Zimbabwe suspends cannabis licensing process

Three weeks after legalizing the cultivation of cannabis for medical use, Zimbabwe has put the process of issuing licenses for the production, processing, or distribution of cannabis on hold.

In fact, the Zimbabwean government has received more than 350 proposals and has announced that it needs to conduct feasibility studies before definitively legalizing medical cannabis.

«All license applications have been submitted to the Zimbabwe Medicines Control Authority (MCAZ), but since then, MCAZ has put everything on hold» until they actually know how to implement it all, explains Terrence Mukupe, Deputy Minister of Finance.

Zimbabwe is the the second African country to legalize cannabis for medical use, following Lesotho in 2017. The licensing system established authorizes the cultivation, transport, and sale of cannabis—whether dried or not—as well as cannabis oil, for a period of five years. Each license application must include plans of the production site, the expected quantity, and the production period.

Once the application has been approved, licenses for growers are sold for 150,001 TP4T (200,001 TP4T for renewals), and 50,001 TP4T for export or research purposes.

«Whatever happens, this could easily lead to a multi-billion-dollar industry within four or five years. But the President is clear that if we are to move forward on this, it must be done in a controlled environment,» says Terrence Mukupe, «and perhaps we should move cannabis cultivation to state-run farms located far from residential areas to simplify regulation.»

The announcement of the legalization of medical cannabis had sparked interest both domestically and abroad. Medical cannabis delivery companies had already come out, hoping to capitalize on a market poised to boom. All that’s left for the government to do now is to figure out how it will implement its regulations.