The Chief Executive Officer of the Hempire Association of Ghana, Nana Agyemang has commended the Parliament of Ghana for passing the Narcotic Control Commission bill into law.

Parliament on Wednesday, July 12, passed the bill which will grant the Interior Ministry the authority to issue licenses to individuals for the cultivation of cannabis for industrial and medicinal purposes.

Parliament passes NACOC Bill to allow cannabis cultivation for industrial and medicinal purposes

According to him, the move was a step in the right direction because there are so many benefits the country can derive from cannabis.

Speaking on JoyNews’ the Pulse, he said “All across the board is a win-win situation for Ghana and I am so happy for Ghanaians because we deserve this. It has been long overdue.”

He explained that had Ghana legalised this early than it did the country would have generated some revenue from the planting, sale, and exportation of the herbs.

“As the minister for the Interior and the Speaker Alban Bagin said that if we have moved swiftly to endorse this in the very beginning, we would have made $3 billion and we would not have to be going to the IMF for that $3 billion, we would have generated that ourselves through taxes,” he added.

The CEO stressed that aside from the monetary gain from planting the herbs, it can help restore lands damaged by illegal mining, and clean polluted water bodies.

“It covers a wide range of ailments, insomnia, and the like. So all around, right across the board is a win-win situation for Ghana,” he added.

Parliament passes NACOC Bill to allow cannabis cultivation for industrial and medicinal purposes

This is the second time parliament has passed the Narcotic control bill.

The first passage was on March 20, 2020, and subsequently on July 27 the Supreme Court declared the provision unconstitutional therefore crabbed it.

According to the Apex court, parliament did not act transparently in the passage of the Narcotics Control Commission Act.