President of the Hempire Association of Ghana, Nana Kwaku Agyemang, has allayed fears of a possible substance abuse wave following the legalisation of cannabis for industrial purposes.

According to him, concerns about a wave of substance abuse are unfounded and should be ignored.

He was reacting to concerns raised by Sheikh Armiyawo Shaibu of the Friends of Mental Health about the possible substance abuse epidemic legalising cannabis could cause.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, he had called for broader consultation before the passing of the cannabis bill to ensure safeguards against a drug abuse epidemic.

However, Nana Kwaku Agyemang noted that legalising industrial hemp cannot cause a substance abuse epidemic.

He explained that industrial hemp was not potent enough to be used recreationally and thus cannot be abused.

“You cannot abuse industrial cannabis, but you can make hemp cream from it, you can make hemp wood from it, you can make charcoal from it, you can make cosmetics from it, you can make textiles…

“When you use the word potent, don’t use it in the same breath as 0.3 because that’s a mismatch. 0.3 THC is like 0% THC,” he said.

He added that there will be safeguards to ensure that recreational hemp is not grown instead of industrial hemp.

He revealed that the Narcotics Control Commission will be tasked to carry out farm inspections to test the THC of hemp grown there.

Nana Agyemang further stated that growing both recreational and industrial hemp in the same farm will prove counterproductive “Because industrial cannabis will cause the THC cannabis, if you like, to cross pollinate. The pollen from the industrial hemp, once it blows across and gets onto the normal cannabis popularly known as weed it will change it. It will no longer be potent at all.”

“And the two plants are distinctively different, the industrial hemp grows to at least 16 feet tall, whereas the cannabis that you’ve all been talking about grows to about 6 feet, no more than 7 feet but it’s wide and it’s bushy and it has its buds on there. And it’s the buds that are dried and then smoked. And it’s those buds that have the THC in it,” he said.