Uganda approves the cultivation of medical cannabis

Uganda's Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, has approved the cultivation of medical marijuana and announced the related regulations for companies wishing to grow them.

Aceng and his team previously launched consultations lasting several months to understand the economic benefits of cannabis, its science-based medical value, and the challenges of regulation before we can formulate a way forward.

The regulations have not yet been published, but the Minister of Health has already unveiled that individuals and companies seeking to grow or export medical cannabis will be required to present a minimum capital of 4.5 million euros and a bank guarantee of around 1 million euros.

Cannabis cultivation sites must not be located near schools, hospitals or residential areas. The government will validate the design of the sites, the security system with access control and on-site intrusion systems.

Cannabis consumption is illegal in Uganda. However, the government seems keen to take advantage of export opportunities as demand for low-cost medical cannabis grows in markets such as Europe and North America.

Many companies have already applied for licenses to grow cannabis for medical purposes in Uganda. We've already told you several times about Industrial Hemp Uganda LTD, one of the few companies currently authorized to run cannabis pilot projects in Uganda. The latter is said to be working in cooperation with Together Pharma, a sulphurous Israeli company, and announced distribution agreements with German pharmacies and for Sativex in the United States, what we doubt (Sativex is not sold in the United States), and more recently to Malta and Israel, which seems more reasonable.

Estimates of the total cannabis market in Africa are in the region of 35 billion euros. The continent accounts for a third of the world's cannabis consumers. Africa could be better placed than Canada and British Columbia to provide Europe with a profitable supply of cannabis.

The Lesotho has become the first African country to legalize medical cannabis in 2017, while South Africa and the Netherlands Zimbabwe are in the process of setting up local cannabis production companies.