CAMEROON TO IMPORT CANNABIS

Cameroon, a major cannabis grower, is to allow people suffering from
HIV/Aids and cancer to use the drug as a form of pain relief. Local growers
are very angry about the government's decision. The move comes as a shock
to many people, especially unemployed young.

Dzeka Edwin Fon, a young graduate who is spearheading a group fighting for
the legalisation of cannabis cultivation in north-west province, says the
growing of the plant could be a lucrative business for unemployed young people.

"Cannabis is already being grown in Cameroon - though illegally - so it is
unwise for the government to import it," he says.

He suggests that officials at the Health Ministry should supervise the
cultivation of the drug in Cameroon - and so control the amount grown and
provided to the hospitals.

Crime Fears:

Many people in the north-west of the country know and accept that cannabis
is grown there. It is already being used in the production of a hair lotion
popular with Cameroonian women.

According to one doctor there is no special medicinal trace element in the
Canadian-grown plant that is not found in the Cameroonian variety.

He said that if the government adopted controlled cultivation it could
easily supply all provincial and divisional hospitals in the country.

But law enforcement officers believe the cultivation of cannabis promotes
uncontrolled consumption, which leads to an increase in crime.

Last year, hundreds of young people were arrested and jailed in the
north-west when police and gendarmes destroyed their cannabis farms.

Note: The drug is grown illegally in north-west Cameroon.

But the drug is to be imported, in large quantities, from Canada.