Lebanon mulls legalization of cannabis cultivation

By Rabie Damaj

BEIRUT (AA) - Lebanon is mulling the legalization of cannabis cultivation for exclusively medicinal purposes, several local sources have said.

According to local media reports, the government plans to spend $1.4 million over the next six months to study the idea.

Popularly known as “marijuana”, the cannabis plant is known for its psychoactive qualities that have both medical and recreational applications.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berry, along with several Lebanese political parties, has reportedly voiced support for the proposal.

According to recommendations issued by the McKinsey Global Institute, a business and economy research firm, the legalization of cannabis cultivation could help Lebanon’s economy escape its current recession.

When Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt first called for the move two years ago, he was roundly criticized.

This time around, however, the proposal has been met with widespread acceptance, Faycal Sayegh, an MP for Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (of which Jumblatt is the leader), told Anadolu Agency.

“A bill [legalizing cannabis cultivation] will soon become law,” Sayegh said. “The proposal has the support of a majority in parliament.”

The move, he added, “will help create job opportunities for unemployed youth in Lebanon’s Beqaa region”.

“When Jumblatt first proposed the idea, he was laughed at,” Sayegh said. “But after a U.S. study was released on the subject, everyone is now voicing their support.”

According to the MP, Berri has tasked a Finance Ministry committee to study the legal and legislative implications of the proposal.

Sayegh went on to note that similar legislation had already been passed in the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands.

The legalization of cannabis cultivation, he added, would also serve to eliminate illicit drug dealing in Beqaa, a region notorious for its illegal narcotics trade.

The proposal also reportedly has the support of Lebanon’s Change and Reform bloc, which is closely affiliated with President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement.

Mario Aoun, a former health minister and a Change and Reform MP, told Anadolu Agency that most of his parliamentary bloc supported the idea.

Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces party, likewise supports the move.

According to Lebanese Forces MP Toni Habashi, 15 parliamentarians from the Lebanese Forces-linked Republic Bloc would vote in favor of the proposal.

The Lebanese Forces has reportedly helped draw up a bill legalizing the practice, which will be discussed at an upcoming parliamentary session.

Habashi says the draft legislation will give the Health Ministry the exclusive right to conclude contracts with established Lebanese drug companies for the plant’s cultivation and sale.

Cannabis cultivation was introduced to Lebanon in the 1940s. Later, during the country’s civil war (1975-1991), the practice thrived -- especially in the fertile Beqaa region -- despite its having been formally outlawed.