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.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed off on the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act a year ago, but the law has not yet been enacted into law. This is now SEVEN years since the Constitutional Court instructed Government to come up with a law regulating the private use of cannabis by adults.
The cannabis retail ‘grey zone’ is the anomaly in Government’s cannabis reform programme. In the absence of domestic market regulations, this sector has exploded into a whole new consumer segment of its own, generating billions of rand. That’s all well and good for consumers, says Silverleaf Investments Director Darryl Weisz, but legitimate investors continue to be penalized by officialdom’s inability to come up with rules for the game.
Registering trademarks that rely on the word ‘Green’ are high risk because their general descriptive nature. Specialist trademark law firm Adams and Adams suggests that cannabis businesses – and others – should consider suggestive rather than descriptive terms in registering a brand.
The cannabis sector continues to drive market innovation despite the regulatory hurdles that continue to dog the industry. This was evident in the offering of over 100 exhibitors, who had thousands of products on display, and a general consensus that the industry is thriving and this was a great networking event charting the future.
Dr Green, a flash Californian cannabis digital token marketing business, was meant to put on a big show at the Expo but the mystery disappearance of one of its senior executives effectively pulled the plug on the US company’s bid to market its new cannabis NFT. The question is: whatever happened to Ricardo Capone, and who took him away?
The Cannabis Expo is a vital matrix in the South African cannabis industry and has a vital role in bringing people together. But there could have been a bit more support from South African cannabis professionals. That’s the view of Trenton Birch (pictured here), convener of the Cheeba Cannabis and Hemp Industry Summit which took place alongside the Cannabis Expo last weekend.
The Cannabis Expo 2025 was a significant turning point for the event organizers, representing a broader maturing of the cannabis market. That’s according to CEO Silas Howarth (pictured here) who said the three-day trade show generated mass consumer excitement and millions of rands for businesses across the value chain and that Cape Town will host next year’s Expo. Here he reflects on Expo 2025 with Cannabiz Africa publisher Brett Hilton-Barber
The South African Human Rights Commission is to step up its campaign to support the Rastafarian community in the face of ongoing police persecution. It says the systematic victimization of Rastas around the country is a continuing constitutional violation of their human rights.
Ricardo Capone appears to have successfully eluded his pressing creditor issues and is alive and well and in an unknown location. The Dr Green executive abandoned his digital cannabis marketing campaign ahead of the Cannabis Expo and fled South Africa, where he had also been setting up a dodgy medical cannabis scheme under the Professor Herb brand.
Cannabis legal strategist Charl Botha says the Cannabis Expo has become an extension of the ‘Grey Zone’ where unregulated cannabis products are on sale without regard for consumer safety. He says the current policy vacuum has led to the Expo being a showground for opportunism.
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