The Medicines Control Association of Zimbabwe has revealed that three pharmaceutical companies have started manufacturing cannabis medicines five years after the country licensed 60 cannabis farmers. Cannabis is said to have been used since as far back as 4 000 BC to treat various ailments according to ancient Chinese and African records.
Some cannabis farmers are complaining of a stringent legal framework and low profits. Cannabis medicine is believed to be one of the future treatments if carefully formulated and designed.
Zimbabwe was one of the first African countries to allow production of cannabis. Although the requisite started from 50 000 US dollars to as much as one million US dollars, for investors, a few years after the first core production meant for export, farmers started complaining of heavy losses in a highly speculative industry.
– Report by John Cassim
