Trikar Enterprise Solutions CEO Simi Pillay-van Graan says that as long as the status of private clubs remains legallty undefined, the illicit cannabis market will flourish.
There are estimated to be well over 100 ‘properly-constituted’ cannabis clubs in South Africa – that is those that have taken legal advice and structured themselves according to the provisions of the Constitutional Court ruling legalizing the private consumption of cannabis, the Constitution itself, which allows freedom of association and the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act which recognizes the right to private consumption.
There are perhaps hundreds of additional cannabis retail ‘grey zone’ outlets that require ID’s and a signature to buy cannabis but have nothing by way of a constitution or a defined membership base. Beyond that are probably scores of ‘consumption lounges’ that are de-facto social clubs but are completely unconstituted as such.
Pillay-van Graan says that since the Haze Club case was dismissed in 2022 and its appeal withdrawn in 2024, the status of grow clubs remains undefined.
“This vacuum has enabled the proliferation of illicit urban clubs and pseudo-dispensaries selling untested products to non-members, tourists and minors, often with no age verification or dosage controls” she says.
Until such time as the NPA or the Department of Justice clarifies their legal status, even the ‘compliant’ clubs are operating in the twilight zone between the constitutional right to privately consume cannabis and the prohibition of commercial trade.
“What South Africa needs is regulatory clarity, not criminal silence” she says. “Rather than banning cannabis clubs outright or letting them proliferate unchecked, the law should define them, regulate them and use them as strategic tools within a broader commercialisation policy. Ignoring their existence only empowers the illicit market.”
Pillay-van Graan says that Government should take a fresh view and recognize that regulated cannabis clubs offer promise. She says that if they were legally recognised and governed, they could provide:
- controlled, adult-only access aligned with privacy rights;
- peer-based harm reduction and responsible usage education;
- traceable supply chains that reduce street-level trade;
- municipal licensing opportunities and tax reinvestment models;
- the promotion of community accountability and reinvestment; and entry-level platforms for small-scale cultivators operating in compliant, cooperative models.
So who should regulate private cannabis clubs? That THC can be dangerous goes without saying, so who should be in charge, and of what exactly?
This is one of Government’s dilemmas. It has not yet come up with an answer as to how to make good its stated desire, in the wake of the cannabis foodstuff ban, to protect children and guard consumer safety from harmful products.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi made a complete mess of the cannabis foodstuff ban and its subsequent rescinding, but he did get consumer safety on the agenda. His promise though, of releasing guidelines on the subject for public comment, has so far failed to materialize, thereby fuelling the vacuum.
There has been some suggestion in private club owner circles that perhaps a SAHPRA certification for clubs could provide an answer. However, SAHPRA is concerned only with medicinal cannabis and therefore club certification would fall outside it’s ambit.
The draft Department of Trade, Industry and Competition proposals for a commercial framework don’t deal with clubs at all, but make provision for the licensing of retail dispensaries.
As most of the ‘legitimate’ private clubs have been set up as “Not For Profits”, they appear to fall outside the mandate of the DTIC which is focused on developing a “For Profit” framework. It does, however, foresee the establishment of a central cannabis authority, which presumably would eventually have regulatory control over private and social clubs.
One of the problems in establishing regulatory control over clubs is that by its nature, cannabis produces diverse THC products in form and in strength. Most private clubs stock a range of products: flower, edibles, tinctures, complementary medicines, etc – all of which are available to various club members, not as ‘purchases’ but as a withdrawal of membership benefits.
These cannabis-related products all fall under different regulatory jurisdictions.
What makes it even more complicated is that there’s no standard for regulating THC in terms of consumer safety – even though most medical cannabis prescriptions are for high-THC products, there is no common approach by medical practitioners.
Right now the regulation of cannabis private clubs fall outside of all current regulatory zones. In the wake of the Haze ruling, South Africa finds itself in the interesting legal situation where private cannabis clubs are neither legal nor illegal!
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