Kano won’t support Indian hemp legalisation – Ganduje

Gov. Ganduje

The Governor of Kano State,  Abdullahi Ganduje, has said his government will not support  any attempt to legalise cannabis in the country, adding that  no lawmaker from the state will support such.

The Governor made this known in a statement by Femi Babafemi, the Director, Media and Advocacy, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, on Monday.

According to Babafemi, Ganduje spoke when the Chairman of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa, led a team of 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.

Ganduje, who commended Marwa, said his strategy was key to winning the battle against illicit drugs in the country.

He said, “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.”

Marwa in his remarks, 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.”