Trump Freeze on ‘Green Funding’ Puts Paid to Bold Project to Make Hemp Batteries for EV’s
A bold US initiative to twin hemp batteries and electric vehicles has come to nought with a Trump freeze on ‘green funding’. Wisconsin Battery Company had hoped its hemp carbon batteries would outperform lithium-based alternatives, but has run into financial difficulties before being able to put this to the test.
Okhahlamba Hopes Planned ‘Shared Cannabis Processing Facility’ Will Create Jobs as KZN Now Has Highest Unemployment Rate in SA
Okhahlamba (Bergville) Municipality in the Kwazulu Natal Drakensberg his pinning its hopes to bring down crippling unemployment in the area with the development of a cannabis processing facility. The pilot project is being funded by the province but the Municipality hopes to raise an additional R10 million to bring it to fruition.
Charl Botha: Our Constitution Upholds the Right to Free Trade, This Should Apply to Cannabis As Well
Section 22 of the Constitution upholds the right to free trade. Cannabis has been freely traded in southern Africa for hundreds of years. Legal activist Charl Botha of H3 Legal Solutions says there are seven Government departments who have it within their power to enable this trade. This is what he suggests they do.
DTIC: ‘Setting Up a Commercial Cannabis Framework is Our Priority!’
The DTIC is rebooting the Cannabis Master Plan telling key stakeholders that it’s priority is to commercialize cannabis. The Department wants to fast-track changes in the law to allow this and open up the channels of communication within government departments.
Mpumalanga Govt Says it Wants to Support Small-Scale Cannabis Businesses
Mpumulanga’s Agriculture and Small Business Development departments are actively seeking to fund ‘sustainable’ cannabis businesses with a focus on grassroots entreprenuers. This emerged at the recent Cannabis Symposium held near Mbombela earlier this month.
Compliant Players Feel the Pain as Losses Rack Up in the Absence of Regulations’
Government promises have cost private cannabis stakeholders billions of rand, left traditional growers in the lurch, and have created a regulatory vacuum which is penalising legitimate businesses. Cannabis legal activist Charl Botha says it’s time a multi-stakeholder cannabis task team to was set up to get a new overarching cannabis law on the books in 2026.
The Matekwane Sandbox Aims to Empower North West Cannabis Communities
North-West University (NWU) has unveiled its innovative Matekwane Sandbox, a “transformative research and development hub” aimed at integrating Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) into the legal cannabis industry. University cannabis researcher, Dr Thandeka Kunene (pictured here), says this is a significant milestone in ensuring people are able to access opportunities in the commercialization of cannabis.
Western Cape’s CanPlan to Focus on Hemp Trials and Knowledge Transfer
The Western Cape’s CanPlan is taking shape with the province aligning itself with the DTIC in the foundational development of the hemp industry. Agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer (pictured here) says the focus is on knowledge transfer and farmer support with hemp varietal trials currently underway.
Morocco Becoming Ghana’s Mentor in Developing a Cannabis Regulatory Framework
Ghanaian officials will head to Morocco this month to learn from one of Africa’s most experienced cannabis producers, as Accra prepares to bring an age-old illicit crop into the legal economy. This follows a meeting earlier this year in which Morocco offered Ghana assistance in establishing a regulatory framework that includes smallholder farmers.
DTIC: SA Cannabis Licensing System to be Completely Overhauled and Placed Under Control of a Central Cannabis Authority ASAP
The DTIC’s draft cannabis commercialization policy envisages the centralization of all licensing issues under one roof – that of a ‘central authority’ that will establish and oversee a completely new cannabis and hemp licensing regime in which retailers will be accommodated.