[ 2014-11-26 ]

Maurice Kwabena Ampaw

Pastors and judges smoke ganja
Popular Ghanaian lawyer, Maurice Kwabena Ampaw,
has said some Christian pastors and court judges
in the country are in the habit of smoking
marijuana, though smoking or possessing the
substance is a criminal and non-bailable offence
under Ghana’s laws.

Mr Ampaw did not mention the names of specific
pastors or judges but said he has information that
they hide to smoke the illegal substance, also
known as ‘ganja’ or ‘weed’, behind closed
doors.

“When a pastor smokes weed before preaching to
his congregation, that is between the pastor and
God, if the weed is his source of inspiration.
Some do it in secret. There are some pastors who
smoke before preaching. They go into their
bedrooms to hide and inhale one or two puffs of
weed. So when he (the pastor) stands before his
congregation to preach, he does not get tired.
Some of them do it but they do not do it
openly,” Lawyer Ampaw told Kwame Nkrumah Tikese
on Okay 101.7 FM Tuesday morning.

He continued: “Lawyers are not God. If even
pastors are smoking weed, how much more lawyers
and judges. Some smoke in secrete. What I am
saying is a secret thing and not done publicly.
They hide to smoke it and then put on lavender or
put something in their mouth to hide the scent.
When you meet them, they look very gentle but you
never know they have smoked weed.”

Mr Ampaw was expressing his legal opinion on the
arrest and prosecution of hiplife artiste Kwaw
Kesse for possessing and smoking a substance
suspected to be marijuana.

“I feel a lot of pity over the Kwaw Kesse case
because his offense is a non-bailable one. The two
weeks remand in police custody the judge gave him
was just to allow for investigations…And if he
is found guilty, the least he can get is ten
years, unless he really begs and he gets people
saying it was not intentional and that he did not
know or they really say something,” Mr Ampaw
added.

When asked his opinion on the school of thought
that marijuana should be decriminalised in Ghana,
Lawyer Ampaw said though smoking marijuana has its
benefits, decriminalising its usage would lead to
an avoidable abuse.

“Weed has its benefits. Smoking it has its own
benefits but the abuse of it is the problem, not
the smoking of the weed per se… If it is
legalised, it would be abused and you would have
pastors smoking openly in church, or students
smoking openly in the examination hall. But the
debate must go on though if it is legalised, the
effect on the nation would be too much,” Mr
Ampaw noted.

Source - Daily Guide

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