- The health benefits of bhang include relief for pain and nausea associated with chemotherapy
- Passing the Bill will honour Okoth who was at the forefront in the campaign to legalise marijuana
Kenya should legalise medicinal marijuana, Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko said on Thursday.
Sonko urged parliamentarians to hasten the approval of the Marijuana Bill tabled by Kibra MP Ken Okoth who died of colorectal cancer on July 23.
He claimed that bhang (marijuana) will help in the treatment of a number of diseases and protect the health of masses.
The health benefits of medicinal marijuana include relief from pain and muscle spasm and nausea associated with chemotherapy.
“We are told bhang can treat cancer. We have to continue with Ken's good deeds and one of them is passing the Marijuana Bill that was tabled by the late Kibra MP Ken Okoth so that masses can access good care,” the governor told mourners (for Okoth) at the Moi Girls School in Kibra.
“Embakasi East Babu Owino don't let Ken down. Nairobi MPs don't let us down. Continue doing the best things Ken was doing,” he said.
Sonko said passing the Bill will honour Okoth who was at the forefront in the campaign to legalise marijuana.
“I second that this is the time to legalise medicinal marijuana,” Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris said.
Okoth wanted decriminalisation of handling of the drug. He also wanted an amnesty for those who may have been prosecuted for using or growing the plant as listed in the Standing Order 114(1) under the sketch of Marijuana Control Bill 2018.
“We have to legalise bhangi for medicinal value and help those suffering from cancer and other diseases,” he said.
He said proper regulations of the marijuana farming will cater help the growers, traders and protect minors if the bill becomes the law.
Okoth urged the government to set up institutions of research on the medical use of the plant.
“Once legal, the product will present the government with a tax haven coming handy with employment opportunities,” Okoth said in his proposal to National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi on September 21, last year.
Okoth was among three prominent people who died of cancer in Kenya last month, the others being Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso and Safaricom chief executive Bob Collymore.