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It toke a lot of courage to speak about this. Marijuana aka cannabis aka 420 aka smoke and whatnot, is a highly controversial topic in this part of the world. Nigerians are in general, apprehensive once the word marijuana comes up. This may or may not be connected to the fact that the Nigerian government has laws against marijuana.

Infact, the punishment for smoking, being in possession, planting, and/or exporting Indian hemp/cannabis/marijuana in general is quite strong, death or 21 years imprisonment(minimum).

This information can be gotten from lawnigeria

Kushed

phone shot;)

Despite the heavy laws in Nigeria against marijuana, it's funny that Nigeria remains one of the countries with the highest number of youths that smokes it. According to an article by telegraph, Nigerians are the third highest ranking country in terms of smoking cannabis.

screenshot from telegraph, clink the link above to know more

This begs the question why?

It is not so difficult to see, if you take a survey in a normal hood in Lagos or any other state, you will likely see a gee smoking up some kush.

To the untrained eye, you might live a large portion of your life without ever seeing a person smoke/ingest marijuana, but to those with ''street ot''(those with a sense of the street life) you'll find that 1 in 5 friends smoke or take cannabis. The situation is made even more noticeable in higher institutions where a large portion of students, both the intellectuals and the not so smart people take up weed.

It will be an hypocrisy if I say that I know not one or two individuals who smoke/plant/ingest/ take marijuana.

Why so many take it -- personal opinion ahead

SCHEDULE
Amendments of Dangerous Drugs Act
INDIAN HEMP ACT
An Act to make the planting, cultivation, importation, etc. of Indian hemp an offense and to make provisions for other related matters.
[31st March, 1966]
This information can be gotten from lawnigeria

The above is when the act prohibiting the use and handling of cannabis in Nigeria was created. Not surprising since the global war on drugs began in 1961.
Humans generally don't like rules, and when a substance is banned, more people are willing to explore it, more people are curious to try it.

That caption on the bottom of this post from herb.co is right, making something illegal gives it more appeal

It doesn't help that information taught to people both in school, at home by parents, and even by so called lecturers in higher institutions regarding the use and properties of weed are highly inaccurate. Most people believe that taking cannabis automatically drives one mad or crazy instantly. I cant say for other drugs, (and I do not consider weed a drug to be honest) but cannabis has a rather calming effect on the body. It is highly medicinal, as well as a natural herb.

The complete ban and witch hunt on cannabis has also made it some sort of luxury item, since renegading against the government laws and rules is what many youths do.

The usage of cannabis, whether sativa or indica or arizona or paw paw or any of the international or local varieties, is a favorite pastime for many nigerian celebrities, which encourages the increase in use of the substance.

Now before I continue, am I a weed addict? NO, am I an advocate for weed? YES,

I don't take it, but i have friends who do.

When I was in Benin city, Nigeria some time back, I stayed with individuals that grew and took cannabis, now I am not saying I am proud of it, but staying with this people did open my eyes to just how much we Nigerians love to smoke.

phone shot;)

I see it as a thing that a majority of youths do, but its just under the surface. Everyone quiet about it because the government has laws against it.

I am a music producer, which means I work with a lot of individuals who smoke or take cannabis as well. In my time in the way of music, I have seen so many variants of weed that it has become rather normal for me to differentiate between various variants based on smell, look and colour. I move from state to state working as a freelance mixing engineer, usually a second pair of ears to mix the song on, or a professional producer to give a bit that extra shine(since I know how to play bass and keyboard, I can give the best tone, to the best of to my abilities that would fit a mix).

I stayed in an area where every 3 blocks was a weed farm, where every youth, teenager and old man took weed in one form or the other.

Students from higher institutions came to buy cannabis grown in the area just to sell and supplyu to fellow students on campus.

No one of the hundreds using it daily went mad or fell under an irreversible spell.

I decided it best to educate myself on the dangers of marijuana, only to see a whole lot of article talking about the benefits of taking weed. The more I researched, the more knowledge I gained about the potential benefits of this plant and its side effects.

I cant state all I found out here, But I am willing to drop links to actual articles, both trusted and not so trusted, that speak on the benefits of weed. On a scale of 1 to 10, that included alcohol and cigarette, taking marijuana would probably be at 2 in terms of harmfulness, and 8 in terms of benefits.

Sure it can get addictive, but a man is much more likely of getting addicted to alcohol and cigarettes than to weed. I am not just saying this, it is something that I have seen. I personally know of an individual who smokes weed near everyday, but whenever he has an extended holiday or goes home for the holidays, he functions like a normal human being for a period of weeks or even months without experiencing any withdrawal syndrome.

If its so dangerous, why is it so medicinal?

I guess as with everything else out there, the danger is not in the taking, but in the abuse that we humans do to it. As with all things, taking weed in excess quantity, and when I mean excess, I'm talking about a BUTTLOAD of the plant, then something is bound to happen to you.

Underage smoking can also affect the development of the human brain, and it should be a no brainer that smoking/taking marijuana and driving or operating any equipment will lead to a very bad day, possible accidents and death.

Just as you should not drink and drive, you shouldn't smoke and drive.

I cant really say much more about the benefits or dangers of weed, so ill just end this posts with a bunch of links that talks about the dangers, benefits and other things related to taking weed.

I niether smoke nor do I do drugs of anykind

If this thing is as good as they say it is, then it has no business being classified a dangerous item, when other dangerous drugs such as tramadol, codeine, reff, alcohol and even paracetamol are more dangerous and most times, much more addictive than the so called cannabis that we look on with scorn.

For further reading on this topic, please check the links below, They can serve as a starting point to your personal research on the topic, either to weed, or not to weed.

Rather than believe what had been told to you over the years, do your own personal research, and come to your own conclusion,if it is indeed dangerous or not.

Thank you

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/15/what-are-the-risks-of-taking-cannabis

http://www.businessinsider.com/health-benefits-of-medical-marijuana-2014-4?IR=T

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marijuanas-health-effects-good-bad-unknown/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-health-effects-of-marijuana-from-recreational-and-medical-use-2016081910180

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/01/12/509488977/marijuanas-health-effects-scientists-weigh-in

http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/12/30/marijuana-research-of-2016/69971/

https://www.livescience.com/42738-marijuana-vs-alcohol-health-effects.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/mapped-the-countries-that-smoke-the-most-cannabis/

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/is-cannabis-dangerous-a-review-of-research-over-the-last-20-years-says-yes-9780679.html

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fela
cant talk about weed, without a picture of Fela