On the Legalization of Cannabis

It is another Friday.

About a year ago I attended a public debate at Chancellor College. This debate was organized by KEMET Forum (or something like that) and the topic was on the prospects of the legalization of cannabis as a cash crop in Malawi. I was interested in attending the conference that I had to move from Blantyre where I was doing my part time job to Zomba for this debate because I wanted to understand what was driving those who were for the legalization of hemp.

Coming from a medical background, I had read some articles about the medicinal use of hemp in the control of some neuropsychiatric diseases. Literature has it that other variants of cannabis can be used to control of Parkinsonism and a certain pediatric disease called Dravet’s syndrome. With my professional curiosity, I just had to hear the non-medical side of the argument.

Little about the debate…

There was a member of parliament (not so surprisingly from Nkhotakota), foreign investors and a professor of economics. That was pretty much more than I had hoped for and that looked like a full house to me. First to speak were some Chanco students who made a presentation on the difference between “weed” or the cannabis that people smoke and industrial hemp. Pretty interesting presentation they made. They were followed by the MP who talked about the legal status of cannabis products in the country. Then came the professor of economics who talked about the possible economic benefits of legalizing the cultivation of cannabis in Malawi. The interesting difference between this professor and the rest of the speakers was that he was indiscriminate in his advocacy. His message was clear that Malawi needs to legalize both “weed” and industrial hemp.

I can’t remember when exactly, but somewhere in between all that the foreign investor came in and displayed a wide range of products made from cannabis; building materials, lotions, hair care products, clothes and even chocolate (was too unfortunate as I didn’t manage to get a piece).

Following those events, we had a debate as to whether we wanted the growing of industrial hemp to be legal in Malawi. There were obviously some potheads clad in Rastafarian colors (I bet they are not rastas) who rushed to agree with the professor that we need to legalize the growing of all manner of cannabis in Malawi. There were some who supported the idea of growing industrial hemp in the country while some thought that this whole idea was not a good one for the country for various reasons.

I made my contribution too, and I personally had reservations with the legalization. In my view, legalizing of the cultivation of industrial hemp would have led to rampant and uncontrolled growth of weed in the country due to the lack of control and enforcement of regulations in the country. Some people had to follow me to convince me that my fears were unfounded after the whole debate. Anyway. I had a debate of a lifetime.

Fast forward to June 2016, the issue was debated in parliament and I am told that all members voted in favor of the legalization of industrial hemp. You could wonder as to what my reaction is considering my previous reservations. Well. I would say that it was a good move on the MPs part. They have made up for the stupidity of not commenting on the budget (and yes, it was stupidity).

On the other hand, I still have the same concerns on control of the growth and distribution of hemp. The last thing we would want is the uncontrolled growth of the crop which may result in the rampant growing of weed. Small issue, anyway.

I would guess that people pushed this motion to parliament for the economic benefit of growing industrial hemp. Having seen the “agro-based” economy in Malawi, I have noted that we have a number of problems with our cash crops especially tobacco (these problems do exist even with other food crops). We grow, then export (at a low price decided by the buyer because of poor quality or our ignorance) then buy back the finished product at a higher price. We have been singing the song of value adding without any practical application.

It is my sincere hope that we will not fall into the same trap with this industrial hemp thing. I hope that the Gaf’ment will put in the necessary regulations and provide adequate enforcement to make sure that we are growing this crop for maximum economic benefit to the whole nation.

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