cigarettes but illegal to have a law regulating the use of marijuana.
He said the whole international system has failed in controlling the illegal use of drugs and that was the reason why the United Nations has created a platform to discuss the issue of drugs.
He stated that legalization of marijuana in Ghana is a gradual process which needs to be done properly to prevent any future threat to our society.
Source: ritefmonline.org
