National Drug Law Enforcement Agency

Cannabis is illegal in Nigeria but provides a living for families - study calls for rethink of drug laws

Retrieved on: 
Monday, August 28, 2023

The National Drug Law Enforcement Act prescribes an imprisonment of not less than 15 years for possession and use of cannabis.

Key Points: 
  • The National Drug Law Enforcement Act prescribes an imprisonment of not less than 15 years for possession and use of cannabis.
  • We are researchers who have studied drugs and drug policy in Nigeria for nearly 20 years.
  • In fact, it is illicit cannabis, with its illegality premium, that made a difference to our interviewees’ lives in Nigeria.
  • Understanding what roles cannabis plays in people’s lives can help to inform alternative and possibly better drug policies.

Cannabis livelihoods

    • Our research is fieldwork-based and has so far included more than 40 interviews and ethnographic observation of individuals involved in illicit cannabis in the region at the centre of cannabis production and trade in Nigeria.
    • For many, cannabis had become the main source of income, fetching far more than traditional crops, such as cocoa.
    • For most rural dwellers cannabis farming served as a means of income generation and diversification to meet basic needs.
    • For those who worked as transporters and retailers of cannabis in the city, cannabis provided the income to meet their own needs and those of their dependants.
    • These measures often amounted to significant financial expenditures that could undercut profits or threaten their cannabis livelihoods.

Cannabis legalisation?

    • They knew of cannabis legalisation elsewhere and hoped that eventual legalisation in Nigeria would make their livelihoods respectable.
    • They also expressed concerns about a potential takeover of the future legal cannabis market by wealthy, urban-based politicians seeking new investment opportunities.
    • For one thing, some law enforcers have made their own livelihoods from policing the illegal cannabis market.
    • Gernot Klantschnig receives funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council/Arts and Humanities Research Council (Grant: ES/S012060/1, Cannabis Africana: Drugs and Development in Africa; https://cannabisafricana.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/).

Over $2B Illicit Cannabis Removed with LightLab 3 Cannabis Analyzer

Retrieved on: 
Monday, September 20, 2021

NEW LONDON, N.H., Sept. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LightLab 3 Cannabis Analyzer by Orange Photonics, is helping law enforcement rapidly identify and remove cannabis plants and products from the illicit market.

Key Points: 
  • NEW LONDON, N.H., Sept. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LightLab 3 Cannabis Analyzer by Orange Photonics, is helping law enforcement rapidly identify and remove cannabis plants and products from the illicit market.
  • "Any drug enforcement operation should use the LightLab Cannabis Analyzer."
  • Across the United States, regulators and law enforcement task forces are mobilized to identify illicit cannabis operations.
  • "Any region that has a drug enforcement operation should use the LightLab Cannabis Analyzer."