The country with the biggest weed habit? That might surprise you.

A new report claims the UK government should legalise marijuana because it's “the only solution to crime and addiction problems”.

The strongly-worded study - titled The Tide Effect: How the World is Changing its Mind on Cannabis - was produced by the nonpartisan Adam Smith Institute and has the backing of several cross-party MPs including former deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg.

A new report claims the UK government should legalise marijuana because it's “the only solution to crime and addiction problems”.

The strongly-worded study - titled The Tide Effect: How the World is Changing its Mind on Cannabis - was produced by the nonpartisan Adam Smith Institute and has the backing of several cross-party MPs including former deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg.

The Rastafarian Movement in Sierra Leone yesterday presented a position paper to the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC), urging the 80-man body chaired by retired Justice Edmond Cowan to decriminalize the use of marijuana in the country.

Popular broadcaster and a member of the movement, Theophilous Sahr Gbenda, who acted as their spokesman during the presentation, said part of their position paper includes the inclusion of their religious persuasion as one of the official religions in the Country and the decriminalisation of marijuana because of its economic benefit to the government and people of Sierra Leone.

Detective Superintendent Ishmael Samura of Trans Organized Crime Unit (TOCU), in his statement marking the official launching of the first ever National Drug Policy Network of Sierra Leone (NDPN-SL), said it is now an open secret that Cannabis Sativa is now widely cultivated in all the four corners of Sierra Leone so much so that it has now become a serious threat to national food security drive. (Photo: Members of the High Table at the launching ceremony)

Detective Superintendent Ishmael Samura made this disclosure at the CHASL Hall, 4b Kingharman Road in Freetown on Tuesday 22^nd September this year.

Detective Superintendent Ishmael Samura of Trans Organized Crime Unit (TOCU), in his statement marking the official launching of the first ever National Drug Policy Network of Sierra Leone (NDPN-SL), said it is now an open secret that Cannabis Sativa is now widely cultivated in all the four corners of Sierra Leone so much so that it has now become a serious threat to national food security drive. (Photo: Members of the High Table at the launching ceremony)

Detective Superintendent Ishmael Samura made this disclosure at the CHASL Hall, 4b Kingharman Road in Freetown on Tuesday 22^nd September this year.

A landmark report by the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD) in June 2014, “Not Just for Transit: Drugs, the State and Society in West Africa”, emphasized decriminalizing some degree of narcotic drug use and possession for personal use, while calling for drug traffickers and their accomplices to face the full force of the law. This sensible recommendation is particularly appropriate for marijuana or cannabis, which is widely cultivated and used in West Africa. Its users, partly because they are mostly young and poor, continue to be disproportionately penalized by the criminal justice systems in the region – a serious human rights and governance problem. This violation must be urgently stopped.