( 4 minutes read)
· Zambian Green Party President Peter Sinkamba has urged the government to ensure that license fees for local citizens who would want to engage in cannabis and hemp production affordable in order to encourage more local people to venture into the production
· The cannabis production will be legalized in the Southern African country shortly
· Sinkamba said fees for local citizens should be different from those for foreign investors to help more and more local people to take advantage of the liberalized cultivation and trade in the country of marijuana.
Zambian Green Party President Peter Sinkamba has urged the government to ensure that license fees for local citizens who would want to engage in cannabis and hemp production affordable in order to encourage more local people to venture into the production. The cannabis production will be legalized in the Southern African country shortly.
Sinkamba said fees for local citizens should be different from those for foreign investors to help more and more local people to take advantage of the liberalized cultivation and trade in the country of marijuana. Foreign investors can be charged relatively high fees as government can use this as a revenue generating venture.
The government has not yet decided the cost of licenses for the two proposed bills. But stakeholders have suggested that the cannabis bill and the industrial hemp bill should have a dual system of licensing fees. Cannabis or marijuana has two types -indica and sativa. The cannabis bill is talking about medical cannabis, which is cannabis indica, and the industrial hemp bill is meant for cannabis sativa, which is for industrial use only.
Once the two bills are enacted into law, people can start applying for licenses. Those that want to manufacture industrial products can apply for licenses to do with cannabis sativa and those that want to apply for licenses to do with production of medical marijuana can get licenses for cannabis indica.
Cabinet has approved the introduction of the Cannabis and Hemp Bills 2021 in parliament which once enacted into law, would allow the cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes. It has also approved the introduction of the Industrial Hemp Bill 2021. The bills aim to provide for the licensing of storage, processing, importation, exportation, cultivation, production and distribution of marijuana.
