What’s at stake should MPs legalise bhang smoking

The hospitality, entertainment and media industries may be the most-affected if Parliament legalises bhang as petitioned recently.

The petitioners, Sammy Gwada Ogot and Simon Mwaura, have separately argued marijuana is no less safe than other drugs such as tobacco and alcohol.

But while Parliament mulls over the issue, a new report has pointed out the most vulnerable professions that may need prior protection.

Professions employing younger people aged 18 to 25, such as entertainment, hospitality, sports and media have been found to attract higher use of marijuana where it is legalised.

A look-back report on the effects of legal marijuana in the US district of Colorado by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tells of an increase in work-related accidents.

The report published on April 14 in the CDC’s in-house Mobility and Mortality Weekly Report shows some workplace protective measures need to be put in place to make legal marijuana safer. CDC says employers and safety professionals in states where marijuana has been legalised are concerned over increased work-related injuries, including car accidents.

“Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of work-related deaths in the US, with studies linking recent marijuana use to an increase in accidents,” says CDC.

ANTI-DRUG USE POLICIES

Out of the 10,169 Colorado workers who participated in the study, 14.6 per cent reported using pot, the highest proportion aged between 18 and 25. The highest pot taking was found among employees who prepare and serve food in the hotel industry.

These were followed by workers in arts, design, entertainment, sports and media. The lowest pot users in Colorado were employees in healthcare and technical people such as in utilities, mining and electricity. In these sectors however, there were stricter anti-drug use policies, including routine compulsory screening.

Thirty two per cent of employees preparing and serving food in Colorado were found to use pot, which is similar to what was found in a study at the Kenyan Coast.

In an unpublished study, Winfrida Agumba of Kenyatta University sampled 400 workers from 25 star rated hotels at the Coast and reported high use of drugs. Almost half of the workers were aged 20 to 30, with 35 per cent reporting having used bhang compared to the national average of 9.9 per cent of pot users.

The Kenya hotels report shows drug taking was highest in animation and entertainment, administration, food and beverage departments in that order. In a recently prepared guide on recreation pot, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is categorical that non-medical marijuana is bad for human health.

Representing sub-Saharan Africa in preparing the document was Kenya’s top psychiatrist Prof David Ndetei of the University of Nairobi.

“There is need to tread carefully in this matter, especially for a country with a weak medical infrastructure,” says Prof Ndetei.