The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is working on a new set of guidelines relating to the cannabis industry. This was confirmed at last week’s Rasta Round Table by Brigadier SS Ngele, from SAPS Head Office in Pretoria.

He was responding to complaints from the Rastafarian community that SAPS were unfairly targeting them by making arrests purely to reach ‘quotas’ in violation of the constitution.

SA Cannabis Development Council chairperson Gareth Prince has accused the police of hypocrisy by turning a blind eye to the ‘mostly white and Indian’ operators in the ‘grey zone’ while harassing Rastafarian communities for their cannabis use.

In responding to criticism from the Rastafarian community about unfair cannabis arrests, the Brigadier pointed out that the law was ‘opaque’ and that this raised legitimate questions about police discretion in making arrests.

Brigadier Ngele said a directive from the National Prosecuting Authority was “due soon” and that this would provide clarification regarding cannabis arrests.

Cannabiz Africa published details of a leaked NPA document six months ago that said new cannabis guidelines were imminent.

However, the NPA cannot issue new arrest guidelines until its boss, the Justice Department, decides what is and isn’t legal – for instance home grow limits and private club regulations.

This has been in the Department’s in-tray since the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act was signed off by President Cyril Ramaphosa in May 2024.

The other set of regulations are those that will empower the Cannabis Act, which has yet to be enacted into law.

It has been nine months since the President approved the Act, which is meant to govern the private consumption of cannabis as directed by the Constitutional Court seven years ago!

There has been no word from the Justice Department as to when both sets of regulations will be issued.

In the meantime, the lack of regulations has spawned the billion rand cannabis retail ‘grey zone’ which has boldly emerged in all manner of shapes and sizes across the country, leaving law enforcement overawed as to how to police the sector.

A source close to SAPS says the current legal vacuum around cannabis has placed police in a difficult situation around cannabis and officers are reluctant to make arrests as very few end up in prosecution.

He says the NPA guidelines are vital for SAPS to know how to deal with private cannabis clubs, many of which claim compliance because they operate within a ‘closed loop’ (ie member growers supply member consumers only within the confines of a self-regulatory system).

The source said SAPS also required guidance from SAHPRA as to how the amended Medicines Act would affect law enforcement as many arrests currently falling under the Drugs Act would now be governed by transgressions of the Medicines Act.

The Medicines Act is the only channel whereby cannabis can be sold legally in South Africa, via Section 21 of the Act which allows SAHPRA to register medical cannabis patients.  SAHPRA has warned that Section 21 is being misused, says the source, but there has reportedly no communication from SAHPRA as to how this should be policed.

In the meantime cannabis arrests continue ad hoc, the grey zone proliferates sidelining legitimate cannabis entrepreneurs, certain cops continue to be on the take and Government gets no tax revenue.

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