An Open Letter to Zambians

Dear Zambians,

What if I told you that you have something in your country that could make you and your children come out of poverty? Is this something that you would fight for? Well, copper, zinc, cobalt, gold, diamonds and all the finest emeralds you have haven’t brought any meaningful wealth to you. Even the world’s largest waterfalls plus the other hundreds of waterfalls haven’t
done it. Worse still, your diverse wildlife has equally failed to earn any significant revenue to benefit you.

The product that you have is a natural plant—something native to your region. The world has told you that it is something that should be illegalized in your nation and yet they’re making it legal in their nations. Needless to say, that it has earned them billions of dollars. So, why don’t you advocate to legalize cannabis?

According to the NewScientist, Mayo Clinic and Havard Health, Cannabis has many benefits such as pain relief, reducing inflammation, managing anxiety and depression, controlling nausea and vomiting, stimulating appetite, sleep aid, PTSD treatment and numerous others. So,then why are you not legalizing it if the benefits are so obvious and the world around you is
doing so and reaping huge benefits?

I know some people will give the same old stale argument of Zambia being a Christian nation blah blah blah. If this is your best argument, how about you outlaw many other unchristian things in Zambia? It is time to do what’s right for yourselves. Legalizing cannabis has so many benefits and would lift millions of Zambians out of poverty. Here are a few countries that have
fully legalized it: Uruguay (2013), Canada (2018), Malta (2021), Luxembourg (2023), and Germany (2024) which legalized possession and home growing. There are many countries where medicinal use is legal such as Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Israel and many others.

Thailand (Where I am currently writing this article from) officially removed cannabis from narcotics list, although it is regulating it strictly as of 2025. I have talked to a few Thai entrepreneurs and they can attest cannabis earns the country hundreds of millions of dollars directly and indirectly.

In Africa only South Africa allow it for private use only. It is still restricted for commercial sales.And this is where the opportunity lies for Zambia. Zambia could legalize commercial use and recreational use. In fact, the country could restrict licenses to Zambians only. This would enable every Zambian with a piece of land to be able to grow their own plants for export. According to Grand View Research and Statista, the current global market size for cannabis stands at 65 billion dollars. This number is expected to soar to 100 billion dollars by 2030? Why not be the country that earns the 35 billion dollars in the next five years?

Starting up a business in Zambia (once legalized), would not be complicated if you compare the costs that other growers in other countries incur. In other countries, because of extreme cold weather, the plants have to be grown in greenhouses. This means that there are high overhead and operational costs such as electricity, water, maintenance, treatment, salaries and so on. On the other hand, growing this plant would be cheaper in Zambia. Besides, Zambian growers can grow it all year round. If it is grown organically, it has the potential of being the most sought-after cannabis in the world. In fact, buyers would readily supply growers with everything they need—provided they sell the product directly to the buyer.

My appeal to the lawmakers in Zambia is take a look at this missed opportunity. Zambia has more to gain from the legalization than they have to lose. Zambians would also want the opportunity to have a good educational system, a functional healthcare system, and a reasonable access to other social services. I mean, wouldn’t it be nice if you could all afford a big vehicle like your MPs, or eat at fancy restaurants once in a while? It would also be nice to be flown abroad for treatment when you are sick. This should be a privilege reserved for every Zambian irrespective of their social or economic status. I would argue that if you legalized cannabis, you could make this possible. Copper and all our minerals haven’t done it. It’s time to think outside the box and make Zambia Green.

By Wesley Ngwenya