Lebanon Legalizes Marijuana Cultivation to Revive Economy Amid Covid-19

The Lebanese parliament approved legislation on Tuesday (21) to legalize Cannabis cultivation for medical and industrial purposes, according to Newsweek. The measure had been recommended by economic advisors even before the coronavirus pandemic dealt a devastating blow to the country's economy.

Under the new law, marijuana cultivation by farmers would be regulated within the country, according to The Daily Star, an English-language Lebanese newspaper. Although the plant has been widely and openly cultivated in Lebanon, particularly in the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country, Cannabis cultivation was strictly illegal.

The new law would not legalize marijuana for recreational use. Instead, it would allow the plant to be grown for export for medicinal and industrial purposes. Under the new legislation, Lebanon would also aim to promote a new legal industry producing pharmaceutical items from Cannabis, including wellness products and CBD oil. Industrial products, such as fibers for textiles, could also be produced from the plant.

Kareem Chehayeb, a Lebanese journalist and researcher, noted on Twitter that the Lebanese political party Hezbollah opposed the new law. "While its main allies supported the bill, #Hezbollah was not the only party to oppose it," Chehayeb tweeted.

Hilal Khashan, a professor of political studies and public administration at the American University of Beirut, told Newsweek that legalizing marijuana would not be enough to address Lebanon's economic concerns. He also expressed skepticism that the government would be able to successfully implement the law, given Hezbollah's opposition.

"Hezbollah is the main beneficiary of marijuana trafficking," Khashan said. "The only way for Hezbollah to accept the ratification of the law is to be directly involved in its implementation - that is, to get its share."

Lebanon has been publicly discussing the possibility of legalizing marijuana for medical and industrial purposes for almost two years. In July 2018, Raed Khoury, former interim minister of economy and trade of Lebanon, boasted that Lebanese marijuana quality "is one of the best in the world" during an interview with Bloomberg News.

Khoury's statements came after Lebanon hired the global consulting firm McKinsey & Co., based in New York City, to advise the country on how to address growing economic concerns. McKinsey suggested that Lebanon legalize marijuana for at least some purposes. At the time, Khoury projected that legal marijuana for medical and industrial use could generate about $1 billion annually.

The law to legalize marijuana was approved by parliamentary committees in March. But activists have raised concerns about the law as they feel it does not go far enough. They argue that recreational marijuana use should also be decriminalized.

A separate legislation, which would grant amnesty to many recreational cannabis and drug offenders, as well as reduce sentences for other prisoners, was sent back to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday for further review.

"No change in any law on production or recreational use of the substance, which remains illegal," tweeted Timour Azhari, Al Jazeera correspondent in Beirut, on Tuesday.

Economic Collapse in Lebanon

Lebanon's economy was already on the brink of collapse when the country began implementing strict national lockdown measures in early March in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Plagued by corruption and insecurity for decades, Lebanon has a national debt of over $80 billion. It defaulted on its debt for the first time last month as the country continues to face a severe shortage of US dollars.

Last fall, the economy nearly collapsed, leading to massive anti-government protests across the country in response to a series of new taxes and austerity measures proposed by the nation's leaders. These protests resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the formation of a new, more technocratic government.

Despite Hariri's resignation and the formation of a new government, major protests continued until February when inflation soared and banks imposed limits on the amount of money that could be withdrawn weekly. However, as the pandemic escalated, protests were put on hold as the country entered a strict lockdown.

On Tuesday, Lebanon's Ministry of Health announced that, for the first time in over a month, there were no new confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, as reported by the local newspaper Annahar. In total, 677 people in Lebanon have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Of those, 21 have died and 103 have recovered.

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