Zambia: Major Policy Shift – New Controlling Body Aims to Integrate Cannabis into Public Health System | Cannabis Law Report | How to buy Skittles Moonrock online

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Zambia has broken ranks with other African countries that have partially legalized cannabis in that its new departure point is public benefit rather than a pure foreign exchange earner.

Zambia has undergone a radical cannabis policy reappraisal since it partially legalized the sector in through the Cannabis Act, 2021 and the Industrial Hemp Act, 2021 which replaced the outdated Dangerous Drugs Act.

However, both acts were focused on generating foreign exchange through high value medical cannabis exports.  Licenses were priced in dollars, which locked out local farmers, and a  lack of investor uptake stifled the industry before it had got out the starting blocks.

As a result, there was something of a vacuum in the sector, into which stepped the Zambian military. For the past few years the ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ have been driving cannabis reform, putting aside a large pocket of land in ….province for cultivation and embarking on fact-finding missions to Malawi and South Africa.

Currently, the Zambia Defence Force National Service (ZDFNS), is the only entity in Zambia legally permitted to cultivate and trade in industrial hemp and medicinal cannabis, but this is likely to change in the next year.  The ZDFNS has partnered with Malawi’s Cannabis Regulatory Authority (CRA), the oversight body for Malawi’s cannabis industry and  ZDFNS delegation last year also toured South Africa.

However, with a a new controlling body for the sector, the National Cannabis Coordinating Committee, the military’s control over cannabis will be loosened.

The committee will function within the provisions of the Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority, established under the Medicines and Allied Substances Act, 2013, which is responsible for the issuance of licences for the cultivation, manufacture, production, storage, distribution, import and export of cannabis.  To date Zambia has only legalized industrial and medical cannabis, and for research purposes – general adult use remains outlawed.

“We are currently working on protocols for [cannabis’s] integration into the medical system and also medical insurance,” lead Zambian medicinal cannabis advocate Dr Prosper Sievu told Cannabiz Africa this week. Dr Sievu, who is currently studying a PhD in medicinal cannabis, was party to the drafting of Zambia’s enabling cannabis legislative framework and serves on the NCCC.

More details on how medical cannabis products will be licensed in Zambia and the regulation of access are likely to emerge in the next few months.

The National Cannabis Coordinating Committee consists of part-time members appointed by the President. They are:

1. Mr Makomani Siyanga – Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority.

2. Mr Dominic Mutale – Ministry of Home Affairs

3. Mr Brian Kazembe – Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry

4. Col. Nancy C. Mulenga – Ministry of Defence

5. Mr Choolwe M. Kaliba – Drug Enforcement Commission

6. Ms Mutale Kamungu – Ministry of Justice

7. Mr Chrispin Chabwa – Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources

8. Ms Doreen Chomba Malekano – Ministry of Agriculture

9. Dr Peter Cheuka – University of Zambia

10. Dr Siabula ‘Prosper’ Sievu – Ministry of Health