The Malawian parliament has approved the Cannabis Regulation Amendment Bill, and if the president signs it, farmers will be able to legally grow the native cannabis brand.
This is the first bill introduced by private members of Parliament to be approved by Parliament.
One of the lawmakers in Malawi who is promoting the legalization of marijuana is parliamentarian Peter Dimba.
Dimba stated in front of the legislature that domestically grown cannabis, which he referred to by its native name of “chamba,” is in high demand in other countries and has the potential to generate millions of dollars for the country.
“In studies that were done, it is envisaged that when we start growing our own chamba we will be able to generate as much as $200 million per year at the infant stage of the industry,” said Dimba in his presentation.
We will be able to earn as much as 700 million dollars, however, when the industry matures and rises to its full potential.
In point of fact, it is more than twice as much as what we are actually obtaining directly from the sale of tobacco at the moment.
For a very long time, Malawi has been dependent on tobacco, which is responsible for approximately 13% of the country’s gross domestic product and 60% of its revenues in foreign exchange.
However, over the course of time, the cost of tobacco has decreased.
This is mostly because to anti-smoking initiatives that have been spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the established connection between tobacco use and cancer.
Malawi passed a law in the year 2020 that allowed for the growth of hemp, which is the non-psychoactive component of the cannabis plant.
This was done as an alternative to the cultivation of tobacco. On the other hand, producers claim that industrial hemp has not produced the desired outcomes.
This cooperative of industrial hemp farmers is led by Mathews Osman, and it is located in the Mchinji district of central Malawi.
He claimed that there is a more robust market for cannabis that contains the psychoactive component of the plant, known as THC. “The industrial hemp took us a long time to find a possible buyer,” said the company’s president. “With this high THC, it seems to be a lot of buyers on the ground.”
For a long time, tobacco has been Malawi’s primary source of foreign exchange earnings; nevertheless, experts believe that the production of native cannabis may eventually surpass tobacco.
According to Osman, another issue with industrial hemp was that the seeds were imported and expensive. On the other hand, seeds for a local cannabis species are anticipated to be less expensive.
Patrick Galawanda currently serves as the spokesperson for the Rastafarians in Malawi, a religious group that makes use of marijuana for the sake of spiritual practice.
According to him, he has expressed his hope that the legalization of cannabis will prevent Rastafarians from being jailed when they are discovered to be in possession of cannabis.
“We have been crying out for this for a long time,” he stated to reporters.
This is something that we, as members of the Rastafarian family, use for both spiritual and therapeutic purposes simultaneously. It is imperative that they refrain from arresting Rastafarians for the purpose of cannabis.
A number of Malawians advocate for the continued prohibition of cannabis cultivation. like Drug Fight Malawi, a local non-governmental organization that has been fighting against drug misuse for a long time.
As a result of the fact that cannabis is a drug, Zakeyu expressed concern about this. “Cannabidiol is inherently toxic. As a result of the fact that scientists have stated that once young people under the age of 21 begin smoking cannabis, their brains are permanently harmed, it is a very, very problematic situation, particularly for teenagers.
Another cause for concern, according to Zakeyu, is the fact that the research that his organization carried out the previous year.
Among the members of parliament who represent the government, Richard Chimwendo Banda is the most influential. According to him, the government will approach the situation with extreme prudence.
In our capacity as government, we exercise extreme caution because we are obligated to safeguard the welfare of our young people.
In addition, we will make certain that any additional information that is received safeguards the nation as well as the young people in our country,” he stated.
On the other hand, when it comes to the economic benefits of it, we need to make sure that we support the economic benefits of it.
Malawi has become the most recent country in southern Africa to modify regulations that prohibit the cultivation and sale of cannabis. As a result, the marijuana plant is now authorized for use in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and hemp fibers that are utilized in the industry.
Although the Malawian parliament has passed a measure that legalizes the cultivation and processing of cannabis for the aforementioned purposes, the bill does not decriminalize the use of cannabis for recreational purposes.
The attitudes that people have towards cannabis, which is also known as marijuana, are shifting, and as a result, an increasing number of nations throughout the world are either legalizing or reducing their rules against the drug.
Southern Africa is home to a number of these countries, the most recent of which is Zambia, which just legalized the cultivation of cannabis for export. Lesotho, which became the first government in the area to legalize cannabis for therapeutic reasons in 2017, is also among these countries.
While this is going on, South Africa has decriminalized the use of cannabis for personal use within the country and is currently working to lift a restriction on the commercial cultivation of the plant.
