TAPPITA, Nimba- Officers of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency are investigating a 42-yr-old cannabis famer who was on Saturday, October 12, arrested with a huge quantity of the substance seeds in a village between Tappita and Zekepa.
By: Jerry Myers, contributing writer
According to the LDEA Supervisor in Tappita, Special Agent Prince Kieh, the arrest was made following a tip off that suspect Jerry Zologon was involved with the large cultivation and sale of cannabis in the Gbaonipea Community.
Special Agent Kieh said upon arrival of his officers in the village to authenticate the reported cultivation of cannabis in the area, Suspect Zologon was seen processing large quantities of cannabis seeds in preparation for the next planting season.
He said they also visited the bush where the suspect had cleared a large plot of land for the cultivation of the drug.
Kieh put the total amount of seeds seen with the suspect at over five hundred thousand and noted that it can cover over twenty-five acres of land.
He expressed shock that cannabis is being grown in large quantities in a small village with less than ten inhabitants.
The Tappita LDEA Supervisor said suspect Zologon will be forwarded to the Tappita following their preliminary investigation.
“We had an intel around the Gbaonipea belt that an individual there was dealing drugs; he cultivates it and sells it in huge quantities. So, when we got the information we sent intelligence to go and verify and we were able to apprehend him successfully with only the seeds that he prepared to plant the next farming season. So, he was brought to our office for investigation and subsequently he will be sent to court for prosecution,” Special agent Kieh explained.
At the same time, Agent Kieh said the fight against illicit drugs in Tappita is challenging because community dwellers are not willing to point out those who are cultivating and selling drugs in their respective communities.
He said what makes it more difficult to identify cannabis farmers is because they live in small villages where no one will have a thought that such farming is going on there.
Kieh noted that the fight against drugs cannot be successful in Tappita without the involvement of the community.
“We have no supporters within the community and it makes it very challenging for us. Like where this man was arrested in a little village with less than ten inhabitants, so how do we move in to arrest people in such a place that we are not even expecting this kind of act to be going on if the community residents do not give us information? So, we need the community’s involvement in this drug fight because it is difficult for the LDEA to fight it alone,” Kieh asserted.
Meanwhile, Suspect Jerry Zologon has admitted his involvement in the cultivation of cannabis, but blamed it on harsh economic conditions he is facing in catering to his nine children and his aging father.
Suspect Zologon said the incomes generated from his gardens and rubber farm are insufficient to address the numerous challenges he’s facing and so he decided to turn to cannabis cultivation and sale that according to him gives him fast money.
He said he started the cultivation of cannabis at the age of 17, but left it for some years after his first arrest during the regime of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; disclosing that he returned to the trade last year because of hardship he and his family are going through.
Zologon said he currently does not have a cannabis farm because he has harvested the farm he made last year; disclosing that the seeds he was arrested with were meant for his July 2025 farm.
“I never go to school to earn anything I will be living on, I live by cutlass. But the pepper and bitter ball garden when I do it sometimes what I can get can be little that makes me start making marijuana farms. Last year I made a small farm and I got over twenty thousand so I was encouraged at least to do it to send my other son that went to Monrovia to take entrance. The school business mainly I think about why I want to get good money next year so I can send him to school. The rubber farm I get I am tapping it, but it can’t sustain the family at all. I am just doing this thing to survive,” Zologon explained.
In July last year, former Liberian President, George Weah signed into law the Control Drug and Substance Act of 2023, making the cultivation, manufacture, importation, export, trafficking, and sale of controlled drugs and substances non bailable offences.
The law also aims to regulate, restrict, control, limit or eradicate the illegal export and importation as well as the flagrant use, abuse and proliferation of narcotic substances within the bailiwick of the Republic of Liberia.
Even with the passage of this law, the fight about drugs in Liberia remains a challenge due to several factors including, low capacity of LDEA officers, porous border controls, and the country’s proximity to major drug transit routes. Cannabis or marijuana which is locally grown is said to be the most widely available drug in Liberia.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says marijuana is the world’s most widely used illegal drug, noting that many African countries, like Liberia, have ideal growing climates for marijuana.
Many farmers in rural Liberia are involved with marijuana cultivation as a source of livelihood due to the huge profit it provides them after making little investment to grow it.
