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FIRST STATEMENT
STAKES OF CANNABIS CULTIVATION
By Mr. Awono Pascal Magloire (Permanent Secretary – NCFHD /MINHEALTH)
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# INTRODUCTION
Cannabis, just like egg-plants, Irish potatoes, tomatoes etc belongs to the hops and therophytes family.
It is a plant which is grown all over the world, especially in Africa, where it was used by ancient civilizations:
- for religious ceremonies, clothing, protection, food, or medication;
- for making ropes, paper and nautical products.
Today, diverted from its original use, cannabis is one of the main drugs abused by young and old alike across the world. People often smoke it but rarely eat it except as space cake and it is often in the form of grass (marijuana, sunk ...), resin (hashish, shit ...) or oil.
Cannabis resin is more or less often mixed with other toxins such as tobacco, paraffin, stimulants ...
The number of hard drug users is estimated at 230 million across the world, with 200 million problematic users. Out of these, 34 million are found in Africa.
In relative terms, cannabis represents 8.5% of prevalence of drug use, hence, an absolute figure of 20 million persons.
In Cameroon:
- 25% of the population has tasted hard drugs;
- 10% are frequent drug users especially cannabis;
- Over 12,000 young people use cannabis daily or occasionally.
Cannabis is easy to grow because people have easy access to female seeds commonly called "pepper". This has enabled:
- the large scale development and cultivation of cannabis in some regions mainly in the West and the North-West;
- the small scale production of cannabis in all regions of the country especially in farms and plantations where the following are cultivated:
- cash crops (cocoa, coffee, cotton, rubber, pineapple, etc);
- food crops especially cereals and tubers (maize, beans, potatoes, cassava, cocoyam, yam, etc);
- market garden crops (flowers for gardens and for decoration, tomatoes, pepper, watermelon, cucumber, etc).
Cannabis is also cultivated on a smaller scale in some remote areas, or even in well-prepared rooms, without it drawing the attention of the immediate neighbourhood.
This is the reserve that supplies the market and engenders all the negative effects and deviant behaviour associated with drug use.
The challenge of cannabis cultivation lies in the fact that drugs negatively affect, either directly (health stakes), or indirectly (socioeconomic consequences linked to the deviant behaviour associated with the consumption of cannabis).
I. HEALTH CHALLENGES
Though the consumption of cannabis provokes a feeling of relaxation, mild euphoria, pleasure accompanied with spontaneous laughter for no reason, dozing, or stimulation of appetite, its effects on health depend on the duration of consumption (episodic or chronic).
A. Episodic consumption
- Physical health
- Increase in heart beat and high blood pressure;
- Bronchial irritation leading to cough;
- Modification of perception and loss of concentration and reflexes;
- Red (blood-shot) eyes.
- Psychic health
- “Highness” from cannabis;
- Short-term memory disorders;
- Difficulty to multitask (while driving);
- Acute fear.
- Behaviour
- Lethargy;
- Violence;