Zimbabwe now allows the sale of cannabidiol drugs (CBD) in addition to the treatment given to patients.

The Zimbabwe Medicines Authority endorses CBD and has urged all licensed hemp and cannabis producers, manufacturers, importers, exporters and retail pharmacists to apply for licenses to market these products.

Regulators ask interested parties to provide product samples so they can inspect manufacturing facilities. “Unlicensed cannabis sellers will be prosecuted for selling drugs without a license,” he said in a July 18 letter.

Zimbabwe approves CBD in 2018, spurred on by economic realities. Global sales of tobacco, long the country's biggest export, are plummeting, forcing farmers and lawmakers in Zimbabwe to rethink their approach to agriculture.

Industry leaders are encouraging the country's tobacco growers to "grow cannabis so that a quarter of their income will come from this plant by 2025". In 2019, Zimbabwe lifted its ban on cannabis cultivation, paving the way for the cultivation of industrial hemp for export.

Last year, Zimbabwe exported 30 tonnes of industrial hemp to Switzerland. This is the first foray into the European market.

In May, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, commissioned a €25 million medical cannabis farm and processing plant operated by Swiss Bioceuticals Limited in the Western Province of Zimbabwe.