Mr. Marwa further cautioned that the number of Nigerians addicted to cannabis “was greater than the populations of Portugal, Greece, or the Republic of Benin combined.”

Portugal has a population of 10.1 million people, Greece has 10.7 million, and Benin Republic has 12.1 million.

Nigeria’s population is projected to be around 206.1 million people.

Marijuana is another name for cannabis, which comes from the Cannabis sativa plant. Cannabis, which is widely abused through smoking, is also used recreationally and medically.

Mr. Marwa, a retired brigadier-general, addressed at the Deji Akure, Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi’s 2021 Ulefunta yearly public lecture in Akure.

The NDLEA boss emphatically outlined the foundation for his viewpoint in a statement issued by the agency’s Director Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Friday in Abuja.

Mr. Marwa, who was represented by Lanre Ipinmisho, his Special Adviser on the National Drug Control Master Plan, claimed that narcotics had been the cause of high crime rates and violent homicides in the advanced world.

Drugs, he claims, are the accelerator of turmoil, pogroms, and war in developing or third-world countries.

“We’ve seen narco-terrorism in Colombia and Mexico, where drug cartels are as powerful as, if not more powerful than, the government.

“There are real incidents, not hypothetical, of illicit narcotics playing a role in a society’s quick decline into chaos and teetering on the verge of collapse.”

“So the pertinent question for us today is: Have drugs played any role in the festering insecurity in Nigeria?

“The answer is yes. Of this, we have ample evidence.

“Cannabis sativa is the most abused of all illicit drugs, and from the findings of the National drug Survey of 2018, it is becoming a national albatross,” he said.

He said that as such, the nation could not afford to toy with the grim reality of the danger of legalizing cannabis when all the needed infrastructure to monitor and control that was still far from being in place.

“Canada that is pro-cannabis has strong and efficient institutions that are way ahead of Nigeria,” he said.

The NDLEA boss warned that people should stop treating cannabis “like some sweet candy without any side effects”, saying that its repercussions outweighed the vaunted benefits.

He claimed that legalizing its production in a country like Nigeria would be counterproductive.

“Cannabis is still a banned substance. The agency will fight against its cultivation, possession, trafficking, sale, and usage at all times.

“Those who break the law shall suffer the wrath of the law.” And, if I may add, we have a 90 percent conviction rate,” he remarked.