Alcohol, cigarettes more harmful than ‘wee’- NACOB boss

It has been revealed that the consumption of alcohol and cigarettes can be more damaging to the human body than marijuana, popularly known in Ghana as ‘wee’.

Yaw Akrasi Sarpong, Executive Director of the Narcotics Control Board, has wondered why marijuana is illegal in the country while cigarettes and alcohol, which are more harmful, are allowed in Ghana.

“Why is marijuana illegal but cigarette smoking not illegal?” he asked, stating that: “The consequences are the same. Let us look through these things and the health consequences and ask ourselves: ‘Alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana, which is more dangerous?’ and the debate for those of us is that alcohol is more harmful, cigarette is more harmful.”

Speaking on TV3’s Hot Issue on Saturday May 21, Mr Sarpong, also a chemist, noted that there were several products being promoted on the internet in Ghana that are more harmful than ‘wee’, yet these products were allowed on the market. Similarly, there are products including hair creams on the market that contain the banned herb but these products were allowed on the market. Therefore, there was the need to have a second look at its criminalisation.

“People get addicted to drinking, people get addicted to smoking, people get addicted to marijuana. But let me stress here again [that] there are several products that are put there on the internet that are more dangerous and more potent than heroine, cocaine, and marijuana,” he stressed.