Malawi legalises cannabis amid hopes of fresh economic growth

Law change hailed by supporters as chance for country to benefit from rising global demand for medicinal cannabis products
The Guardian (UK)
Friday, February 28, 2020

cannabis cultivoMalawi has passed a bill decriminalising cannabis for medicinal and industrial purposes, almost five years after a motion to legalise industrial hemp was adopted. The country follows in the footsteps of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Lesotho, neighbouring south-east African states that have legalised medicinal cannabis, as well as South Africa, where medicinal and recreational use was decriminalised in 2018. “We don’t want to replicate what has happened in the tobacco industry. Malawians should participate, not as tenants, but as equal partners in this new sector,” said Boniface Kadzamira, the former MP who tabled the topic in 2015, who wants cannabis products to be processed in-country.