Lesotho Becomes First African Country To Legalise Cannabis Cultivation

The tiny landlocked country of Lesotho has taken the lead towards legalisation of cannabis in Africa, having legalised its cultivation by US based Corix Bioscience, Globe Newswire has reported.

Lesotho, a small country of 2 million people, and entirely surrounded by South Africa had earlier awarded the first commercial license to hold, cultivate and supply cannabis to Lesotho based Pharmaceutical Development Company (PDC), which has now been acquired by Corix.

The license allows Corix to import and the export cannabis and cannabis resin in various forms to about 30 countries in the European Union, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and New Zealand.

Verve Dynamics, a South African company has also been granted the license since. The company had released a statement saying, “The Government’s decision to move forward with this historic decision means that Lesotho will play a significant role in developing this industry, both locally and internationally, as well as establishing itself as a pioneer on the African continent with regards to state of the art extraction equipment.”

However, cannabis cultivation for locals is still prohibited which has led to calls for reforming regulations in this regard.

As legalisation is slowly gaining pace across the world, cannabis still faces government imposed hurdles in India, despite burgeoning domestic demand. Lately, Patanjali has also shown interest in cannabis research in India owing to its huge potential in the Indian medical market.