Let's legalize marijuana; it could be our highest foreign exchange earner - Ras Mubarak

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) member argues that it could be the country's highest foreign exchange earner should we explore that option.

He cited how the some European countries and the United States have taken advantage of the sale of marijuana.

“We need to dissuade the minds of people. We’ve depended so much on cocoa and soon we will have to stop relying on oil too and we will not be gaining any revenue from that. So we need to look at generating revenue from our other resources”, he said on Accra based Happy FM.

“In Ghana, we have large tracts of land which supports the growth of marijuana and promise higher yields. It will also create jobs for our farmers who after harvesting their food crops have to wait till another planting season, leaving their lands fallow. But if we can plant Marijuana during that fallow period, it’ll be a huge source of revenue to the country”, he mentioned.

He believes Ghana has arable farmland to produce and compete if not surpass the multi billion dollar marijuana industry of Canada and the US.

Especially in the era of COVID-19 and with the country facing economic challenges, Ras Mubarak argues that Ghana would have been better off had it legalized the use and sale of Marijuana strictly for industrial and medicinal purposes.

The former National Youth Authority boss insists he has never intentionally ingested marijuana shared that he might have used eye-drops and hair creams which were made from the substance. “The closest I have ever come to taking marijuana was when someone gave me ice cream which I did not know was made from weed”.