South Africa occupies a unique position in the rapidly developing legal cannabis market. With a government that seeks to legalize and develop the cannabis and hemp sectors as a sunshine industry and a private and community sector desperately willing to engage, this should be a match made in heaven. Yet the country finds itself in a regulatory quagmire with market forces, both legal and illegal, now in control. Cannabiz Africa is your front row on the torturous journey towards a regulated adult-use commercial market.
This year started with renewed government energy on the cannabis reform front, but the challenge of aligning policy between different departments is proving difficult. The DTIC is now beginning to miss its own deadlines with the net effect that a new Cannabis law is unlikely to be passed before 2028.
Vaping has replaced cigarettes as the dominant inhalant amongst adolescents. This is one of the findings of a new study published in the SAMJ which warns that ‘dual use’ vaping with nicotine and cannabis is a growing public health crisis facing South African schools
As the cannabis retail ‘Grey Zone’ becomes regulated there will be a growing demand for sales and marketing skills sets within the sector. Ninth Wave recruitment specialist Lourie Campher (pictured here) says cultivation and pharmaceutical specialists are currently in demand, but the job pool is steadily expanding into other disciplines.
Anthony Karoly Smida says cannabis saved his life and now the police are ruining it. The Vaal Triangle medicinal cannabis researcher and healer has registered a complaint with the Public Protector alleging ongoing SAPS harassment and the destruction of valuable cannabis research assets to the tune of R34 million.
The Western Cape High Court has denied a state request to remove the urgency status from Gareth Prince’s application calling for a halt to cannabis arrests and other changes to the law. Instead it’s given the State a deadline to respond and the matter will be heard again on Monday, 8 June 2026.
Critics have long-warned that the Cannabis Act is fundamentally flawed – from a constitutional and policy perspective. Although Gareth Prince’s Western Cape High Court challenge is not targeting the Act specifically, if it succeeds, South Africa’s first pass at a cannabis law will either have to be rewritten or replaced.
MBOSA has got SAPS clearance to hold a celebratory no-holds-barred 420 Day Summit in North West Province this weekend. The organization is promising a combo of festivities, free cannabis trade, unharassed consumption and ‘national dialogue’ discussions around integrating cannabis into the formal economy.
South Africa’s leading cannabis activist Gareth Prince is to file an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court today that calls for a halt to cannabis arrests and challenges the foundations of the Cannabis Act.
The latest chapter in the 40-year old journey of world famous Dutch cannabis cultivation magazine Soft Secrets, begins in South Africa. The widely-distributed grower magazine launched its first local edition in February 2026, signalling ever closer connections between South Africa and the international cannabis community.
South African police find themselves in an extraordinarily difficult position as long as the daily reality of cannabis policing is at odds with the legislation they are meant to enforce. H3’s Charl Botha writes that what should be uniform has become situational and this will continue to throw up legal complications until the law itself passes the reality test.
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