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.
The Cochoqua Blue Downs Royal House in the Western Cape has linked up with Green Mammoth private cannabis club and Nutriquail Foods to launch an integrated farming co-operative that has food security and cannabis at its core.
SAPS has been unable or unwilling to update its cannabis arrest guidelines and is contributing to Government’s policy confusion. In the absence of new national guidelines, provincial police are a law unto themselves, hence the absurdity of SAPS Northern Cape hailing the arrest of a township man for cultivating 28 cannabis plants as a success in the fight against crime.
Traditional healers will be legally empowered to write sick notes for their patients that employers will be legally bound to recognize them. This is once they have been registered in terms of draft regulations, and accept levels of compliance. This may just be a mechanism to allow healers to ‘prescribe’ cannabis as well.
There may be over 2 000 private cannabis clubs operating under the legal radar in South Africa creating a cultural community vibrancy that rivals those in Barcelona and Amsterdam. That’s the view of international magazine High Times which reports that the evolution of a dynamic club culture has outpaced government’s chaotic attempts to regulate the sector.
South Africa is struggling to reconcile human rights, economic opportunity and effective reform, according to an in-depth dive by the iconic High Times Magazine into South African cannabis activism and the ambiguously shifting legal landscape. Reporter John Veit writes about the human cost of contradictory laws, police chaos, and an export-first legalization model that sidelines legacy growers.
SAHPRA and SAPS have warned that there is no such thing as a ‘Traditional Healers’ Cannabis License’ and that all businesses selling cannabis either through shops or online are operating illegally.
The DTIC is consulting Treasury on a new cannabis tax regime once the licensing net is expanded to include retail. Already an annual levy for ‘development’ and taxes for harms reduction are on the cards as the shadows behind cannabis commercialization emerge.
There are hundreds of thousands of South Africans engaged in the illicit, but highly visible cannabis economy that has become an accepted reality. While the DTIC is still deciding on the rules of the game, the market has gained a momentum of its own. Seth of the Daily Investor provides this snapshot of the state of play.
The Consumer Safety Act will be the umbrella law protecting consumers against harmful cannabis-related products. The National Consumer Commission (NCC) says the Act covers all aspects of consumer safety and labelling and will need no amendments to cater specifically for cannabis users.
No complaints relating to cannabis have yet been lodged with the National Consumer Council and until such time as new regulations are issued, the NCC will not conduct any investigation into the cannabis retail ‘Grey Zone’ that is largely operating illegally. That’s according to DTIC Minister Parks Tau in a written response to a DA parliamentary question.
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