Hasten slowly on large cultivation of ‘wee’ in Ghana – Prof Akwasi Osei
A former Chief Executive Officer of the Mental Health Authority (MHA), Professor Akwasi Osei has urged the government to hasten slowly on the legal cultivation of cannabis in large quantities.
To him, if care is not taken, people will cultivate the dangerous cannabis alongside the one needed for medicinal purposes due to a lack of education on the types of cannabis.
Prof Osei said proper public education and sensitisation should have gone ahead of the announcement to help curtail the challenges the move is likely to cause.
His call followed the Minister of the Interior regaining the power to grant a licence for the cultivation of small quantities of cannabis, commonly referred to as “wee” in Ghana for industrial and medicinal purposes.
Parliament on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, passed the Narcotics Regulation Commission Amendment Bill, 2023.
The new bill amends the Narcotics Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019).
The new one, which substitutes section 43, now empowers the Minister of the Interior to grant a licence for the cultivation of cannabis commonly known in Ghana as “wee” but in slang referred to as “weed”.
But this has to be not more than 0.3 per cent of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content on a dry weight basis for industrial purposes for obtaining fibre or seed or for medicinal purposes.
It further prohibits a person who has been granted a licence under the Bill from cultivating cannabis for recreational use.
The empowerment of the Minister of the Interior came after the Bill was reintroduced in Parliament as the Narcotics Regulation Commission Amendment Bill, 2023 to amend the Narcotics Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019).
The new section 43 provided an opportunity for Parliament to debate the policy rationale of the provision in accordance with Article 106 of the Constitution and the ruling of the Supreme Court on the issue.
Hasten slowly
But in a radio discussion programme, Professor Akwasi Osei, a psychiatrist with many years of experience in mental health, who recently retired as the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Mental Health Authority said proper public education should have gone ahead of the announcement.
This, he said, could have helped to curtail the challenges the move is likely to cause.
To him, if care is not taken, people will cultivate the dangerous cannabis alongside the one needed for medicinal purposes due to a lack of education on the types of cannabis.
There are different types of cannabis, many types, but broadly, three, but even now we are down to two, Prof Osei said.
There is cannabis indica, cannabis sativa and cannabis ruderalis.
Prof Osei said: “Now the difference between the sativa and the indica is that the cannabis sativa contains the high chemical called the THC – Tetrahydrocannabinol.”
He said “It is the THC that makes one high when people want to smoke for recreational purposes. The indica contains only little of the THC, up to 0.3 percent.
He said in fairness to Parliament, it is the cannabis indica that they have legalized because that contains up to 0.3%.