Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan received a delegation of farmers from the Baalbek-Hermel region at his residence in the town of Shaath, who called for "the speedy issuance of implementing decrees for the law on the cultivation of industrial hemp,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• On April 21, 2020, Parliament approved a law legalizing the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal and industrial use, which made Lebanon the first Arab country to legalize the cultivation of marijuana. The law would exclusively allow the state to trade in cannabis, which has been grown illicitly and successfully for decades in the eastern Bekaa region.
• Before the law was passed, Lebanon had hired international consulting firm McKinsey & Co. in 2018 to advise the country on its economic woes. McKinsey suggested the government legalize cultivation and production of the widely available plant for at least some uses. Raed Khoury, Lebanon’s caretaker economy and trade minister at the time projected that legal cannabis for medical and industrial use could lead to annual revenue of about $1 billion.
• Emphasizing that the Baalbek-Hermel region in particular is “suitable for cultivation of the industrial hemp plant,” Hajj Hassan said that the law was approved in Parliament, and the issue of the regulatory body has been accelerated by Parliament, which awaits proposed member names. Hajj Hassan is a member of Hezbollah, which opposed the bill in parliament before it was approved at the time. The Baalbek-Hermel region is a Hezbollah stronghold.
• While providing a structural legal framework for the hemp industry could prove to be a massive boost to the country which finds itself in a near-financial collapse, many worry that it would be unwise to leave its management in the hands of a notoriously corrupt state.
• The agricultural minister said that the industrial hemp dossier would be activated “in the coming days,” stressing that hemp is “a lifeline for this region and for the Lebanese economy,” not only because its revenues would amount to “no less than $1 billion,” but also because it “keeps our people and youth away from cultivating cannabis, which we all consider a scourge, and we fight it as a Lebanese state.”
• Hajj Hassan also stressed that “we cannot tell people that marijuana cultivation is prohibited and forbidden without alternatives,” adding that the issue should not be left pending for months as it provides a “glimmer of hope” for improving the agriculture and industry sector in the region and the whole country.