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Health Minister Dr. Chitalu Chilufya says his ministry has no intention of issuing any license to allow the cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Dr. Chitalu has told parliament in a ministerial statement that following a statement issued earlier this year by Home Affairs Minister Steven Kampyongo that the law provides for the cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes, his ministry has been overwhelmed with applications from people seeking licenses.
Dr. Chilufya says despite the fact that marijuana can be used for medicinal purposes; his ministry has no intentions at the moment to issue Marijuana Cultivation licenses due to its impact on human health and social areas.
He explains that while marijuana is used for chronic pain conditions, nausea patients, epilepsy and other common conditions, there are other drugs available on the market that can treat the same ailments that medical marijuana can treat.
He says these are even safer compared to using medicinal marijuana.
Dr. Chitalu says there is no good and convincing reason why the government can give out marijuana cultivation licenses when there are other alternatives to using medicinal marijuana.