Welcome to the World's Most Interesting Cannabis Experiment

There has been an unspoken assumption that mainstreaming the cannabis retail ‘Grey Zone’ into a regulated framework is something that could work. What if it can’t? What if the ‘Grey Zone’ is actually the future? Could the concept of ‘regulation’ become memories tinged with nostalgia? This is not far-fetched if you look at the tobacco industry which has left regulatory compliance in the dust.

The recent formation of the South African Cannabis Club Association has given weight to the idea that clubs should be collaborating more closely to lobby for legal recognition. Grow one Africa (GoA), a service provider to 15 private clubs which have close on 9 000 members, has come out in support of SACCA. GoA CEO Vanessa de Sousa (pictured here) writes for Cannabiz Africa that clubs are stepping stones towards industry regulation and should be working together.

Labat Africa has cautioned shareholders that it is in the process of selling ‘certain assets’ to a related party. This has fuelled market speculation that the group is finally getting out of the cannabis space altogether as its operational and compliance issues reach a testing point.