Minister refutes authorising marijuana growing in Uganda

Jun 07, 2020

The Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng has refuted social media reports suggesting that she has authorised cannabis (marijuana) growing in Uganda.

The minister in a tweet said the cabinet is yet to consider the feasibility of growing cannabis and asks for the media report to be treated as baseless and malicious.

"I have seen social media posts alleging that I am in trouble over cannabis and others saying I am dealing in cannabis. It's unfortunate that some people always choose to circulate wrong information," says Aceng in a tweet posted on June 7, 2020.

"I have not issued any authorisation for cannabis growing in Uganda. Cabinet is yet to consider the feasibility of this. Until then, I request the population to ignore the wrong media posts and treat it baseless and Malicious," she adds

Medicinal Marijuana

Last year, according to media reports, the government of Uganda closed a deal to export medicinal marijuana to Germany and Canada.

According to the government, the lucrative Marijuana business which is estimated at sh11.1 trillion will benefit Uganda through among others, creating employment opportunities, generating taxes, technology transfer, investment opportunities and trade surplus.

In April as the coronavirus continued to ravage the world, the government cleared a shipment of 250 kilogrammes of marijuana to Isreal.

The medical marijuana comes courtesy of a partnership between Hemp Uganda and an Israeli firm, Together Pharma that grow and process medicinal marijuana and cannabis products for industrial use in Uganda under supervision of Ministry of Health.

The Ministry of Health reportedly received applications from 14 companies interested in the cultivation, extraction and export of cannabis oil for medical purposes in line with the provisions of Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act 2015.

It also issued guidelines to individuals and companies seeking to grow or export marijuana for medical purposes, paving the way for Uganda to join cannabis-producing countries on the continent.

The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 2015, allows cultivation, production and exportation of medical marijuana and it also mandates the Minister of Health to issue written consent for medical marijuana.

According to the Ministry of Health guidelines, investors must be cleared by the tax authorities, present evidence of value addition to cannabis and have minimum capital of $5m (sh18.3 bn) and a bank guarantee of $1m (sh4 bn).

Uganda is among other countries such as Canada, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uruguay and a few states in the US producing Marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Cannabis may be able to block COVID-19 infections

A study from the University of Lethbridge, in Canada, has found that cannabis may be able to block the coronavirus (COVID-19) infections.

Researchers at the University recently released results from a study that shows potential for medical cannabis to treat COVID-19.

A study by the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada in partnership with research companies Pathway RX and Swysh Inc. found that certain cannabis sativa extracts could be used in treatments to prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The researchers led by Dr. Igor Kovalchuck developed over 800 new cannabis sativa lines and extracts.

 As of June 7, 2020 there were 7,038,934 coronavirus cases across the world, 3,442,475 recoveries and 403,400 deaths, according to worldometers.info.

Researchers are looking into various options for possible treatment of COVID-19, including existing drugs. Medical cannabis is just one option.

The researchers say that their findings are yet to be peer-reviewed and so cannot be taken as conclusive evidence of cannabis's ability to treat the virus.

But the study says data collected from previous studies conducted in collaboration with Swysh and commercial partner Sundial Growers reveals that some medical cannabis cultivars can help reduce the severity and complications of COVID-19 disease

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