Marijuana is a traditional drug in West Africa, and it remains the drug of choice of the region’s young and poor. Legalising it in the region will be an economic boost to its farmers, as well as freeing law enforcement resources currently dedicated to suppressing its production, sale and consumption.

A leaked report of the Commission of Inquiry into the death of revered historian and political activist Walter Rodney has confirmed what many people have believed for long: that Rodney was assassinated by the government of Guyana. The regime of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham was worried by the growing popularity of Rodney’s party, the Working People’s Alliance.

The regime has killed over 140 students, teachers and farmers since last November. This is part of a crackdown on anti-government protests by farmers who are demanding to stop the implementation of the Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan, which will displace people from their ancestral land.