Parliament has passed the Cannabis Regulation Bill which seeks to distinguish the criminalised Indian hemp (chamba) from medicinal cannabis through cultivation, production, possession and marketing.

The Bill provides for regulation of research, cultivation, production, processing, possession, storage, export, sales, distribution and use of cannabis and its products for medicinal, industrial or scientific purposes under prescribed conditions.

Further, the Bill provides that all citizens seeking to grow cannabis should obtain a license from a regulator.

The Bill also proposes the establishment of the Cannabis Regulatory Authority (CRA) to be responsible for licensing and regulating medicinal and industrial hemp programmes.

Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Kondwani Nankhumwa tabled the Bill in Parliament. The Bill received support from all members of Parliament.