A Key Thought from Kansas

The Kansas legislature’s Special Committee on Medical Marijuana held an exhaustive, seven-hour hearing on 16 October 2024 to gather input from state agencies, law enforcement groups, stakeholders and the general public on the best path forward for reform.

Kyle Jaeger writes in Marijuana Moment on 17 October 2024, that members heard a mix of testimony in support of and in opposition to enacting legalization, with many officials offering guidance on their departments’ individual needs and recommendations for policies around regulatory models, qualifying conditions, licensing, labelling and more.

The Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Division of the Department of Revenue is likely to be the regulatory body for medical cannabis in Kansas. Its director, Debbi Beavers said that while the committee was principally tasked with considering medical marijuana reform, from her agency’s perspective, “starting with recreational marijuana would be easier to implement.”

“There would also be a significant cost savings to the State because of the reduced number of new or modified systems, system interfaces and it would eliminate the need for some of the new positions in other agencies that the medical marijuana program will require,” she said.

Would 'Rec' Before 'Med' Be Better for SA?

Just think about it. If South African lawmakers were to push ahead with legalizing adult use cannabis, the ‘grey zone’ retail market would be regulated, more profitable to tax and would alleviate the misuse of Section 21 medical cannabis patients who are using their prescriptions for non-medical purposes.

Currently, the only way for anyone to buy cannabis legally in South Africa is by being a registered under Section 21 of the Medicines Act as a medical cannabis patient. This has led to abuse of the system, although to what extent, at this moment is not clear. Cannabiz Africa is still awaiting official comment from SAHPRA, but as reported, the regulator is intending to clamp down on those manipulating the Section 21 provision.

The other legal route for consumers to obtain legal cannabis is via the not-for-profit private cannabis club route in which there are members that grow and members that consume. GrowOneAfrica has been the main enabler in the formation of private clubs in South Africa and has a network of 21 operationa clubs with a total of over 33 000 signed members and eight cultivators who supply the clubs exclusively. G1A has been operating for several years and, in general, says founder Kobus Schoeman, all clubs are sanctioned by local law enforcement who see the benefit of keeping cannabis ‘off the streets’, as it were.

Section 21 is killing the market" he bluntly told Cannabiz Africa. "It's not allowing things to grow".

With legal options so restricted, it’s no surprise that hundreds of ‘grey zone’ retail outlets have sprung up across the country to service consumer demand. Hempgrow CEO Zaid Mohidin has suggested a retail dispensary model, which makes complete sense.

Start by Regulating the 'Grey Zone'

Regulating existing outlets will go a long way in decriminalizing the industry and allowing municipal and state coffers to grab their share. The framework has already been developed by private sector stakeholders whereby cannabis, as an agricultural product, would be graded to create set price points, there would be no need for a license to grow cannabis, but some form of authorization would be required if the plant was being used for a specific purpose (eg medical, export, general sales etc).

This would automatically eliminate the abuse of Section 21 and open the way for doctors to prescribe cannabis for specific treatments (such as cancer) and allow consumers to make their own choices in terms of broader ‘health and wellness’ use (eg inflammation, sleep, or just plain getting high). It would be easier to police such outlets if there was a governing compliance model that set professional standards  within a regulated dispensary model, with appropriately trained staff.

SA Ain't Kansas

However, South Africa, as a jurisdiction is different from Kansas, which is surrounded by states that allow cannabis for recreational use. Therefore it makes sense to legalize ‘rec’ while the specs for medical cannabis are worked out with relevant parties.

For South Africa, it would make more sense to introduce both medical and non-medical use of cannabis in one  complete package in an overarching new Cannabis Act. This would make provision for an independent cannabis regulator to be established to create a common set of rules across the value chain and police them.

The rapid legalization of non-medical cannabis would also relieve the burden on law enforcement, allowing authorities to concentrate on fighting real crime instead of persecuting small-scale rural growers. South Africa’s legacy farmers are the main victims of cannabis reform, despite government’s stated intention that they are to ultimately be the beneficiaries of legalization.

Watching the Lost Opportunities Drift By

The current status is that we have the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act 2024 which is meant to regulate the private consumption of cannabis but it is yet to come into law because of regulations still to be decided by the Justice Department. The Act foresees the removal of cannabis from the Drugs Act and paves the way for a future commercial framework.

However, until signed into law (again) by the President, cannabis legislation remains contradictory and confusing.  Even then the Act, as it is, is wholly inadequate at the most basic of levels. How can you allow people to grow cannabis on private property if they are not allowed to buy the seeds to do so?

Until such time as there is new political leadership on the cannabis front that implement’s the ‘whole plant’ approach envisaged by The Phakisa, South Africa will make an ongoing a hash of cannabis reform and the litany of lost opportunities will continue to haunt legitimate stakeholders for years to come.