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Ghana

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Ghana
Ghana
Canopy walkway, Kakum National Park
Canopy walkway, Kakum National Park
Capital Accra
Continent Africa
Subregion West Africa
Cannabis Status
Legal Status Illegal (licensed cultivation of low-THC cannabis)
Status Since 2020
Enforcement Possession for use a fine; cultivation a fine or 5 to 10 years' imprisonment
Documentation
Growing Regions 2
Growing Areas 2
Accessions 1
Conservation
Populations none documented yet


Ghana is a country in West Africa where cannabis, locally wee, is grown illegally. In 2006 its principal growing areas were the Western, Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Volta regions.[1]: 71 In 1998, 22 per cent of people aged 15 to 64 reported having used cannabis in the past year, one of the highest rates then known.[1]: 70

The pharmacist T. E. C. Sagoe wrote in 1966 that the plant had no original local name in Ghana and that its abuse was first heard of soon after the Second World War. He held that the plant was introduced by Ghanaian soldiers who had served in the Far East and East Africa.[2] The police reported the first illicit cultivation in 1960.[2]

The Narcotics Control Commission Act of 2020 makes possession of cannabis for personal use an offence punishable by a fine. Since 2023 the Minister for the Interior may license the cultivation of cannabis containing not more than 0.3 per cent THC for industrial or medicinal purposes.[3][4] The Narcotics Control Commission presented the first two cultivation licences on 1 August 2026.[5]

Geography

In the mid-1960s most of the cultivation the police reported was in the Western, Eastern, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions, in villages and small towns close to the towns where the drug was smoked. Plots had been found at Kumasi and at Effiduase and Edubiasi, about 25 miles from Kumasi. Cultivation was very rare in the Northern and Upper regions.[2]

The French researcher Laurent Laniel, quoted by the geographer Éric Léonard, traced the spread of the crop through the old cocoa-growing regions. It began in the Krobo, Akwapim and Shai areas of the Eastern Region and moved west within that region. From about the mid-1960s it spread in Ashanti, first around Kumasi and then east towards the Afram plains. It spread at the same time in Brong Ahafo, which Laniel called the most important region for cannabis in volume and in the number of growers.[6]: 96 A United Nations study of 1999 places the first cultivation near Accra in the Eastern Region in the 1940s and 1950s. From there the crop spread north-west to Ashanti, the Afram plains and Brong Ahafo.[7]: 22

By 2006 the Volta, Brong Ahafo, Western and Ashanti regions had become the principal growing areas.[1]: 71 The Volta growing region follows the bounds of the present Volta Region, and the Brong Ahafo growing region those of the former Brong Ahafo Region, which was divided in 2019 into the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions.[8] The Narcotics Control Board long ranked the Volta Region first for cannabis use and cultivation, and the Hohoe municipality is a major growing hub there.[9] A forensic study of 2022 sampled three illegal farms, at Nsawkaw and Badu in the Bono Region and at Boti in the Eastern Region.[10] The cannabis that the Narcotics Control Commission destroyed in February 2023 had been seized from 2021 onwards, mainly in the Volta and Eastern regions.[11]

Demographics

In the mid-1960s the habit was found among the lower classes and among people who had moved from the villages to the towns for work. Middle School boys of 12 to 16 were known to smoke wee. The police had convicted preachers of newly founded "spiritual" churches for smoking it; Sagoe found no evidence that their followers smoked it or that it was used for religious purposes.[2] In Léonard's account cannabis use long remained confined to soldiers and to the poorest workers: miners, porters, farm labourers, prostitutes and petty criminals.[6]: 95

A survey of 10,000 young people aged 12 to 24 in Accra in 1987 and 1988 found that 30 per cent had used marijuana.[6]: 95 In the 1990s specialist agencies estimated that the domestic market numbered 2.5 million users, about a sixth of the population.[6]: 95 In a survey of 600 undergraduates at the University for Development Studies in Tamale in 2023, 16.7 per cent had used cannabis at some time: 27.4 per cent of men and 11.6 per cent of women.[12]

Agriculture

In the 1960s cannabis was grown among tall crops of cassava, maize and sugar cane, which hid it. Where it was grown alone, it was planted among the weeds of the forest so that it might be taken for a weed.[2] In the late 1990s it was grown in pure stands in remote clearings or among cassava, tomatoes and okra, which concealed it and whose irrigation it shared. Pure stands of 0.4 to 0.8 hectares were usual; the largest farm was estimated at 3 hectares. Traders often supplied seed and advanced cash or goods against the crop. The plants grew for three to five months and were cut and dried when the leaves began to fall. The dried herb was packed in bags of 3.5 to 4.5 kilograms, fertiliser bags or "maxi-bags" (cocoa sacks holding up to 25 kilograms), sometimes after being pressed into bricks.[7]: 22–23

