Uganda licenses farm to grow marijuana for medical use
Uganda’s government has granted an experimental licence to Bright Sparks Farm Limited for growing, processing and exportation of medicinal cannabis (marijuana) with strict guidelines under police watch as the supervisory authority.
A clearance letter dated July 21, signed by Ugandan Minister of Internal Affairs, Gen (rtd) Kahinda Otafiire, and copied to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), grants an experimental licence to the directors of Bright Sparks Farm Limited to venture into the business.
“The licence is not transferable and guides the farm to conduct their business in Kisweramindu and Lwampanga in Nakasongola District; and Muwanya in Luweero District. In line with the existing controls, the Uganda Police Force will supervise the farm operations as mandated,” the letter reads. The grant of an experimental licence follows an earlier application dated June 11, for grant of licence to grow, process and export medicinal cannabis by the same firm.
In February last year, President Yoweri Museveni assented to the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act 2023, which, among others, allows licensed farming and use of cannabis strictly for medicinal use in the country.
The Ugandan law sets harsh penalties for a multitude of offences related to substance abuse. The law criminalises persons found cultivating prohibited plants without licence issued by the minister of Health, and such persons are liable to pay a fine of Ush2.4b or three times the market value of the prohibited plant, or imprisonment for five years or both.
Some of the controlled substances listed under the law include cannabis and Khat, commonly known as mairungi or miraa.
While the law is in place to safeguard the abuse of prohibited substances, a section of leaders, among other stakeholders, want the government to initiate community sensitisation programmes about the new law.
Mr Superito Kirori, the chairperson of Zirobwe Sub-county in Luweero District, said some people in his area are secretly cultivating marijuana, claiming the law allows it for medicinal purposes.
“Our people need to be sensitised about the different clauses of the Narcotics and Psychotropic Control Act 2023. Many local farmers are already misinterpreting the law under the guise of cultivating cannabis for their own medicinal use,” Mr Kirori said.
The law
On February 2, February 2024, President Museveni assented to the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act 2023, an act that seeks to consolidate and amend the law relating to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances with respect to the control, possession and trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
The law regulates cultivation and gathering of prohibited plants; provides for the forfeiture of property derived from or used in illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances within the provisions of international conventions on narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances.
Story by Dan Wandera
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