By Andrew Irumba
Together Pharma Limited, one of the companies that were licensed to grow cannabis in Uganda, has issued a statement indicating that they recently harvested marijuana from their plantation.
The Statement, which is signed by the company Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nissim Bracha, indicates that the Israeli company completed the first harvesting of Cannabis inflorescences at its farm in Uganda on June 18, 2019, and sowed another 10 dunams (seeds) on the company’s farm in Uganda on the same day. Together Pharma Limited reported that it made a cannabis harvest from Uganda on Tuesday, despite a government announcement that the said license had been halted. This is according to a statement released to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Authority Ltd, Wednesday June 19, 2019.
According to the Statement, the harvested produce will be marketed to one of the European countries. Together Pharma Limited produces and exports medical cannabis around the world. However, this report puts into suspicion, a pronouncement by State Minister for Investment Evelyn Anite that the government had halted the company’s license. Anite said when she was told about the company’s license that not a lot of research had been done before the license was granted so she had to study the matter further. Jane Aceng, the Health Minister also told the press in April that cabinet wanted assurances from the company that growing medical marijuana wouldn’t have a negative impact on the economy. The government said it had put a committee examine the matter and report part back to the cabinet, which would base on the report to either issue the license or not. But that did not happened or it happened behind the scenes and now Together Pharma is already harvesting marijuana in Uganda. Initial reports indicated that the firm is working with a Ugandan company; Industrial Hemp Uganda Limited, which is linked to former Bunyaruguru County MP Benjamin Cadet. However, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 2015, specifies that persons involved in the manufacture, production, sale, or distribution of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances commit an offence and are liable, on conviction, to a fine or imprisonment of as much as five years or both. The law also prohibits the cultivation of any plant, including cannabis, from which narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances may be extracted, without permission from the Health Minister.
