Prehaps a few years away, yet potential growth to CGB when set...

Prehaps a few years away, yet potential growth to CGB when set up facilities has been established with Sth African countries to export medical cannabis as per Sth African legalization, thru SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA)

Zambia near to export cannabis, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Lesotho to follow in Sth Africa within 15 months

Dec 19 LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia has legalized the production and export of cannabis for economic and medicinal purposes, the government’s chief spokeswoman said on Monday, becoming the latest country to shift its position on the drug to give its finances a boost.

The approval for the export of cannabis was granted at a special cabinet meeting on Dec. 4, spokeswoman Dora Siliya said in a statement. It was not clear from the statement if the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes in Zambia had been legalized.

The southern African country joins a host of nations that have legalized, or are considering legalizing cannabis to some degree, as attitudes towards the drug slowly change and investments in its medical benefits grow.

South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho are the exceptions, having legalised cultivation of medical marijuana. Their governments are also continuing efforts to unlock the potential of their cannabis markets by laying the legal and regulatory groundwork for the sale, transport, manufacture, processing and export of a range of marijuana products.

In 2017 Lesotho became the first country on the continent to legalise cannabis for medicinal use and export.
The rich, high-altitude soil of the mountainous kingdom makes it fertile ground for cultivation of organic cannabis.

The small, mountainous country of Lesotho, which is surrounded by South Africa, has already issued permits to some foreign-owned companies to grow and export medical marijuana. Other nations in the region, including Zimbabwe and Malawi, are moving in a similar direction.

The Lesotho government is now trying to spur development of legal plantations supplying the burgeoning global medical cannabis industry to broaden its tax base—currently dominated by exports of diamonds, water and wool—and create jobs. About two-thirds of the country’s 2.2 million people live in rural villages, and many survive off subsistence farming. Cannabis is a critical piece of the government’s agricultural strategy, which it hopes will help fund basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity and water pipes. (Bloomberg Dec 2019 )

Last year South Africa decriminalised the use and cultivation of cannabis. The sale of regulated marijuana “health products” was legalised in South Africa this year, but the country’s Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) will approve a broader range of products in line with the new laws within 15 months.
(African Business July 2019)