The House of Representatives has been praised by the International Society of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Professionals (ISSUP) Nigeria Chapter for stepping down a bill to legalise cannabis in Nigeria. ISSUP said that is a positive development for the country’s public health.
In a statement in Lagos, ISSUP President, Dr. Martin Agwogie praised the measure and urged the upper house – the Senate – to support the stepping down of the bill, which was sponsored by Miriam Onuoha (APC Okigwe North), Benjamin Kalu (APC Bende), and Olumide Osoba (APC Obafemi/Owode/Odeda/Abeokuta-North).
The bill seeks to amend the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act to allow the cultivation of cannabis for recreational and medical use.
It also seeks to confer the NDLEA the power to grant and revoke licenses for the cultivation of cannabis or any of its species; establish a system for the registration of cannabis growers and users, as well as to set a legal framework for the registration and licensing of cannabis growers and producers in Nigeria.
Kicking against the bill, Agwogie said it was not the right time to contemplate the legalization of cannabis, as Nigeria was experiencing a crisis of substance use and abuse.
He said, “Nigeria is in a drug crisis that legalisation of cannabis should not be contemplated now. There are medicinal and economic values that can be extracted from the cannabis plant, but these are not without alternatives. Moreover, the economic benefits should not override the health and social consequences”.
He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to make all psychoactive substances, including cannabis plants “ which are available for scientific purposes, continue with the drug use decriminalisation process and invest more in substance use prevention, treatment, and research”.
