Bridget Mabanda
HARARE-Zimbabwe’s medical practitioners need education on medicinal cannabis for them to be able to prescribe Hemp-based products as part of complimentary medicines given to patients.
Medical research shows that medicinal cannabis has the ability to reduce physical pain and can also be effective in helping easy neurological distress.
However, medical practitioners in Zimbabwe say they do not have enough knowledge on medicinal cannabis.
Dr Isabel Anesu Chinoperekwei, who is a psychiatrist, said there are many cannabinoids in the cannabis that are in the hemp plant but the most widely-studied ones are Delta 9 cannabin and the CBD.
Multiple studies have also linked delta-9 THC use with increased risk for psychosis, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions, along with substance abuse disorders.
Delta-9 THC is the major naturally-occurring intoxicating component of the cannabis plant. When someone smokes or consumes delta-9 THC beyond a certain threshold, they typically experience “high”.
Dr Chinoperekwei said there is not much research on what exactly it treats, saying it can manage chronic pain, adding that they still have a long way to go in terms of treatment.
“Another challenge that I have seen with the use of cannabis is there is no fixed dose in a product like every company that is producing its own cannabis for medical purposes, does not have the specific milligrams.
“The formula is not clear, especially on drugs. They are just written cannabis on ingredients.
“If we have do not have a fixed dose and its varying from producer to producer that can have impact on the outcome of the research,” she said.
Specialist Radiation Oncologist, Dr Nomsa Tsikai said lack of information and the huge gap between what health practitioners know about cannabis and what patients know is another challenge as some patients know a lot more than them.
“As health care professionals, we actually need to be educated and medical students need to incorporate that in the curriculum,” said Dr Tsikai.
“There is so much that we do not know and it is very difficult to recommend cannabis to my patients because the following, among many other questions, come from patients;
“What type of cannabis do patients need?
“In what formulation does the patient smoke it or use it?
“How often do they take?
“So, for me, I do not feel comfortable to prescribe this. There is a lot of information I require before I am able to do that which is when clinical trials comes in,” Dr Tsikai said.
The Regulatory Officer licensing for cannabis division representing the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe, Clive Simbarashe Kamoti said the Statutory Instrument 62 of 2018 only allows people to cultivate medicinal cannabis for export purposes only so at the moment, local use of high THC cannabis is not permissible.
However, it can be permissible through research but some practitioners are already prescribing cannabis products after evaluation by MCAZ.
“If you want to import and market a product that contains CBD in Zimbabwe, it needs to be evaluated about its safety and quality before it can be distributed in the market,” he said.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Biotech Institute, who is a biophysicist, Professor Brighton Samatanga said before research itself, there is need to address what we are researching on.
“Right now, we have the capacity to produce cannabis but we do not have the capacity to process cannabis to CBD oil because if you are researching on CBD oil, you need to be able to produce it and do clinical trials,” said Samatanga.
Back in days, it was called Mupanjere which literally means the tree that gives wisdom. Today, it is called mbanje.
Medicinal cannabis is mostly used to manage pain as an alternative to regular pharmaceutical drugs but there is no evidence what exactly it cures. Medical researches show that it has the ability to reduce physical pain and can also be effective in helping ease neurological distress.
Medical practitioners need to be educated on Cannabis as doses vary from patient to patient like any other medicines.
Zimbabwe already has strong medical education but for cannabis to be used as a medicine there is need for research and education.
Another doctor – who is a skin specialist – Donald Itayi Mutangadura, said there is need for clinical trials use of cannabis oil on skin conditions.
“I have heard and read about the effectiveness of the CBD oil on the treatment of skin conditions but I do not think enough clinical trials have been done to prove its effectiveness.
There is danger because if we do not do clinical trials, our cannabis industry in Zimbabwe might fail like the Chinese herbal medicines,” said Mutangadura.
Some suggested that cannabis products must be cheap locally and exported expensively to allow producers to make money through exports for instance imported 30ml of CBD oil costs US$60 with 0.3 percent THC.
Other countries that use cannabis medicines are Australia, Canada, USA, and Europe.
In order to establish a grow operation in Zimbabwe, a person or company, has to apply to the government for a license, provide a plan for their cultivation site that complies with the country’s regulations, pay a US$50 000 +licensing fee, be prepared to pay an extra US$15000 a year as a tacked annual fee, and another US$5 000 if the project requires research.
Licences are given for a five-year term and can be renewed at the rate of US$20 000 for the standard licensing fee and US$2 500 to renew the research part.
Among 59 licenses cultivation of medical cannabis in Zimbabwe, issued by Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe, only two research licences have been issued while the remaining 57 are growing cannabis for export purposes.
In Zimbabwe people have attitude towards cannabis as it has been criminalised for long and the colonial minds are hard to convince therefore cannabis must be standadised like any other medicines.
