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Tampi. Akpe. Tsofa. Shasha. Pot. Hemp. Holy Weed. Abonsam Tawa. Wee. These are just a few of the common terms used in the country to refer to marijuana, the easily-grown psychoactive drug that has medicinal properties as well. Though countries such as Holland, Switzerland, Uruguay Argentina, Mexico and some parts of the United States have within the last decade adopted some form of decriminalisation towards the use of marijuana, it is still illegal to produce, distribute, consume and advertise or promote it in this country. Ghana�s Chief Psychiatrist and Medical Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, says legalisation of marijuana in some parts of the world is not enough reason for us to do same here. �We cannot afford to encourage blanket legalisation of marijuana. We cannot blindly copy what is being done elsewhere even when those places know the serious consequences of what they are doing,� Dr Osei said in an interview with The Mirror. Out-patients According to the chief psychiatrist, about 30 per cent of out-patient visits to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital each year were marijuana-related. About 10 per cent of admission cases at the hospital are also marijuana- related. Marijuana contains a psychoactive chemical, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which psychiatrists have identified as a major cause of psychotic illness or simply, madness. The medical director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital says there are other complications that may arise out of the use of marijuana. �Somebody may not get �madness� per se but he may not feel motivated enough to pursue whatever trade or schooling he is involved with and may drop out. �There is a high incidence of dropout rate among students who use cannabis compared with those who don�t,� Dr Osei pointed out. �People may not necessarily be �mad� but become easily aggressive and eager to fight or go against the law in a variety of ways because their sense of judgement is impaired.� Dr Osei stated that in the past, people did not believe that marijuana was associated with mental health problems. �When we told our colleagues from elsewhere that marijuana causes mental illness, they said it was not true. �Now they recognise that marijuana from different parts of the world have different concentrations of the active THC ingredient that determines the effect on the mind.� The soil component and general climate are some of the factors that affect the value of THC in marijuana. What is grown in Ghana is said to have high concentrations of the ingredient. �Don�t they say all over the world that our cocoa is the best in the world? Even yam or orange grown at different areas can have different tastes.� Behavioural problems Dr Osei stated emphatically that in the places that have legalised the use of marijuana, there are studies now to show that those countries are beginning to recognise increased behavioural problems as a result of the legalisation. �It looks like they would have loved to go back on the legalisation but they have already done it.� A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report last month stated that marijuana use in the United States had increased with more people visiting hospital emergency departments over its use. The report indicated that the potency of the drug in the United States appeared to have increased, making it more harmful. It, however, pointed out that it was too early to tell if the legalisation of marijuana in three states had an impact on the use of the drug in the country. Last March, the Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board, Yaw Akrasi Sarpong, called for a national debate on the use marijuana in this country. The Rastafarian Council of Ghana later issued a statement supporting Akrasi Sarpong�s call and added that such a debate was long overdue. It even suggested that a national referendum on the matter must follow the debate. Addiction Despite the chief psychiatrist�s stance that the use of marijuana must not be accorded blanket legalisation, he also thinks there must not be blanket criminalisation of its use. �Addiction is a disease. So if you see anybody with quantities that he himself is using, he is responding to the dictates of the disease and should be put in mandatory treatment. �If anybody is seen smoking, he should not be taken to jail. He should be taken to the experts to judge whether he has addiction or not. Addiction itself should not be criminalised. Use of marijuana due to addiction is a medical issue.� The medical director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital was adamant that people who dealt in marijuana are engaging in a criminal offence and the law must deal with them. �A lot of the time, the dealers themselves are not addicts. They hardly use the stuff and must be seen purely as criminals.� That assertion tallies with a recent West Africa Commission on Drugs position that low-level drug offences should be decriminalised. The commission, headed by former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, says the drug cartels should be tackled but punishing the personal use of drugs does not work. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the world. The Jamaican government last month announced plans to radically reform the country�s drug laws. The country�s Justice Minister said marijuana would be decriminalised for religious, medicinal and scientific purposes. Medicinal properties Dr Osei does not doubt the medicinal properties in marijuana and cited several drugs that are derivatives from marijuana and cocaine and used to treat a variety of conditions. The Chief Psychiatrist added that there are alternative medications for the marijuana derivatives so people cannot say the drug must be used in its raw form because it has medicinal purposes. He, however, believes the war on drugs is not being won because there is very little emphasis on demand reduction. He said there should be better public education on the effects of the use of marijuana. �No businessman will bring it to the market when he knows nobody will go for it. That will help stop the supply. As long as people have the need for it, no matter how much enforcement policy you put out there, people will still produce it because they know the buyers are there.� On the argument that alcohol intake is even more dangerous than marijuana use, Dr Osei said he was sure alcohol would not have been legalised in the past if policy makers then knew the havoc it could cause. Other causes of mental illnesses handled at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital include depression, bi-polar and general stressful situations. Even the trauma of childbirth could also give rise to that. �Some people may also have it in their families so they are predisposed. Any slight thing can trigger it.� It is common to see images of marijuana images on caps, clothing, vehicles and other items on the streets. Some musicians also glorify the drug in their songs. Dr Osei says such people should be prosecuted because the promotion of marijuana is illegal in this country.