A painstaking investigation conducted by your authoritative newspaper, The Chronicle, has uncovered a massive cultivation of marijuana at Wurapong, a farming community in the Yilo Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region.
Pieces of information available to The Chronicle indicate that about 99 percent of the youth, mostly young men in the small community, are into the illegal cultivation of the herb.
Their argument is that cultivation of marijuana has been legalised by the government and that they do not see anything wrong with what they are doing.
Though the cultivation of ‘wee’ has been legalised by Parliament, it is for medicinal purposes only, and the pharmaceutical companies who want to cultivate it must first obtain license from the relevant state agencies.
Intelligence this paper picked up during a visit to the village indicated that the farmers deliberately plant garden eggs and other vegetables at the periphery of the marijuana farm to hide the illegality from public eyes.
The Chronicle was informed that though all the people in the village are aware of what is going on, they are afraid to report.
A source told this reporter at the village that those who made the attempts to report the conduct of the youth were exposed, putting their lives in danger in the remote community. As a result of this, everybody has kept quiet over the illicit act, even though they fear for the future of the youth in the village.
What is even worrying to the elders of the community familiar with the situation is the fact that apart from the cultivation of the illicit drug, the youth are engaged in massive smoking as well. This reporter was told by a credible source that the youth sometimes engage in smoking competition because they have the herbs in abundance.
The fear is that if the youth are not stopped from both the cultivation of the drug for commercial purposes and smoking, it could lead to several psychiatric cases in the village.
Some of the villagers told The Chronicle reporter, without knowing that they were speaking to a journalist, that foodstuff has become scarce in the area, because almost every available arable farmlands are being used for marijuana cultivation, instead of planting food to feed themselves.
Some opinion leaders who spoke to The Chronicle called on the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Eric Tetteh, to collaborate with the security agencies to clamp down on the activities before it gets out of hand.
The Chronicle’s check at the corridors of the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly revealed that the cultivation of the herbs is a public knowledge and major concern to management of the Assembly.
A key member of the Assembly, who spoke with the paper on condition of anonymity, stated that the situation is a major security concern, most especially food security, since all the available farmlands are being used for the cultivation of marijuana, which has become the source of income for the farmers.
The Chronicle source at the Assembly called for all-hands-on-deck approach to curb the canker before it becomes something else.
According to the source, the fight against the cultivation of these illegal plants in the area is becoming tough because of lack of support from a cross-section of the people.
The source further told this reporter that the lives of opinion leaders and well-meaning residents in the area would be in grave danger if they dared report the youth.
Assemblyman’s Response
The Assemblyman for the area, Bismark Angmor, acknowledged the cultivation of the herbs in the area when reached on the matter, but was quick to mention that it is difficult to identify the perpetrators.
“Yes, I have received information that some residents are using the cultivation of the herbs for business, but I will not be able to point out the people”, he added.
He continued that the cultivation of the herbs is illegal and he would not encourage the youth to go into it.
It was discovered that the young farmers have used the proceeds from the illicit cultivation of the plant to buy motor-bikes, the only major source of transportation to the area, because of the bad road network leading to the area and other adjoining communities.
Apart from the lucrative marijuana cultivation, the use of motor-bikes for transportation is a major source of income for the young men, who charge first time visitors to the village between GH¢100 and GH¢120 using the Tafo-Nobi section of the road.
