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As Israel moves to decriminalise weed, when will Nigeria do same?

Israel has announced plans to decriminalise marijuana as Nigeria fails to move according to global trends.

A University College London study found that a side effect of smoking cannabis is an unwillingness to engage in “work. Of course, that all depends on whether you think watching Evil Dead 2, getting into an intense debate about whether Spider-Man exists, and then ordering pizza doesn’t count as “work. (Here’s what you need to know if you’re traveling to smoke legal marijuana.)

It is estimated that 9% of the population in Israel use marijuana. With the decriminalisation of marijuana which was announced by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Israelis will be allowed to possess up to 15 grammes of marijuana.

If a first timer is caught possessing over the stipulated limit he or she would pay a fine of 1000 shekels (roughly N122,000). This will also not show up on the person's record.

"Police to redirect resources […] away from normative personal users and focus instead on dangerous drugs," said Erdan on the decriminalising of marijuana.

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Israel is one of the leading countries in medical marijuana research. The country has joined other countries in Europe and North America to decriminalise or legalise cannabis.

In November 2016, the Department of Health in South Africa announced it was making plans to recognise marijuana as a prescription drug rather than a banned narcotic.

While South Africa is making moves to make the herb legal, Nigeria is still stuck in the dark ages.

Marijuana culture is big among Nigerian youths but despite its popularity, the laws haven't caught up with what's going on in the world.

The mere possession of a small quantity of weed will get you arrested by the Nigerian Police Force. Apart from the legal blockade, marijuana is still largely perceived, especially by older Nigerians as the devil's leaf. Older people will tell you that weed makes you irresponsible and mad.

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Afrobeat musician Seun Kuti is however of the opinion that it should be legalised.

"There are doctors and scientists who believe that marijuana should be legalised. There are also lawyers, judges, and politicians who believe that the war on drugs is a false war. That is actually a war on the poor people all over the world because poor people and rich people use drugs to be sane. But you will find that here, people are in jail more for drug use" Seun Kuti told The Nation newspaper in September 2015.

Seun Kuti publicly embraces the recreational use of marijuana.

Despite recent studies and global trends, the recreational use of marijuana is still outlawed in the country. The Ministry of Health and the Nigerian Senate have remained silent about marijuana.

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