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Leonard Ncube Bulawayo Bureau
GOVERNMENT is finalising crafting of a law that will legalise production of medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp, a Cabinet Minister has said. Speaking at the close of the InterCannAlliance Symposium in Victoria Falls on Saturday, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said Government is amending the Dangerous Drugs Act to come up with a policy where the ministry will issue licences, do necessary inspections and ensure that cultivation is on an experimental basis initially.

Currently, cultivation and use of medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp is regarded a criminal offence under the Dangerous Drugs Act.
Midlands State University has so far been awarded permit to grow the drug.

InterCannAlliance is on a worldwide awareness campaign to educate nations on opportunities around medicinal cannabis production, hence the conference in Victoria Falls.

“We are here to learn, so we come up with a policy direction because we don’t have a lot of experience in this. In Zimbabwe, we had clustered everything as dangerous drugs and we are working on a regulatory framework for cultivation of cannabis as we need to ensure laws are structured well as we study how other countries are doing,” said Minister Ziyambi.

He said his ministry will monitor the sector through short-term licences and, thereafter, allow the Department of Agriculture to do cultivation, while the Ministry of Health and Child Care will control usage to avoid abuse.

Minister Ziyambi said Government takes seriously investment in cannabis production, adding that investors will be allowed to partner with anyone.

“In the initial stage, we need to have more information so we come up with a statutory instrument that will allow us to legalise cannabis production and have a medicinal cannabis project implementation that will maintain compliance and keep abreast with global best practices,” said the minister.

He assured prospective investors of a safe environment, saying the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency Bill, which has passed Cabinet stage, will ratify that position.

The two-day InterCannAlliance conference which was organised by New Frontier, was attended by Government representatives and prospective operators from around Africa and beyond.

It came at a time when Zimbabwe is among some countries that have made the initiative to legalise growing of cannabis and hemp, which have a socio-economic impact on the economy through revenue and employ