Although South Africa accounts for a tiny percentage of global cannabis trade, it is an important part of the bigger picture, with cannabis markets in Europe, the UK, Israel and Australia. Cannabiz Africa reports on international developments affecting the African cannabis and hemp sector as well as consumer market trends of interest to South African operators.
The recently released UN World Drug Report 2026 says illicit cannabis networks are increasingly riding on the back of legal cannabis supply chains and that synthetic cannabinoids have complicated the market. Cannabis remains the most widely trafficked drug, accounting for over 50% of global seizures.
German medical cannabis companies may provide product information on their online telesales platforms but they are not allowed to put a sales spin on their offerings. This follows a Federal Court of Justice ruling earlier this year that cannabis products may be advertised to medical professionals only – not to patients or consumers.
Forbes Magazine reports that US states that have legalized recreational cannabis have collected more than $28 billion in tax revenue over the past roughly 12 years.
Worldwide, one of the deepest problems in trying to regulate cannabis is that it is being defined in pharmaceutical terms and not recognized as a plant medicine. This will only be fixed at a United Nations level says leading cannabis economist Beau Whitney, in order to create a meaningful framework for regulation.
Africa and other developing cannabis economies need to collaborate and create their own markets. They need to do this to avoid falling into the trap of canna-colonialism, whereby their regulatory systems are designed to serve European medical cannabis interests instead of their own.
The release of the World Drug Report has highlighted how the war on drugs has become a war on human rights and how the United Nations has failed to live up to its mandate. Punitive responses to drug taking are creating more harms and not providing any solutions.
Decriminalising the possession of cannabis or strictly regulating access to the drug do not appear to drive up usage, but when the drug is sold commercially the number of users increases and more mental health problems are seen, a UK academic review has found.
Cannabis remains the most commonly consumed illicit drug in Europe yet the public impact of the evolving market is still unclear. That’s according to the European Drug Report 2026 which estimates that 25 million European adults (8,7% of the population) used cannabis in the last year.
Toronto cannabis shop Cosmic Charlies has been ordered by FIFA to destroy the world-cup-shaped bongs on sale on the grounds of copyright infringement. Does Cosmic Charlies care? No, because they’re riding high on the publicity.
International cannabis thought leaders from across the world are to descend on Cape Town at the end of the month for ICS 2026. Organizer Sean Hocking tells Cannabiz Africa that the Back to Basics theme is aimed at breaking North American and European dominance in determining the world’s cannabis regulatory systems.
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