South African Minister of Finance wants Marijuana legalized and taxed

South African Minister of Finance, Tito Titus Mboweni says he will put forward a proposal for the legalization of commercial marijuana. In a series of tweets on his verified handle, he noted that legalizing commercial cultivation of the plant commonly referred to as ‘weed’ or ‘ganja’, could stimulate South African economy through taxation. “On this one, the majority says: LEGALIZE IT!! I will put the proposal to legalize it at the Cabinet Lekgotla this January. The People have demanded it,” Mboweni wrote in one of his tweets. Supporting the call for the legislation, a fellow South African said “The proposal should include a local SMME supplier development program so we can exploit the herbs full economic potential by creating downstream value addition opportunities…let’s not grow the herb export it in its raw form and import the final product from Europe.” Many others seem to be against the move, and have gone ahead to make mention, the impact of the Abuse of Marijuana. A twitter user wrote “A very dangerous proposal without consideration of what the effect the use is, especially on young adolescent minds.” @SimplyThandeka also wrote “With respect Minister, what you should rather do is decriminalize it rather than legalize. Legalize infers government regulation & licensing procedures & costs, as in a TV license, doesn’t address the issue of criminality, a breeding ground for corporate monopolies.”

Mines its growing leka 😁 pic.twitter.com/cgpLlArgc6

— Wesley (@RemyBoyWilliams) January 9, 2020