Albania MP Backs Farmers Selling Pot Abroad

Koço Kokedhima, a businessman and MP from the Socialist Party, had started a campaign - mainly through his newspaper Shekulli - calling for the legal cultivation of marijuana in Albania.

The country is considered a major supplier of marijuana for Western Europe and last year its police conducted two major operations, destroying scores of plantations and arresting dozens of people.

"Albania produces cannabis of high quality, well known in Europe. This could be done under state licenses for the pharmaceutical industry," Kokedhima told the parliament, while discussing with the Minister of Agriculture about on ways to support the rural sector.

"There is actually production of an important quantity of cannabis in the country. There are billions of dollars out there. This is reality," Kokedhima said, praising the perceived brand name that Albanian cannabis had acquired abroad.

Since then, his Shekulli newspaper has reported almost daily on the issue, supporting the idea of legalizing home use of cannabis, as several US states have done. During the last weeks, the newspaper has published several opinions and interviews on this issue.

Despite the applause of several social media groups for the proposal, Kokedhima has not yet put forward any concrete proposal to parliament. Albania currently has harsh laws against drug possession and distribution. In some cases, smokers have been jailed for up to five years after being caught with only a few grams of weed.

A former communist party official-turned-businessman, Kokedhima was elected an MP in 2013 from the Socialist Party list.

Cannabis is produced all over Albania, especially in remote areas where government control is weak and farmers have few other opportunities for cash...