Damba Rogers
The minister
in charge of investment and privatization, Evelyn
Anite orders Uganda investment authority to halt business operations at the
newly set up cannabis factory.
According to
the minister, the licensing of the factory by other players went behind the minister’s
knowledge despite UIA following the right procedures.
Israel’s Together Pharma Ltd., a manufacturer and distributor of
medical cannabis, said Monday it has placed an order for cannabis seeds for a
farm it is setting up in Uganda, targeting sales of cannabis produce for
January 2019.
The order for the seeds has been placed with a supplier in the
Netherlands, considered one of the world’s leading cannabis suppliers, the
company said in a statement.
In April, Together said it
had reached a binding agreement to sell five tons of cannabis oil to a Canadian company that it didn’t name. The deal could potentially
yield revenue of hundreds of millions of shekels, the Israeli firm said at the
time.
Anite now says, they are waiting for the
health ministry to present its research on the viability of the project before
cabinet on why this company should be set up in Uganda when the country
currently has no laws to regulatory the factory on the way it does business.
Israel is known as a pioneer in cannabis
research, and there are
government estimates that the economy could reap $285 million to $1.14 billion
a year from the industry. An estimated 50 Israeli medical marijuana companies
work in cultivating plants or producing delivery devices for the drug in Israel
On the 15th
of May 2019, cabinet is expected to sit and have the health minister present
their position on the need to permit the operations of this factory.
According to the National
Institutes of Health, people have used marijuana, or cannabis, to treat their
ailments for at least 3,000 years. However, the Food and Drug Administration
have not deemed marijuana safe or effective in the treatment of any medical
condition, although cannabidiol, a substance that is present in marijuana,
received approval in June 2018 as a treatment for some types of epilepsy.
END