CANNABIS INDUSTRY
BREAKING NEWS
Zambia : Too Busy Dealing With Debt Crisis to Develop a Cannabis Industry
The Global Cannabis Report 2022 says that Zambia moved early to legalize the export of medical cannabis but has made little progress because of the constant economic turmoil in the country. It says it will be some time before there’s any meaningful development on the cannabis front in Zambia.
Prohibition Partners/ACA Group
26 December 2022 at 10:30:00
Similar to Zimbabwe, Zambia was an early mover in legalising medical cannabis cultivation for research and export. Since the Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Bills were passed in 2021, progress has been slow due to a fiscal debt crisis and a fiercely contested national election that saw a change in government in 2021.
Zambia became Africa’s first pandemic era government bond defaulter, highlighting the desperate economic background which saw cannabis being deprioritised. Zambia also has one of the highest licence fees in Africa, charging US$250,000 annually for a licence.
In 2021, the Zambia National Service was granted the mandate and requisite licences to grow cannabis for research purposes, a pilot that the government would use to develop a better technical understanding of the plant.
The Zambia National Service, a division of the Ministry of Defence focused on agricultural training and skills development, has earmarked large grow areas across the country for cultivation purposes.
The new Zambian administration, however, seems cautious in terms of cannabis liberalisation, highlighting the risks of the broad use of cannabis in a recent Drug Abuse campaign.
Based on the slow pace of progress to date, it may still be a few years before Zambia’s cannabis industry begins to materially scale.
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Voice of Reason from Mpondoland: Chief Zwelinkhanyile Diko Tells Parliament: Keep it Simple, Just Classify Local Landraces as Industrial Cannabis
The Chief made his submission to Parliament on 23 May 2023, saying that local landraces were used for a variety of purposes, including industrial use. He appealed to MP's to support the Mpondoland legacy growers as they were being increasingly marginalized by cannabis reform.
Justice Dept Admits No Rational Evidence Behind Plant Limits in Cannabis Bill as State Lawyers Come Under Fire in Parliament
The Justice Department took flak in Parliament this week during stakeholder input into the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill where it became evident that state law-makers are clueless as to what Government's intended vision for cannabis is. They remain conceptually and technically completely out of their depth - and lazy to boot as they have not bothered to bring any rational evidence to back up what is truly a pathetic legislative interpretation of the 2018 Constitutional Court ruling legalizing the private consumption of cannabis.
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