Ghana has become home to Africa's first-ever Cannabis University, marking a significant milestone in the continent's effort to establish a cannabis industry.

The African Cannabis University was launched on Saturday, August 12, 2023. The institution aims to provide education, research, and training in various aspects of the cannabis plant.

Speaking to the media at the launch, H.E Davisha Johnson, the Co-founder and President of the African Cannabis University explained how the school will function.

“In January 2024 we will start actual classes online and when we finish our building, we will take in graduate students for Bachelor’s degree certificates and we will go up to do PhD in future.

“We will start taking applications from October to December 2023. If you are a farmer then you will take the introductory course but if you are an investor, you will take the 12-week course.”

She highlighted that the institution would be of great benefit to the nation as it would ensure cannabis does not go to waste and farmers are taught how they can produce products legally globally.

Some of the products include medicines, body creams, oil for cooking and how to use cannabis to produce cloth.

Mr Joseph Gaglo, a retired staff of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture noted that the establishment of the school will go a long way to eradicate graduate unemployment among the youth.

He said, “Now that cannabis has been legalized, it is going to give us big returns economic wise and unemployment will be a thing of the past.”

Professor De-Graft Owusu Manu of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology also noted that “the use cannabis has been stigmatized and we will first need to change the mindset of the people because of our culture.”

The President of the National Academy of Students Achievement Awards Ghana [NASAAG], Riffath Yakub emphasized the need for the youth to take advantage of the ACU for a sustainable future.

The inauguration of ACU comes after Ghana's parliament passed a law legalizing the cultivation of cannabis for industrial and health purposes

JNA