Ghana Approves Historic Cannabis Bill

Ghana recently became the latest country to pass a national medical cannabis legalization measure. The African nation’s parliament approved the ‘Narcotics Control Commission Bill, 2023’ mere days ago. The measure tasks Ghana’s Ministry of Interior with issuing cannabis cultivation licenses.

In 2020, Ghana’s parliament passed a measure authorizing the production of low-THC cannabis for medical and research purposes. However, the nation’s Supreme Court later deemed the measure to be unconstitutional, and as a result, kept prohibition in place. The measure that was approved in recent days in Ghana seemed to directly address the reported legal insufficiencies.

Ghana’s economy currently ranks 10th among African nations, however, it ranks 74th globally. The average salary in Ghana is roughly 60,340 GHS, which converts to about 5,292 USD. Needless to say, a robust, thriving medical cannabis industry would greatly benefit the citizens of Ghana via a boost in economic development and job creation.

The economic benefit to Ghana comes in addition to the wellness benefits that will be afforded to suffering patients under the new law. As is the case in every country, Ghana is home to countless suffering patients that could benefit from cannabis therapies.

The new law will not result in every suffering patient receiving safe access, however, it will be a welcomed policy change for the suffering patients that are able to be helped by the recently approved measure.

The African nation joins a growing list of other countries on the continent such as Morocco and South Africa that have taken steps to modernize their medical cannabis policies. No country in Africa has a medical cannabis policy as robust and progressive as can be found in North America, including Ghana, however, the continent is at least trending in the right direction at a macro level.

Africa is still home to some of the strictest cannabis policies on earth, and international cannabis observers need to be mindful of that fact. What African nations such as Ghana are implementing may not be the best medical cannabis policies at the global level, however, they are considerably better than outright prohibition.