CANNABIS ACT

PART IV
SECURITY MEASURES FOR THE CULTIVATION, MANUFACTURE, PRODUCTION, STORAGE, DISTRIBUTION, IMPORT AND EXPORT OF CANNABIS FOR MEDICINAL, SCIENTIFIC OR RESEARCH PURPOSES

29. Compliance with security measures

30. Unauthorised access and visual monitoring of premises for licensed activity

31. Intrusion detection system of premises

32. Physical barriers

33. Restricted access

PART V
POSSESSION OF CANNABIS

34. General authorisation for certain classes of persons

35. Withdrawal of general authorisation

36. Dealing with cannabis over electronic communication network

PART VI
REPORTS, RECORDS, INVENTORIES AND REGISTERS

37. Records and reports of licensed activity

38. Cannabis tracking system

39. Keeping registers of cannabis

40. Preservation of documents

PART VII
INSPECTIONS

41. Power of authorised officer

PART VIII
GENERAL PROVISIONS

42. Appeals

43. Permitting premises to be used for unlawful use of cannabis

44. General penalty

45. Regulations

AN ACT

to provide for the regulation of the cultivation, manufacture, production, storage, distribution, import and export of cannabis for medicinal, scientific or research purposes; designate the Lead Agency for the licensing of cannabis for medicinal, scientific or research purposes; provide for security measures for the cultivation, manufacture, production, storage, distribution, import and export of cannabis for medicinal, scientific or research purposes; provide for the constitution of the National Cannabis Coordinating Committee and provide for its functions; domesticate the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961; and provide for matters connected with, or incidental to, the foregoing.

[On Notice]

Act 33 of 2021.

PART I
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS

1. Short title and commencement

This Act may be cited as the Cannabis Act and shall come into operation on the date the Minister may appoint by statutory instrument.

2. Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-

"agent" means a person who acts on behalf of, or on the direction of, a licensed entity when carrying out the licensed entity's business;

"Agency" means the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency established under the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency Act, 2019;

"appropriate authority" means a relevant public body, statutory body or person, having powers or regulatory functions under any other written law designated by the Committee;

"authorised officer" means a person assigned to carry out the duties of the law enforcement authority for the purposes of this Act and includes-

(a) a person appointed under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act;

(b) a person appointed under the Medicines and Allied Substances Act, 2013;

(d) a person appointed under the Plant Variety and Seeds Act; and

(e) a person appointed under the Environmental Management Act, 2011;

"cannabis" means the flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant from which the resin has not been extracted, by whatever name they may be designated, except where used in the expression "cannabis resin";

"cannabis resin" means the separated resin, whether crude or purified, obtained from cannabis;

"Chairperson" means a person appointed as Chairperson under section 5;

"Committee" means National Cannabis Coordinating Committee established under section 5;

"cultivation" includes planting, sowing, scattering the seeds, growing, nurturing, tending or harvesting of opium, coca leaves, cannabis and cannabis resin from the plant from which they were obtained and the word "cultivate" shall be construed accordingly;

"distribute" means the division and movement of cannabis from the premises of a manufacturer, or from another central point to an intermediate point, or to an end user, by means of any method of transport;

"distributor" means a person who distributes cannabis;

"Drug Enforcement Commission" means the Drug Enforcement Commission established under the Constitution;

"emoluments" has the meaning assigned to the word in the Constitution;

"Emoluments Commission" means the Emoluments Commission established by the Constitution;

"health facility" has the meaning assigned to words in the Health Professions Act, 2009;

"health practitioner" means a medical doctor, medical licentiate, pharmacist, dental surgeon or other person as the Minister may, on the advice of the Lead Agency, by statutory instrument, designate;

"Lead Agency" means the Lead Agency designated under section 4;

"legally disqualified" means the absence of legal capacity as provided in section 4 of the Mental Health Act, 2019;

"licence" means a licence issued under section 15;

"licensee" means a person issued with a licence to cultivate, produce, store or distribute cannabis for medicinal, scientific or research purposes;

"licensed activity" means an activity authorised under a licence issued by the Agency;

"medicine" has the meaning assigned to the word in the Medicines and Allied Substances Act, 2013;

"medical doctor" means a person registered as a medical doctor under the Health Professions Act, 2009;

"medicinal purposes" means use of cannabis for the treatment or prevention of a disease or for some other definite curative or therapeutic purpose, but excludes the satisfaction or relief of a habit or craving for the cannabis;

"possession" includes to keep or to store a cannabis, or to have in custody or under control or supervision, or a cannabis held by some other person subject to the person's control, for that person or on that person's behalf;

"preparation" means a mixture, solid or liquid containing drug;

"premises" includes land, any building, dwelling, shop, office or tent together with the land on which the same is situated and the adjoining land used in connection with the land, and includes any vehicle, conveyance or vessel;

"production" means the separation of cannabis and cannabis resin from the plants from which they are obtained;

"register" means a register of cannabis established under section 39;

"relative" has the meaning assigned to the word in the Anti-Corruption Act, 2012;

"Single Convention" means the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs which entered into force on 8th August, 1975, and was ratified by Zambia on 13th May, 1998;

"special stocks" means the amount of cannabis held by the Government for special purposes to meet certain circumstances, and the term "special purposes" shall be construed accordingly;

"stocks" means the amount of cannabis held in the Republic for medicinal, scientific or research purposes, manufacture of drugs and other substances or for export;

"treatment" has the meaning assigned to the word in the Health Professions Act, 2009;

"Zambia Environmental Management Agency" means the Zambia Environmental Management Agency established under the Environmental Management Act, 2011; and

"Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority" means the Authority established under the Information and Communication Technologies Act, 2009.

3. Application

This Act shall not apply to the cultivation of a cannabis plant with a delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 per cent on a dry weight basis exclusively for industrial or horticultural purposes.

PART II
ADMINISTRATION

4. Lead Agency

(1) The Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority established under the Medicines and Allied Substances Act, 2013 is the Lead Agency responsible for the issuance of licences for the cultivation, manufacture, production, storage, distribution, import and export of cannabis for medicinal, scientific or research purposes.

(2) The Lead Agency shall, in addition to the functions under the Medicines and Allied Substances Act, 2013, perform the functions conferred on the Lead Agency in this Act.

5. Constitution of National Cannabis Coordinating Committee

(1) There is constituted the National Cannabis Coordinating Committee which consists of the following part time members appointed by the President-

(a) a representative of the ministry responsible for health, as Chairperson;

(b) a representative each of the ministries responsible for-

(i) agriculture;

(ii) commerce;

(iii) home affairs;

(iv) lands; and

(v) defence;

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