Cannabis and Zimbabwe

 'Every man got a right to decide his own destiny
And in this judgement there is no partiality' - Zimbabwe, Bob Marley

 

The Zimbabwe flag contains the colors red, gold and green. The cannabis colors universally recognized are the same red, gold and green. One of the most commonly found portraits in homes in Zimbabwe are said to be that of Bob Marley the man who became synonymous with the cannabis plant. When Zimbabwe won its freedom, Bob Marley performed as a part of the independence celebrations. One of his most famous songs is called Zimbabwe. When the people of Zimbabwe got their independence and elected their own leaders, they may have envisioned a world in which cannabis was a part of the freedom. However that was not to be. Independent Zimbabwe followed the rest of the world in prohibiting cannabis possibly under pressure from the UN and fearing sanctions from the US and European countries.

Cannabis is surely a part of the long tradition and social culture of Zimbabwe. It is locally known as mbanje. Farmers especially the smaller ones, indigenous communities and tribals cultivate cannabis and use it as a part of their recreation and natural medicine. There are potentially many varieties of cannabis that are indigenous to the country. But like all other places in the world, misplaced law enforcement action is likely to have destroyed vast amounts of the natural varieties of the plant and pushed its growing and usage to the fringes while pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, methamphetamine and dozens of dangerous spurious adulterated drugs have taken the space that cannabis once occupied taking a deadly toll on the people and the environment. Recent reports have emerged about the epidemic of abuse of Codeine an opioid in cough syrup form. Most of the victims are urban youth who are deeply addicted to the cough syrup which is freely available.

There have been statements made by the Zimbabwean leadership that cannabis could be looked at for its medicinal purposes and as an export commodity but the legalization for recreational use is out of the question. Until recently, tobacco was one of the leading exports of Zimbabwe. Recently smokable hemp has overtaken tobacco as an export commodity. This is great news as the substitution of tobacco with smokable hemp has many harm reduction benefits.

 

 One hopes that Zimbabwe wakes up quickly to the harms that are posed by the prohibition of cannabis and recognizes the changes that are sweeping across the very Western countries that pushed for world wide cannabis prohibition. The medical benefits, safe recreational profile, sustainable agricultural opportunities, economic, industrial, business and tourism benefits that the plant offers as well as the potential for trade in it should be examined at the earliest and the lessons from Western countries must be understood. The vast resources spent on law enforcement, the imprisonment and conviction of many, the damage to public health and the destruction of a precious plant with great value must not be ignored. The persons who continue to suffer due to the prohibition of cannabis are the poorest, the minorities, the indigenous communities, the elderly, the sick, the youth and women. The people who benefit the most from cannabis prohibition are the big businesses that have brought the world to the brink of environmental damage and climate change related extinction.

Zimbabwe must at the earliest legalize cannabis for adult recreational use and also support the legalization of cannabis on the world stage for the sake of public health and sustainable development of the country and other nations of the world. African nations besides Zimbabwe starting to show signs of lifting the terrible prohibition on cannabis are South Africa, Kenya, Liberia, Ghana,  Uganda and Egypt. Uruguay showed the way in 2014, Canada followed in 2018. Now its time for the rest to take the path of the red, gold and green that points the way.

In December 2020, the UN voted to remove cannabis from its most restricted Schedule IV category of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It does however still remain in Schedule I, which is the least restrictive. This one move by the UN itself should be sufficient to bring about the recreational legalization of cannabis in every nation and an overhaul of national drug laws.

Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.   

'"Following Cabinet decision and high-level meeting, a policy change enabling investors to hold 100% ownership of Medicinal Cannabis licences was made in order to improve the competitiveness of the sector both regionally and globally," Moyo said.

 "At the same meeting, it was also agreed that investors had the option to utilise private land for cannabis project.'
https://allafrica.com/stories/202005260497.html

'New Frontier Data recently presented preliminary findings to the Zimbabwean government while working in collaboration with other regulators in the region to finalize what will be the first rigorous assessments of both risks and opportunities of hemp cultivation in Africa. Aguirre de Carcer commented, “We are honored to be collaborating on this leading-edge endeavor with key nations in Africa, especially given the potentially massive geo-economic impact the cultivation of this new crop could have across sub-Saharan Africa."'
https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/19/03/13405088/africa-symposium-to-assess-socio-economic-impact-of-hemp-cultivation


'“On the cannabis issue I agree with you it’s a great opportunity we should move faster in giving licenses,” Prof Ncube said last Friday.

“So, I will convey this to my (cabinet) counterparts in Agriculture and Health as well to make sure that we can issue those licenses to entrepreneurs to invite other partners and we get on with it."'
https://www.newzimbabwe.com/finance-minister-ncube-open-to-cannabis-exports-as-zimbabwe-battles-forex-crunch/


Please legalize marijuana for recreational use locally Zimbabwe, instead of cultivating it for export. The people of Zimbabwe need the herb more than anybody else.

'However, the country’s medical cannabis framework cleared the way for an export industry.The law also allows for licensed producers in Zimbabwe to mail medical cannabis to “authorized” patients – the same as Canada’s model – but the regulations do not establish how patients could become authorized to receive such shipments.

Follow-up regulations were introduced in September, and they designated a port of entry or exit for shipments of medical marijuana.'
https://mjbizdaily.com/zimbabwe-issues-first-license-private-cannabis-company/


'"In the last few months, more than 200 local and foreign companies have shown interest in venturing into medical cannabis production. Cabinet has approved about 37 of them and they will be issued with licences. For now we are in the process of registering them," said Deputy Minister Haritatos'
https://allafrica.com/stories/201902230006.html


'“We want to separate industrial cannabis from the ordinary cannabis (mbanje) and we have put it in legislation that is being championed by the Ministry of Health and Child Care,” he said'
https://www.herald.co.zw/president-clears-air-on-mbanje/


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