Dagoretti South MP John Kiarie has renewed calls for the legalization marijuana based on its medicinal and industrial use.
According to the lawmaker, the economic benefits of marijuana should not be undermined by the country.
He added that the concept of Kenya's Agriculture should be reviewed to leverage the benefits of the non-conventional crops.
Kiarie said, "It is time we stopped being cowards as a house and start looking at crops that will be of benefit to this country. It is, therefore, time we also considered the legalization of marijuana in this country. I am talking about knowing that marijuana is pest resistant.”
“We understand the benefits in the marijuana production value chain, for medicinal and industrial use,” the MP said. There is a lot of pushback because people are resistant to the recreational use of marijuana,” the MP added.
He argued that legalization of marijuana, should not be viewed as a way of endorsing its recreational use.
“This is for us to open our minds so that we reap from the benefits of a crop that is not affected by pests and diseases and is also drought resistant. From the industrial use of hemp to the medicinal use, this is a discussion that we will open as we have a holistic look at how we tackle Agriculture," Kiarie asserted.
According to the lawmaker, getting maximum benefit in crops such as bixa and marijuana requires stakeholders to rethink the country’s agriculture sector holistically.
He was speaking at the National Assembly on Thursday during the debate on the Crops Bill, 2019.
Matuga MP Kassim Tandaza Sawa sponsored the bill which seeks to include Achiote, a cash crop known in the Coast as ‘mrangi.’
His bid supports farmers who experience challenges in getting financial support to grow the crop as it is considered an industrial crop that is not consumed directly.
Kiarie also argued that the country’s health system said to be overburdened as a result of bad lifestyles can be salvaged by good agricultural practices.
“It is out of what we eat that we end up with morphology of people’s bodies that are not resistant to diseases,” the MP said.
He also said that the government would no option but to invest in bixa if it is listed as a cash crop.
Kiarie stated, “We understand there is much more that can be done to make this crop (bixa) mean more economically,” Kiarie said, adding that agriculture alone can salvage President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda."
“Our farmers will be able to get an extra buck. Same people will have disposable income and will thus be able to invest a bit more in the quality of housing that they do. If we invested well in our agriculture, we shall be growing industrialization in this country,” the lawmaker added.
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