Zimbabwe begins licensing for cannabis

THE Zimbabwean government has started licensing players in the commercial cannabis business after it gave permits to prospectors, The Financial Gazette has learnt.
Although the southern African nation legalised the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes last year, no entity had been licensed yet.
An executive from one of the prospecting entities, who this week spoke to this publication, confirmed the development.
“Precision Cannabis Therapuetics — Zimbabwe (PCTZ) responded to an invitation by the government of Zimbabwe for investors into the cannabis business,” said Nathan Emery, the founder and chief operations officer at PCTZ.
“For now we are preoccupied with completing the requisite processes,” he said.
PCTZ says it aims to be the innovator in the cannabis terpene market, “from contract growing for specific clients at the most competitive wholesale price point to true innovation in the extraction of terpenes”.
Zorodzai Maroveke, the Zimbabwe Industrial Hemp Trust chief executive, and a keen lobbyist for the commercialisation of cannabis in the country said invitation letters were released to many groups “almost on the same day” earlier this month. She said the letter indicated that they had been approved to make a payment of $46 000, upon which the company would be licensed.
According to reports in local media last month, government had been processing applications to produce cannabis from as many as 37 entities.
It is not yet clear if any company has been licensed.
Efforts to obtain a comment from the Health ministry were fruitless as questions sent to the permanent secretary had not been responded to at the time of going to print.
The legislation for commercial cannabis in Zimbabwe allows for the regulated production of goods including fresh and dried marijuana, cannabis oil, live plants, and seeds.
Mandated cultivation and processing standards are higher than those enacted by other governments.
The legislation permits licensed producers to mail medicinal cannabis to authorised patients, but a system to approve patients has not yet been established.
Maroveke said the regulatory framework is however somewhat “ambiguous”.
“We fear that the implementation maybe exclusionary,” she said.
Emery was however full of praises for the regulatory framework.
“We have no issues with any set parameters. The government has done a great job in developing the regulations,” he said.
The global legal marijuana market is expected to reach $146,4 billion by the end of 2025, according to a recent report by Grand View Research.
Growing adoption of marijuana in several medical applications such as cancer, mental disorders, chronic pain and others is expected to propel revenue growth in near future.
Lesotho was the first country in Africa to grant a license for the cultivation of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes and last year made its first export of the crop to Canada.
After the action by Lesotho encouraged investment from international corporations eager to take advantage of the country’s cannabis opportunities, several other African nations including Ghana, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zambia have initiated efforts to legalise marijuana for medical pu