The research organisation Observatoire géopolitique des drogues estimated in the mid-1990s that a farmer could earn a gross income of 1 to 1.2 million cedis a hectare a year from two harvests, and that many cocoa farmers had turned to cannabis. Some of the main areas supplying high-quality cannabis lay in cocoa zones such as Brong Ahafo.[7]: 23 Half of the 14 growers interviewed at Hohoe in 2024 had grown cannabis for at least 11 years.[9]

Cannabis in Ghana

History

Sagoe held that wee was a seamen's corruption of the English "weed" and took it as a sign that merchant seamen had brought the plant. In his account, soldiers returning from the Far East and East Africa after 1945 told stories of a plant with euphoric effects, and sailors and former servicemen smuggled in its seeds. Herbalists told him that it had never been used in traditional medicine.[2] In Laniel's account, Ghanaian conscripts of the British army returning from Burma brought back the seed.[6]: 95 In the 1950s and 1960s smokers in Ghana used the name bhanga, a word of Hindi origin.[7]: 21

Brian du Toit found the picture in Ghana almost identical to Nigeria's: cannabis was smoked only in rolled cigarettes. He saw cannabis there as a recent introduction without the usual paraphernalia.[13]: 101–102 Chris S. Duvall disputes du Toit's view that cannabis was absent from West Africa before the Second World War, citing 19th-century sources from Nigeria and other countries of the region.[14]: 13

Police seized about 93 kilograms in 1960, the year of the first reported cultivation.[2] Production expanded greatly from the 1960s.[1]: 70 In 1964, 16 patients aged 18 to 31 were admitted for treatment to the mental hospital in Accra.[2]

Cultivation

A trader interviewed in the late 1990s ranked the kinds of cannabis in Ghana. Best was "no seed dope", grown in fertile, often marshy soil deep in the forests of the Afram plains, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo, with marijuana from Wenchi especially prized. Then came "taffeta", with dense leaves and very small seeds, from the Volta Region; "seed dope", which grew anywhere; and "area dope", grown near Accra and cut early to avoid detection.[7]: 23 By the account of a source that the UNODC cited in 2006 as Atha, the cannabis that Ghana supplied to the United Kingdom was of rather low potency, 0.7 to 4.3 per cent.[1]: 70

In a preprint of 2026, not peer-reviewed, Edward Bentil and colleagues measured cannabinoids in 12 samples from clandestine farms in two regions. THC ranged from 0.03 to 1.20 per cent; seven of the 12 had THC-dominant profiles.[15] The three-year licences presented in 2026 went to MG Adom Limited and Juliotpa Limited.[5] Only cannabis with not more than 0.3 per cent THC on a dry-weight basis may be grown under licence.[16]

Preparations and consumption

In the mid-1960s cannabis was grown in Ghana only for smoking, not for fibre.[2] Smokers interviewed in Ghana and Nigeria in the late 1990s said that it helped them cope with the frustrations of their lives and kept them from reacting aggressively.[7]: 80

Trade and commerce

In the late 1990s Ghana was considered the second largest producer of cannabis in West Africa after Nigeria. Its high-quality marijuana was prized throughout the region.[7]: 22 Laniel estimated production at several thousand tonnes.[6]: 95 Farmers usually sold their crop in the field to traders. Farm-gate prices in the mid-1990s were around 50,000 to 60,000 cedis for a "maxi-bag" of 25 kilograms. Lorries carrying charcoal moved the crop to the towns.[7]: 23

Ghana seized between 4 and 5 tons of cannabis a year in 1998, 1999 and 2002 and over 9 tons in 2003. It was the source of several seizures of more than a ton of herb bound for Belgium and the United Kingdom.[1]: 70 By 2007 cannabis was grown for export in Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal.[17]: 6 In the late 1990s Ghanaian sponsors working from the Gambia were reported to supply seed to cannabis farmers in Senegal.[7]: 23 In the early 2020s dealers in Ivory Coast bought from Ghanaian traffickers.[18]: 878

In the mid-1960s the Minister of Health controlled narcotics under the Pharmacy and Drugs Act of 1961. As amended in 1963, the Act forbade the possession of opium or Indian hemp "of any species or description whatsoever" without lawful excuse and the cultivation of any plant yielding a narcotic drug without the Minister's written consent. Any offence relating to Indian hemp carried at least five years' imprisonment; a third conviction for cultivating it carried imprisonment for life.[2] The Narcotic Drugs (Control, Enforcement and Sanctions) Law of 1990 (PNDCL 236) set a mandatory minimum of five years for every drug offence, personal use included. The minimum rose to 10 years for possession and for import and export.[19]

The Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), assented on 11 May 2020, repealed the 1990 law and set up the Narcotics Control Commission. Cannabis and cannabis resin are listed in its Sixth Schedule. Possession of a narcotic plant for use is punishable by a fine of 200 to 500 penalty units, with up to 15 months' imprisonment if the fine is not paid. Unlicensed cultivation carries a fine of 2,000 to 10,000 penalty units or five to 10 years' imprisonment. Section 43 allowed the Minister to license the cultivation of cannabis with not more than 0.3 per cent THC by dry weight, for fibre or seed or for medicinal purposes. No licence may be for recreational use.[3]: ss. 39, 41, 43, 114, Second and Sixth Schedules

On 27 July 2022 the Supreme Court struck section 43 down by four votes to three, holding that the way it had entered the Act breached Parliament's procedure under article 106 of the Constitution.[20]: 33[21] The court affirmed its judgment on review in May 2023.[22] On 12 July 2023 Parliament passed an amendment that restored the licensing power to the Minister for the Interior.[20]: 65[23]

The licensing programme rests on the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100) and on regulations of 2023, L.I. 2475. It was launched in February 2026 with 11 categories of licence, from breeding and cultivation to export and advertising. The Minister for the Interior said at the launch that "Dealing in weed is still illegal".[4] Applications opened online in March 2026.[24]

Ghana signed the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs on 30 March 1961 and ratified it on 15 January 1964. On 10 April 1990 it acceded to the Convention as amended by the 1972 Protocol and ratified the Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 Convention.[25][26][27][28]

Enforcement

In August 2022 the Forestry Commission found an 80-hectare cannabis farm in the Obuo Akroma Forest Reserve, in the Afram Plains North District of the Eastern Region. Five people were arrested.[29] In February 2023 the Narcotics Control Commission destroyed 50,000 kilograms of cannabis at the Bundase military camp.[11] In November 2024 it destroyed 46,128.29 kilograms of cannabis there with other drugs seized since 2021.[30] Police destroyed 61 bags of cannabis in the Hohoe municipality in April 2025.[9] In June 2026 the Commission destroyed 9.6 tons of cannabis.[31]

Growing Regions

Landrace cannabis growing regions currently documented on the wiki:

Region
Brong Ahafo
Volta

Growing Areas

Landrace cannabis growing areas currently documented on the wiki:

Growing AreaHas growing region
Afram Plains
HohoeVolta

Accessions

Map

List

Accession IDNameCollectedArea
CBG-GHA-UNK-0120130001Ghana 2013

Conservation status

G. K. Akpabla gathered a specimen at Maamobi in Accra, "at the back of a house", on 17 August 1961; it is held by the Missouri Botanical Garden. Richard Evans Schultes, T. Plowman and T. Lockwood gathered another on 31 July and 1 August 1972, now in the United States National Herbarium.[32] The seed company Cannabiogen listed a line named for Ghana among its limited releases by May 2013.[33]

Recent news

ArticleDateCategory
News:2026-10-31/Eradication/nacoc-and-the-ghana-immigration-service-destroy-cannabis-gardens-at-siiru-in-the-nadowli-districtEradication
News:2026-10-15/Trafficking/ghana-customs-seize-560-4-kg-of-suspected-cannabis-in-1-065-parcels-from-a-black-lexus-at-torve-volta-regionTrafficking
News:2026-10-13/Enforcement/marine-police-arrest-a-31-year-old-man-over-a-suspected-cannabis-plantation-and-16-sacks-of-dried-leaves-at-maEnforcement
News:2026-10-12/Policy/interior-minister-muntaka-urges-ghanaian-cannabis-growers-to-form-cooperatives-and-cultivate-under-licencePolicy
News:2026-09-17/Trafficking/marine-police-seize-2-213-slabs-of-suspected-cannabis-from-an-abandoned-canoe-at-adaTrafficking
News:2026-09-07/Report/nacoc-reports-cannabis-processed-into-toffees-and-soft-drinks-sold-to-children-in-five-volta-districtsReport

