Parliament passed a regulated cultivation law in 2020, but the state has failed to issue a single license, leaving farmers outside the legal framework and the promised export industry stalled.
Lebanon legalized controlled cannabis cultivation in 2020 under Law 178, which authorized production for medical, pharmaceutical and industrial purposes. Six years later, no farmer has received a license to operate legally. The Cannabis Regulatory Authority was appointed only in July 2025, five years after Parliament adopted the legislation, and implementing decrees required to issue licenses have still not entered into force.
The law aimed to move existing cultivation out of the illicit economy and integrate growers into a formal system capable of attracting investment and developing a legal export industry. The regulatory framework was designed to encompass not only farmers but also cooperatives, pharmaceutical companies, laboratories, industrial operators and research institutions, creating a documented value chain from licensed cultivation through testing, manufacturing and export.
Dr. Dany Fadel, chairman of the Cannabis Regulatory Authority, stated that the authority has prepared the necessary regulations and decrees and submitted them through administrative channels to the Ministry of Finance. According to Fadel, the Finance Ministry requested procedural and drafting amendments, which the authority completed, but the file did not advance further. An electronic platform to receive licensing applications has been developed and is ready to operate.
Fadel attributes the continuing blockage to entrenched centres of influence within state ministries. The government has not publicly identified which ministry is reviewing the file, which approvals or signatures are missing, or whether any substantive dispute over the regulations remains unresolved. This dispersion of responsibility makes the delay difficult to challenge or verify.
The failure to issue licenses has created a structural contradiction in policy. Cannabis cultivation continued after the law was passed, but growers remain outside the legal framework. Farmers therefore have no access to licensed processors or exporters and must sell to informal buyers who can purchase crops at depressed prices because the legal market does not exist.
The law was partly intended to reduce illegality, regulate production and improve state oversight. By withholding the licenses necessary to enter the legal system, the state has preserved the conditions under which cultivation remains illicit. The policy objective of formalization has been suspended while the underlying activity continues unchanged.
International demand for regulated medical cannabis exists. Germany imported 201,094 kilograms for medical or medical-scientific purposes in 2025, compared with 72,706 kilograms in 2024. However, access to such markets depends not on reputation but on certification and compliance with pharmaceutical standards.
Regulated medical importers require consistent chemical composition, laboratory testing, full traceability, controlled cultivation practices and compliance with agricultural and manufacturing standards. Products valued in the informal market are not automatically acceptable to pharmaceutical buyers or European regulators. Commercial success will require producing standardized batches repeatedly and documenting every stage from seed to final buyer, a challenge that is institutional and technical as much as agricultural.
Fadel said he is pursuing establishment of an accredited laboratory at Lebanese University's Faculty of Agriculture, estimated to cost approximately $4 million. Without accredited testing and quality control infrastructure, Lebanon will struggle to enter tightly regulated markets regardless of cultivation capacity. The authority presented its framework at an international regulatory conference in London, though the details of that engagement require verification.
Large revenue projections have frequently driven the cannabis policy debate. In 2018, then-economy minister Raed Khoury cited a potential industry worth approximately $1 billion. Later estimates placed the sector's possible value at several billion dollars. Such projections rarely specify whether they measure exports, company revenue, profit, tax receipts or Treasury income, making comparison difficult.
The immediate obstacle is administrative, not legislative. The regulatory authority says the technical and institutional design is substantially complete, and the remaining step is approval of the implementing decrees. Until those decrees enter into force and licenses can be issued, the legal cultivation industry will remain on paper and farmers will remain in the informal economy.
Resolution requires either the government to approve the prepared decrees and activate the licensing platform, or for Fadel and the authority to publicly identify which ministry holds the file and what specific objection prevents approval. The cost of continued delay extends beyond administrative frustration to the farmers' exposure to legal liability and the state's failure to implement a reform Parliament adopted six years ago.
Without functioning legal channels, the law has failed to achieve its stated purpose of formalizing cannabis cultivation and moving the sector into a regulated, taxable and internationally credible market. The path forward depends on whether the state can convert an approved legislative reform into a functioning system, or whether the gap between law and implementation will persist indefinitely.
