Cameroon to import cannabis

The drug is grown illegally in north-west Cameroon

By Omer Songwe in Bamenda, north-west Cameroon

Cameroon, a major cannabis grower, is to allow people suffering from HIV/Aids and cancer to use the drug as a form of pain relief.

Cannabis is already being grown in Cameroon - though illegally

Graduate Dzeka Edwin Fon

But the drug is to be imported, in large quantities, from Canada.

Local growers are very angry about the government's decision.

The move comes as a shock to many people, especially unemployed young.

Dzeka Edwin Fon, a young graduate who is spearheading a group fighting for the legalisation of cannabis cultivation in north-west province, says the growing of the plant could be a lucrative business for unemployed young people.

"Cannabis is already being grown in Cameroon - though illegally - so it is unwise for the government to import it," he says.

He suggests that officials at the Health Ministry should supervise the cultivation of the drug in Cameroon - and so control the amount grown and provided to the hospitals.

Crime fears

Many people in the north-west of the country know and accept that cannabis is grown there. It is already being used in the production of a hair lotion popular with Cameroonian women.

According to one doctor there is no special medicinal trace element in the Canadian-grown plant that is not found in the Cameroonian variety.

He said that if the government adopted controlled cultivation it could easily supply all provincial and divisional hospitals in the country.

But law enforcement officers believe the cultivation of cannabis promotes uncontrolled consumption, which leads to an increase in crime.

Last year, hundreds of young people were arrested and jailed in the north-west when police and gendarmes destroyed their cannabis farms.