Malawian parliament has passed the Cannabis Regulation Bill which seeks to distinguish the criminalised Indian hemp from medicinal cannabis through cultivation, production, possession and marketing. This new legislation will allow farmers to be licensed to grow the drug strictly for medicinal use.
Malawi has quickly followed into the footsteps of Uganda which licensed a number of its local farmers to grow cannabis for exportation to be used in manufacturing medicinal drugs, last year. Its legislators were happy to back up the deal noting that it was better to regulate the hemp trade and help Malawi’s economy to grow.
With the tobacco industry, the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner has slowed down in its production because of anti-tobacco campaigns, farmers are now looking to explore this avenue to grow cannabis following the legalisation of hemp.
Medicinal cannabis has become a subject of interest to many nations worldwide, with medics saying that it can help with pain and chronic diseases. In mid-February, Colorado State University introduced the first undergraduate degree in weed at a time when the cannabis industry is booming and legalization is increasing access to the drug across the country in the world.
The program has been described as similar to a double major in biology and chemistry and features a lab licensed to grow industrial hemp so students may work with cannabidiol (CBD) derived from the plants, now availed to undergraduates wishing to study the science needed to succeed in the cannabis industry.
