Page 60 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 9

BUSINESS

Cannabis Sativa

By Chioma Phillips

ccording to news
reports coming out
in mid-October 2020,
ARwanda has joined the
list of Afrikan nations that are plan-
ning to grow Cannabis Sativa for
foreign markets to use for medicinal
purposes; but for their citizens, the
use of Marijuana remains illegal.

As of 2005, according to a 2007 UN
Office on Drugs and Crime report,
25% of global cannabis production
took place in Afrika in about 28
countries. That was 15 years ago be-
fore the rest of the world decided to
make official what they had known
for ages: that dagga has medicinal
benefits. Why? They want to exploit
these for profit. Those with eyes
have been watching them making
their move for years, because, as
usual, while preventing legaliza-
tion of the ganja, they were quietly
testing markets in North America
and putting in place the machinery
to exploit this resource by their large
pharmaceutical companies. They
think we didn’t know, but we knew.

It has always been about control for
profit. And even though the UN
may be issuing warnings to coun-
tries not to legalize the herb, we all
know that the UN is subject to the
voices of its members and that one
vote could easily nullify decades of
position papers, policy documents, They told you it’s an illegal drug
legal agreements and scientific

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