Kano won’t back Indian hemp legalisation, says Ganduje
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has said he would not support any attempt to legalise cannabis in the country, adding that no lawmaker from the state would support such.
This was contained in a statement by Mr. Femi Babafemi, the Director, Media and Advocacy of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Monday.
According to Babafemi, Governor Ganduje spoke when the Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), led top officials of the agency on a courtesy visit to him as part of the agency’s ongoing ‘War Against Drug Abuse’ advocacy visit to the state.
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Governor Ganduje, who commended Marwa, said his strategy was key to winning the battle against insecurity in the country.
While granting the requests for land and accommodation for a zonal command, the governor was quoted as saying, “Beside the stand of Kano State Government against drug abuse and trafficking; the predominant religion in the state, Islam, is against the twin evils of drug abuse and trafficking.
“Kano has the highest number of federal lawmakers in the National Assembly, none of them will support any attempt to legalise cannabis.”
In his remarks, Marwa said the NDLEA was working to cutting availability and accessibility to illicit drugs across the Nigeria, adding that any attempt to legalise the illicit substance would be a setback to the progress made so far.
With over 8, 634 arrests; 2,776,000 kilograms of drugs worth over N100bn seized; 1,630 convictions; 3,232 cases in court and over 4,000 drug users counselled and rehabilitated between January and now, we are already making substantial progress in our drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
“We are, however, convinced that the ongoing attempts by some of our elected officials to legalise cannabis which is being abused by over 10.6 million Nigerians will be a drawback for the achievements so far.”
