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Sifelani Tsiko and Rumbidzai Ngwenya, Harare Bureau
THE latest move by the Government to allow individuals and businesses to apply for licences to cultivate cannabis for medicinal or scientific use has sparked a vicious debate with critics arguing that this will open the country to further lobbying for legalisation of recreational marijuana, while proponents say it could be a boon to the country’s agricultural sector.

In a notice, the Government said the five-year licences would clear growers to possess, transport and sell fresh cannabis, cannabis oil, and dried product.

Production and possession of marijuana, popularly known as mbanje in Zimbabwe was previously punishable by up to 12 years in jail.

Recreational marijuana use remains illegal in the country.

Debate on the legalisation of medicinal cannabis production has raged for years in the country.

And as more countries in southern Africa are moving to tap the medicinal and industrial use of marijuana, Zimbabwe was motivated to take it up as part of efforts by the government to explore new revenue streams for the agricultural sector which is the mainstay of the economy.

The new law is sparking discussions in Zimbabwe on whether this was a good move or not and on what dangers may be involved.

Some marijuana advocates said it was inevitable that the laws would eventually change in the country to make the plant legal for certain permissible use.
“There is a global trend now, not just in Zimbabwe, to move to legalise the personal use of cannabis,” said a Harare analyst.

“Zimbabwe will come to it and we ought to come to it. We ought not criminalise what is a legitimate activity on people utilising this drug for recreational use. It has been going on since time immemorial even though its being criminalised.”

However, drug enforcement agents, Christian lobby groups and numerous parents all said they hope marijuana for recreational purposes will remain illegal in Zimbabwe given the negative effect it has on health, work, crime and violence.

“It’s actually quite a harmful drug and if we think we make it more available, this might cause problems for the country,” said a policeman in the capital. “Most people think the Government has opened the drug for recreational use while it is only restricted to medicinal and scientific use.

“We need aggressive campaigns to educate the people about this new law.”

Some analysts say the whole cannabis debate is harking back very closely to the big tobacco move in the 50s when tobacco was sold as something that was ‘safe and good for the nerves and would calm you down,’ yet the myth has now come with far reaching implications on human health.

Most critics say the biggest harms related to legalising the marijuana even for only medicinal and scientific use, is that it is now being misconstrued as permission for recreational use which may lead to increased use, crime figures and health issues.

“When something is legalised, you get the sense that it’s okay to do it so it will increase use and this is what we are going to see here in Zimbabwe,” a concerned parent said.

“There’s also a burden on our public health system because when people get lung diseases or mental health issues they go in for treatment, something which may increase our healthcare costs.”

However, pro-marijuana or hemp lobbyist argue differently. They say the schisms and rifts created by unjust policies which made the utilisation of the plant illegal were part of senseless arguments, ignorant debates, and unproductive frustration which did not see the real positive value of the plant.

“The hemp industry is a boon to economical equity and balance. It is not wise to take such a valuable resource for granted any longer,” argues Dr Zorodzai Maroveke, founder and head of the Zimbabwe Industrial Hemp Trust.

Her trust is involved in lobby, research and development of legal inclusion of industrial hemp in the country.

“I think this latest notice is quite misleading for many people,” she said. “Government has not legalised the herb for recreational purposes but has only looked at the economic and health benefits.

“Our focus on medicinal marijuana in Zimbabwe is a bit short sighted because medicinal marijuana is just but one sector of the cannabis industry as a whole.

When our organisation started the lobby activities in 2015, our primary focus was to differentiate industrial hemp from Indian hemp which is also marijuana. We did this demystify the perceptions around marijuana because industrial hemp is not a narcotic.

“It’s a multipurpose sub-specie of cannabis which can easily be widened to other sectors, for example, construction, textiles, paper and food.”

However, Dr Maroveke says the increasing interest in medicinal cannabis both locally and globally saw new lobbyists making use of the existing debate which had already been sparked by the industrial hemp lobbyist to table it afresh hence eclipsing this group.

“The medicinal benefit lobby group eclipsed the industrial lobby group – this influenced the latest move by the government to permit the growing of marijuana for research and commercialisation,” she says.

“It’s a progressive move but we believe in inclusive and consultative process that has a clear policy to govern cannabis in Zimbabwe. This should ameliorate the confusion and chaos we are seeing now following the recent announcement.

“As a lobby group we are still negotiating on a clear policy framework to yield the realisation of a sustainable industrial hemp industry in Zimbabwe.”

Dr Maroveke says medicinal marijuana is: “undeniably a lucrative business but will evidently have a few players who can invest in it and bring benefits to the nation.

“On the other hand industrial hemp will allow both locals and foreigners to participate without the risks of abuse with an equitable distribution of proceeds.”

Some pro-marijuana lobbyists say the move by the government was long overdue as a continued ban on marijuana cultivation was denying individuals the right to cultivate and sell marijuana for profit (with regulation similar to that of alcohol).

They argued that this continues to perpetuate the most damaging aspect of marijuana prohibition: the funneling of money to gangs and international criminal syndicates.

Below our Harare Bureau captures some of the reactions from our readers:

“This was long overdue we need to create the market structures to extract value from. In terms of legislation this is progressive and we’ll appreciated.” – Mercy, Harare

“There is absolutely no correlation between abuse and legalisation. Get that in your head. When prostitution is legalised people don’t engage prostitutes more. Same with death penalty. It doesn’t eliminate crimes. If that was the case, then Saudi Arabia would be the most peaceful place on earth. People already smoke weed. Legalisation means the state can now collect taxes and monitor things. Sezvavanoita nedoro or tobacco. Don’t bury your head pretend that people aren’t smoking weed.” — Pro-marijuana

“Theres a lot of misinformation around the issue of medicinal and scientific use of mbanje. l think government should have gone via Parliament to get people’s consent. What instrument was used to legalise it?” – Mbire

“Try to distress less. Recreational cannabis use is far, far less damaging both to personal health and to the widespread community than alcohol, yet we tolerate the most awful abuses of alcohol, road accidents and domestic violence, so that we can profit from it, and enjoy alcohol ourselves. By any measure, alcohol lends itself to a much close comparison to a damaging and addictive drug like cocaine, than to cannabis.

To suggest that legalising Cannabis is likely to produce even close to the dangers and harms and even deaths associated with alcohol is indicative of a complete misunderstading of cannabis and it’s use. I have been studying the subject for over thirty years, since I discovered cannabis remarkable health properties for myself in Harare in 1986. There is a good chance that if I had not discovered cannabis, the childhood trauma I endured in 70s Rhodesia might have meant my enjoyment of my adult life was curtailed and might have been cut short altogether. I used it to treat asthma.” – Legalise it

“Very bad idea, this Mbanje will be sold illegally and violent crime will be on the rise.” — Ban it