By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted Wednesday to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from a category of the world’s most dangerous drugs, which could impact the global medical marijuana industry.
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The Vienna-based U.N. agency said in a statement that it had voted 27-25, with one abstention, to follow the World Health Organization’s recommendation to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV of the 1961 Convention on Narcotic Drugs, where it was listed with heroin and several other opioids.
The drugs that are on Schedule IV are a subset of those on Schedule I of the convention, which already requires the highest levels of international control. The agency voted to leave cannabis and cannabis resin on the list of Schedule I drugs, which also include cocaine, Fentanyl, morphine, Methadone, opium and oxycodone, the opiate painkiller sold as OxyContin.
Wednesday’s vote, therefore, does not clear U.N. member nations to legalize marijuana under the international drug control system. Canada and Uruguay have legalized the sale and use of cannabis for recreational purposes, but many countries around the world have decriminalized marijuana possession.
The schedules weigh a drug’s medical utility versus the possible harm that it might cause, and experts say that taking cannabis off the strictest schedule could lead, however, to the loosening of international controls on medical marijuana.
According to a UN survey, more than 10,000 tons of cannabis are produced on the continent of Africa, each year, which could be worth billions of dollars.
If a proper and well-monitored policy is introduced and effectively, carried out, Africa’s cannabis market will be worth a fortune, as the industry in Africa, is projected to worth more than $7.1 billion, annually, according to research findings, culled from The African Cannabis Report.
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The market is expected to be huge, with a lot of economic and job creation potentials that will boost economic growth.
“With affordable land, low-cost labour and an experienced agricultural workforce, Africa offer an enormous opportunity, to local start-ups and foreign companies looking to expand”, states a section on African Cannabis Report.
