The Zambian government has finally approved a proposal to legalize the production of Marijuana which has always been seen as a bad drug in most of the African countries.
The production of Marijuana in Zambia will, however, be restricted to exports and for medical purposes only and not legal for casual use.
The Zambian government is set to charge companies US$250,000 annual license fees to allow them to deal in marijuana in the country.
Seeing as the country is just getting started when it comes to dealing in marijuana legally, only companies that have had successful bids and received licenses will be accepted to operate.
Zambia will benefit financially from legalizing exportation of marijuana
The licenses will be issued by the Ministry of Health while the growth of the crop will be strictly supervised by the Zambia National Service.
The move was unanimously approved during last Wednesday’s cabinet meeting at State House.
This was confirmed by highly placed officials at Cabinet Office who could not be identified as they are not authorized to speak to the media.
“Cabinet approved the Cab Memo submitted by Health Minister Dr Chilufya for Marijuana legalization but for medicinal purposes. What is interested is that during that cabinet meeting, there were attempts by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture working with Ministry of Commerce to take over the whole process of issuing licenses from the Ministry of Health who have been pushing this agenda for some time,” the source said.
“It appears this whole process was backed by some rich organizations and companies who have been promised licenses that is why there was jostling about where the responsibility to administer this would sit, finally a vote was taken and the Ministry of Health won.”
Africa’s legal cannabis industry could be worth more than $7.1 billion annually by 2023 if legislation is introduced in some of the continent’s major markets, according to research from The African Cannabis Report, the first detailed report on the legal cannabis industry in Africa.
Uganda is one of those countries in Africa that have recently legalized growth of marijuana for export after they got got a deal accepted by the EU.
While African cannabis industries have great potential, cannabis remains illegal throughout Africa except for in Lesotho.
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Author: Moses Echodu
Moses is an avid Sports and Tech enthusiast. He loves to keep up to date with all the latest information and research on some of the most compelling stories.
