Green Party President Peter Sinkamba has advised government to make sure that license fees for local citizens who would want to engage in cannabis and hemp production affordable in order to encourage more local people to venture into the production once it is legalised.
Sinkamba said fees for local citizens should be different from those for foreign investors so that locals are not disadvantaged. He stated that unlike foreign investors who can be charged relatively high fees as government can use this as a revenue generating venture, historical imbalances should be avoided so that local Zambians can be active participants in this sector.
In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Sinkamba said he is aware of the fees that other countries are charging, therefore government should come up with fees similar to that to prevent chasing away foreign investors.
“We know what Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malawi and Lesotho are charging, so we should not come up with fees that are going to chase away investors to go to destinations where it is affordable to get a license, we must be competitive and be within the range that these other countries in close proximity are”, he said.
He noted that government has not yet decided the cost of licenses for the two proposed bills but stakeholders have suggested that the cannabis bill and the industrial hemp bill should have a duo system of licensing fees.
Sinkamba explained that cannabis or marijuana has two types, which are indica and sativa adding that the cannabis bill is talking about medical cannabis, which is cannabis indica, and the industrial hemp bill is meant for cannabis sativa, which is for industrial use only.
He said once the two bills are enacted into law, people can start applying for licenses, those that want to manufacture industrial products can apply for licenses to do with cannabis sativa and those that want to apply for licenses to do with production of medical marijuana can get licenses for cannabis indica.
He further said that cannabis indica has very high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which is a substance that makes people high when they smoke and is used for production of medicine-medical marijuana
He added that cannabis sativa has low THC which is below 0.3% adding that this is what is called industrial hemp because its main use is to manufacture industrial products such as clothes, CBD oil, hair cream, body cream bio diesel, paper, bricks for construction using what is called hempcrete and dashboards for cars like Mercedes Benz and BMW.
Cabinet has approved the introduction of the Cannabis and Hemp Bills 2021 in parliament which once enacted into law, would allow the cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes.
It has also approved the introduction of the Industrial Hemp Bill 2021 which aims to provide for the licensing of storage, processing, importation, exportation, cultivation, production and distribution of marijuana.
Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya said cabinet expects that the country will benefit both medically and economically through the enactment of the law on cannabis.Sinkamba expressed happiness over the introduction of the two bills in parliament and now remains an issue that the law makers should prioritize so that Zambia can realize full economic and industrial benefits.
