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.
Cannabis brands are usually associated with peace, calm, love and understanding. Not with high torque extreme car racing and smack-in-your-face martial arts or jumping a Motor x bike 23m into the air, but Hey! There’s no rule book in this game and the guys behind the PotAround franchise are redefining plant marketing – and it’s paying off!
SAPS collusion with the cannabis underworld came into sharp focus at 3 pm on a blisteringly cold day on the N4 highway in Mpumulanga when three policemen – in full uniform, on duty, and in a marked car – were pulled over by fellow officers for escorting a vehicle loaded with illicit cannabis!
Among the many new medical cannabis service providers entering the fray is UK-based Professor Herb, which through its local franchise, Dr Kush, is offering an online cannabis buying service. Professor Herb’s main product line is distributing CBD products in Europe, but as of April, it has started selling ‘medical’ cannabis in South Africa outside the regulatory channels.
Cannabis Expo headline sponsor Synergy Wellness capitalized on the exposure generated by the event, saying it had an overwhelming response from retailers and prospective patients interested in its medical cannabis services. Brett Hilton-Barber caught up with Synergy Wellness’s CEO John Hodes (pictured here) and COO Gareth Williams to see what the event generated for them.
The South African cannabis industry has gone through a painful few years, constrained by Government’s slow and shambolic approach to regulatory reform. The irony is that to date the ‘grey zone’ appears to have benefitted the most so far from the Constitutional Courts 2018 decision to legalize private consumption, while other sectors of the cannabis economy have lagged behind. So what lies in store for SA cannabis in the year ahead? Cannabiz Africa publisher Brett Hilton-Barber has a look ahead.
Robin Grobelaar (pictured here) is the man behind Synergy Medibles, the innovative business concept that has navigated the hazards of the current regulatory regime to produce SAH|PRA compliant ‘medibles. He explains to Cannabiz Africa publisher Brett Hilton-Barber how these edibles are not foodstuffs at all, but are complementary medicines in line with the regulator’s consumer safety guidelines.
The founder and CEO of South Africa’s leading cannabis skills and training academy says he’s not surprised that Gauteng Government has mismanaged a West Rand training scheme in which R20 million appears to have been misappropriated. Cheeba Africa’s Trenton Birch says this is a “sadly, typical government project”.
The Democratic Alliance is taking on Gauteng’s Agriculture Department for wasting money on an ill-advised cannabis project at Tarlton near Mogale City. The Silver Tree project received R20 million funding to train cannabis farmers, but the money appears to have vanished without being spent on its intended purpose.
Government has quietly overhauled its hemp farming regulations, confirming the lift in THC limits to 2%, dropping fencing requirements and size restrictions and getting the police out of the picture. This has emerged from a written response by Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen to a question in Parliament on the National Cannabis Master Plan.
The Agriculture Department says it’s to embark on a nationwide ‘multiplication drive’ for the two local hemp varietals it has registered, and will provide permit holders with training and support with the assistance of the Agricultural Research Council.
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