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

According to the Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Kondwani Nankhumwa 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.

Nankhumwa outlined to the August House, that the Bill proposes the establishment of the Cannabis Regulatory Authority (CRA) will license and regulate medicinal and industrial hemp programs. The development follows a disappointing tobacco market season last year, while this years output has been negatively affected by heavy rains. While Malawi is moving away from Tobacco as the most relied on crop, medicinal hemp is a welcome and profitable development.