Lusaka (AFP)
The Zambian government has decided to allow cultivation on its territory and the export of cannabis for medicinal use, its spokesman Dora Siliya announced on Monday.
The cultivation and possession of marijuana was previously strictly prohibited in this very conservative southern African country, punishable by prison terms.
"I confirm that the Council of Ministers (...) has given the green light in principle to the technical commission for the cultivation, processing and export of cannabis for economic and medicinal purposes," said Ms Siliya in a communicated.
The Ministry of Health will later specify the conditions for issuing the necessary permits, she said, without giving any other details on the reasons for the green light.
Cannabis for medical use is now authorized in around thirty countries.
Lesotho, a small kingdom of 2.1 million inhabitants landlocked in the heart of South Africa, became in 2017 the first African country to allow the cultivation of medicinal cannabis.
South Africa went a step further a year later by legalizing, on a decision of its Constitutional Court, the consumption of marijuana for personal use for adults.
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