A farmer from Techiman in the Bono East Region has filed a legal challenge at the Supreme Court of Ghana contesting the government’s cannabis licensing regime, describing the licensing fees and requirements as excessively high and unfairly restrictive.
The case was submitted to the apex court on Friday, February 27, 2026, with the plaintiff, Mariam Alhassan, naming several government bodies as defendants. These include the Ministry for the Interior, the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and the Attorney-General’s Department.
Grounds Of The Suit
Ms. Alhassan argues that the current framework for issuing licences to cultivate industrial cannabis is unconstitutional because the costs and conditions imposed effectively block ordinary Ghanaians from participating in the sector. She claims the licence fees — which can reach as high as USD 45,000 (around GH¢370,000) per hectare — and the cumulative annual charges amount to de facto taxation, a power that, under the Constitution, belongs only to Parliament.
In her court filing, the farmer asserts that although stakeholders had recommended that licence fees be tiered, scaled, and based on risk, the government instead adopted a pricing structure that disadvantages small-scale farmers and prospects of local participation.
Reliefs Sought
Ms. Alhassan is requesting the Supreme Court to:
• Declare the current licence fees and related charges unconstitutional because they exceed the constitutional authority for taxation.
• Order the Narcotics Control Commission and relevant ministries to review and redesign the licensing framework so that it includes tiered and risk-based fee structures.
• Remove other elements of the regulatory regime that she says impose excessive costs or unnecessary controls on transport and compliance unless they are objectively justified.
Context Of The Licensing Regime
The licensing of cannabis cultivation for industrial and medicinal use is a relatively new development in Ghana. Regulations enabling such licences were introduced after legal and constitutional debates, including a previous Supreme Court decision striking down an earlier law that authorised licences because it had not been passed in line with constitutional procedures.
Supporters of regulated medicinal and industrial cannabis cultivation argue the sector has the potential to generate jobs, attract investment, and boost agricultural incomes if barriers such as high licence fees are addressed.
