Kambwili Regards Legalising Of Marijuana As Madness

Youth and sports minister Chishimba Kambwili says it is madness for any political party to think of legalising marijuana in the country.
But in a press statement, Green Party president Peter Sinkamba says it is unfortunate that his statement has generated bad reactions when it is only meant to help boost the country’s economy.
Speaking to journalists in Livingstone, Kamwbili said it was unfortunate that a political party could be thinking of legalising marijuana without considering the welfare of the Zambian youths.
He said despite the reasons given, the Green Party should know the terrible effects that marijuana had on the youths.
Kambwili said Zambia had not reached a stage where it could legalise marijuana.
“Legalising marijuana is not good because of what it is able to do to the minds of the people. In areas where Marijuana is sold and consumed you know the consequences and these are thefts, unusual fights and hooliganism to some extent, so I don’t think Zambia has reached that stage where we can legalise marijuana,” he said.
“The thinking of that political party is unreasonable and I don’t think the Zambian people can accept that kind of approach because it is madness.”
But Sinkamba said time had come for Zambians to start thinking ‘outside the box’, adding that if Zambia had allowed the production of uranium, a metal used for making atomic bombs, but being used positively for energy generation, it could allow the cultivation and export of medicinal marijuana.
“Our statement has received mixed reactions, some of it good and some of it bad but we have to understand that marijuana has an active ingredient that is used in most drugs that cure cancers, HIV-infection and so on,” he said.
Sinkamba said there were a lot of illicit markets that were dealing in marijuana and the government was not earning any income from them.
“Approximately 800,000 metric tonnes of copper exports in 2012 netted US$6.1billion, contributing about six per cent to GDP. In contrast, a paltry 600 tonnes of medicinal marijuana for export could earn the country about US$6.6 billion. This is about 6.5 per cent of GDP which is more than the contribution of copper,” argued Sinkamba. “We strongly believe that it is high time Zambians demystified marijuana and look at the positive side than focus on the negative side, which we have lamentably failed to redress for decades. The positive side, i.e. the export potential, ought to be taken seriously by any well-meaning Zambian.”