This report from Allafrica.com, published on 6 August 2024.

Maputo — Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has called for deep reflection on the development of policies aimed at regulating the legalization of cannabis, since the rest of the world is already adopting strategies to deal with it as a legal plant.

According to Nyusi, who was speaking, on Monday, 5 August 2024, at the opening of the 3rd High Level Meeting of the Eastern and Southern Africa Commission on Drugs (ESACD), a two-day event taking place in Maputo, "more than cooperation between countries, we need deep studies on how to legalize this plant.'

However, the President warned that the trafficking and illegal consumption of drugs encourages terrorism, taking into account the extreme violence carried out by islamist terrorists in some parts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Preventing and combating drugs requires coordination between the authorities responsible for enforcing the law on drugs and society. Therefore, the presence of many countries is not just to exchange experiences, but to find mechanisms on how to communicate and work together to this end', he said.

For his part, Ricardo Rosse, a representative of the European Union, said that the EU is ready to support countries in the East and Southern Africa regions in legalizing cannabis since many countries are implementing "various models of discrimination and legalization of this plant.'

"We are ready to support all efforts by sharing experiences, good practices and lessons learned from our member states, although the European Union does not have a policy on the legalization of cannabis. Several of our member states have implemented different models', he said.

According to Ross, the EU acknowledges Mozambique's approaches in responding to drug-related challenges and therefore it encourages consultation meetings to discuss the regulatory legal framework that could eventually lead to the legalization of cannabis.

"We hope to see policy makers, experts and stakeholders sharing their experiences for the development of effective approaches and regulation. We hope that, during the consultations, the ESACD takes up the specific challenges and opportunities regarding cannabis policy', he said.

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