Carol Natukunda
30 December 2007
Kampala — HEALTH experts from the African Union (AU) have asked member states to ban the growing of cannabis, popularly known as marijuana.
They are worried that the cultivation of the drug, locally known as njaga/i>, was affecting agricultural production and posing serious food shortage on the continent.
It was also observed that cannabis users were at a higher risk of contracting HIV, among other sexually transmitted infections.
The concerns are contained in a 12-page document passed at the African Union conference of ministers for drug control and crime prevention, held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, from December 3-7.
"African leaders should acknowledge the use of cannabis as a continental problem. Governments should get more involved in drug control through adoption and application of effective legislations and border control. Populations especially in the rural areas should stop cannabis production," the document reads in part.
Speaking to The New Vision recently, Dr. David Basangwa, who was one of the Ugandan delegates at the conference, said: "Some people are planting more acres of cannabis and less of food, because they think they will get more money. This leads to food insecurity, and that is why we feel that production of the drug should be stopped across nations."
On HIV, Basangwa, a drug control expert and senior psychiatrist at Butabika Hospital, explained that some people were injecting the drug into their skin, using unsterilised equipment. "Even in Uganda, it is happening, though it is a hidden activity," he said.
Basangwa, however, expressed concern that Uganda does not have a statutory body to oversee drug control. He also wondered why a bill on drug abuse had not been passed by Parliament, yet the laws in place are weak and archaic.
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Firstly, I have never heard of anyone injecting cannabis oil. The suggestion is idiotic! Ask any EXPERT, and they very likely tell you they don't know of anyone who injects hash oil. Nobody in the developed world injects hash oil and we can afford needles.
Not only is it unlikely people inject given the effect is likely to be no different from ingesting, smoking or vapourising, it's also highly dangerous (you could get abscess and die of blood poisoning). African's are also very poor, why would they buy needles to inject a drug they could consume in safer ways?
Is your expert really stupid enough to think that food insecurity occurs because of people planting drugs. Cashcrops may not be ideal but they provide an income for people who would otherwise be poor and undernourished. Anyway, ALOT more tobbaco and grapes (for wine) are produced in Africa. You're not going to ban the cultivation of those. Why cannabis?
Also the reasons for food insecurity are a lot deeper rooted in other issues, such as mismangement and corruption and armed conflict and climate change. Africa and the world has a history of failing to solve these problems sufficiently well to prevent food insecurity. Africa should direct all its attention to solving these problems.
Did you know that alcohol use promotes risk taking behaviour? That means that when you drink you're more likely to take a risk, like for example - sleep with someone without using a condom.
Cannabis actually makes people more cautious while under the influence, how an earth do you draw the conclusion thata a drug which induces slight anxiety (cautiousness) will put people at greater risk of contracting HIV.
All you have done in the article is tried to link most of the problems that plague Africa with people who use cannabis. And the evidence that is used is nothing short of laughable and idiotic. It is completely contradictory to pretty much everything tht is known about this drug.
I'm sorry but your 'expert' is an idiot.
If you are concerned about cannabis impacting food production, let them grow Hemp.
Hempseed is considered by leading researchers to be one of the most nutritious super foods on the planet — packed with protein, vitamin E, Omega-3, and GLA.
Hemp contains pure, digestible protein, with a good balance of all eight essential amino acids. Hemp is not only delicious, but comprised of smaller-chain edistin and albumin protein, making it the gold standard of plant foods. Hemp has three times the vitamin E of flax and twice the iron and magnesium (a key mineral often depleted by industrial agriculture) contained in flax.