The International Cannabis Symposium 2026, which will be held at UCT’s law school next month, will not only bring policy-makers, legal experts and thought-leaders together, but will also showcase the Mother City’s canna-tourism potential.
The three day event, Back to Basics: Creating Foundational Policy & Law for Equitable Global Cannabis and Hemp, runs from Thursday, 25 to Saturday 27 June and is open to the general public to get a ringside seat on the policy conversations happening in world cannabis.
Tickets are selling out, so it’s advisable to book – for the speaker schedule click HERE, and for booking details, click HERE.
To this end a number of post-conference excursions are part of the package to give international delegates a taste of cannabis in South Africa, from Cape Town’s vibrant club circuit and top end growers to the foothills of Mpondoland, the legacy belt of South African cannabis.
In an exclusive interview with Cannabiz Africa, ICS 2026 organizer Sean Hocking, said Cape Town was a logical choice for the conference – an event focusing on the human impact of cannabis policy rather than from a purely regulatory control perspective.
“As South Africans are very well aware Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities on the planet” says Hocking, who is also editor of the Cannabis Law Report.
“Our venue, UCT law school, is one of the most respected law schools not just on the continent but globally, these two factors are very attractive to our international speakers and delegates. Locally people are aware of the strong cannabis and hemp infrastructure building on the Cape. It all makes perfect sense to hold an internationally focussed event in the city.”
Although cannabis tourism in and of itself is not a feature of ICS 2026 the post-conference excursions are intended to strengthen the roots of a potentially lucrative cannabis tourism sector.
Hocking says that “with a little concerted effort South Africa is a perfect place to build cannabis into the existing tourism ecosystem, both for local tourists and international visitors”.
“There are a myriad of ways this can be done but local operators and government must first work together to find something that works within the country’s regulatory system” he says.
“At the moment the lack of communication and coordination is severely hampering the opportunities for growth. A starting point is events like ICS that can map out the possibilities and create policy that works for operators, local communities and regional and national government.”
The main cannabis tourism operators in South Africa include High Holidaze, Cheeba Adventures, Cape Cannabis Tours, and The CannaClub. These operators offer diverse, curated experiences combining local sights with private-use cannabis culture, but are not yet working within a co-ordinated framework.
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