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2006). "Review of the world cannabis situation" (PDF). Bulletin on Narcotics. LVIII (1 and 2). New York: United Nations (published 2008).
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 Sagoe, T. E. C. (1966). "Narcotics control in Ghana: a case study". Bulletin on Narcotics. 18 (2): 5–13.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020(Act No. 1019), 11 May 2020.Parliament of Ghana.Ghana.Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Government launches regulated medicinal cannabis regime". Ghana News Agency. 27 February 2026. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "NACOC presents first cannabis cultivation licences to two companies". Ghana News Agency. 1 August 2026. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Léonard, Éric (1998). "Crise des économies de plantation et trafic de drogues en Afrique de l'Ouest : les cas ivoirien et ghanéen" (PDF). Autrepart (in français) (8): 79–99.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (March 1999). The Drug Nexus in Africa (PDF) (Report). ODCCP Studies on Drugs and Crime, Monograph series 1. Vienna: United Nations.
  8. ↑ Asare Boadu, Kwame (15 February 2019). "Brong Ahafo to be known as Bono Region". Graphic Online. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Dovlo, Joyce Mawufemor; Agyei, Samuel Tweneboa; Dwomoh, Festus; Manu, Emmanuel (2026). "Opinions of illicit cannabis growers on the industrial legalization of cannabis in Ghana: an exploratory qualitative study". Substance Use: Research and Treatment. 20 29768357261458735. doi:10.1177/29768357261458735.
  10. ↑ Douvris, Chris; Bentil, Edward; Ayensu, Isaac; Osei Akoto, Clement; Amponsah, Isaac Kingsley; Adu, Joseph; Bussan, Derek (2022). "Trace metals in cannabis seized by law enforcement in Ghana and multivariate analysis to distinguish among different cannabis farms". Toxics. 10 (10) 567. doi:10.3390/toxics10100567.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Narcotics Control Commission destroys 50,000kg of cannabis". Ghana News Agency. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  12. ↑ Salifu, Yula; Lasong, Joseph; Alhassan, Amidu; Odonkor, Frank Offei; Salifu, Torjim (2026). "Sex differences in the factors associated with lifetime alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use among Ghanaian university students: a cross-sectional study". Public Health Challenges. 5 (2) e70250. doi:10.1002/puh2.70250.
  13. ↑ du Toit, Brian M. (1975). "Dagga: The History and Ethnographic Setting of Cannabis sativa in Southern Africa". In Rubin, Vera (ed.). Cannabis and Culture. The Hague: Mouton. pp. 81–116. doi:10.1515/9783110812060.81.
  14. ↑ Duvall, Chris S. (2019). The African Roots of Marijuana. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. pp. 13, 25, 27–28, 31. doi:10.1215/9781478004530. ISBN 978-1-4780-0394-6.
  15. ↑ Bentil, Edward; Ayensu, Isaac; Adu, Joseph; Addotey, John; Eckenrode, Brian (12 June 2026). "Cannabinoid-based classification of Ghanaian cannabis for regulatory and commercial applications". Research Square. doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-9953080/v1. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  16. ↑ "NACOC reiterates strict THC limits for cannabis cultivation". Graphic Online. 30 April 2026. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  17. ↑ United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2007). Cannabis in Africa: an overview (Report). UNODC.
  18. ↑ Kroubo, Kafé Guy Christian (2023). "Groupes criminels organisés et trafic de cannabis à Abidjan". Revue Internationale du Chercheur (in français). 4 (3): 869–890.
  19. ↑ Burrows, Edward; Bird, Lucia (12 September 2017). "Is drug policy in Africa on the cusp of change? The unfolding debate in Ghana". Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 International Narcotics Control Board (2024). Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2023 (PDF) (Report). Vienna: United Nations. ISBN 978-92-1-003052-6. E/INCB/2023/1.
  21. ↑ "Law on licence to grow cannabis in Ghana unconstitutional: Supreme Court declares". Graphic Online. 28 July 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  22. ↑ "SC affirms judgement denying licence to cultivate cannabis… but A-G seeks review". Ghanaian Times. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  23. ↑ "Parliament grants Interior Minister power to issue licences for industrial 'wee' cultivation". Ghanaian Times. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  24. ↑ "NCC opens online applications for industrial and medicinal cannabis licences". Graphic Online. 11 March 2026. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  25. ↑ "Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961". United Nations Treaty Collection. Chapter VI, 15. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
  26. ↑ "Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, as amended by the Protocol amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961: status". United Nations Treaty Collection. United Nations. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
  27. ↑ "Convention on Psychotropic Substances". United Nations Treaty Collection. Chapter VI, 16. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
  28. ↑ "United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances". United Nations Treaty Collection. Chapter VI, 19. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
  29. ↑ "Largest "wee" farm uncovered in Afram Plains …5 arrested for cultivating 80 hectare cannabis farm". Ghanaian Times. 15 August 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  30. ↑ "NACOC destroys 151,899.54 kg illicit narcotic drugs at Bundase". Ghanaian Times. 11 November 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  31. ↑ "NACOC destroys 9.6 tons of Cannabis, other drugs in major Anti-Narcotics Exercise". Ghana News Agency. 24 June 2026. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  32. ↑ "Occurrence search: Cannabis, Ghana". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
  33. ↑ "Seeds, Limited Releases". Cannabiogen. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
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