Ms Onuoha said the bill, amongst many other purposes, would provide regulation for the cultivation, possession, processing, availability and trade of cannabis for medicinal and researching purposes.
Members of the Nigerian House of Representatives have proposed a bill for the legalisation and usage of non-toxicant cannabis plants for trading, medical and scientific research and cultivation to bolster the country’s non-oil revenues.
Miriam Onuoha, representing Okigwe North Federal Constituency, sponsored the Cannabis Control Bill 2020. The legislation, which has passed second reading, was titled: ‘A Bill for an Act to Regulate the Cultivation, Possession, Availability and Trade of Cannabis for Medical and Research Use and Related Purposes.’
The bill also
has provisions to punish abusers and violators.
“A person who
grows, produces or sells cannabis not for medical purpose and does not present
the particulars required for registration under section 12(1) of the proposed
bill commits an offence and shall be liable upon conviction to imprisonment for
two years or a fine not exceeding #1,000,000 or both,” Ms. Onuoha said.
Other aspects
of the bill also said a licensed trader who exceeds limits of prescribed dose
to a buyer would risk imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine
not less than N500,000 or both.
Debates to
legalise marijuana due to its high consumption across Nigeria have flared for
several years. In the run up to the 2019 elections, rights campaigner and
online news publisher, Omoyele Sowore, suggested that legalising marijuana for
local consumption and export could boost the country’s internally-generated
revenues and also shore up foreign exchange transactions.
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