Cannabis market stunted by misalignment of policy and law

  • 📰 BDliveSA
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 49 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 23%
  • Publisher: 63%

South Africa News News

SA has earmarked the sector as a growth industry but legislative uncertainty and regulatory hurdles effectively lock out local industry from competing in Europe

The ease of doing business has been identified as an overriding factor in supporting the development of emerging economies. Liberal economic scholars note that business is fundamentally improved by developing evidence-based regulations that provideSA scores 67.6 out of 100 in the Ease of Doing Business index established by the World Bank Group in its Doing Business report, which “ranks countries against each other based on how the regulatory environment is conducive to business operations”.

However, the cannabis regulatory environment remains unclear, highlighting deep policy incongruence and regulatory uncertainties. One of the biggest problems is that cannabis remains a prohibited substance in terms of the Drugs & Drug Trafficking Act. In addition, despite a 2018 Constitutional Court ruling that it is no longer a criminal offence for an adult to use or be in possession of cannabis in a private place, the recreational use of cannabis remains technically illegal.

2. Cannabis certification companies, which play an important role in exports of cannabidiol hemp, which is non-psychoactive, aren’t supporting hemp cultivators. The latest draft of the Country Investment Strategy issued by the presidency on May 27 sets out a clear, export-led growth plan for SA’s commercial cannabis sector. As a matter of principle, all stakeholders with business operations in the commercial cannabis sector of SA should support this vision.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

Gr8 piece. The ConCourt anticipated the slothful politician when declaring their ruling would be law if amendments fail. My sense of it is (& i cud b wrong) that the judgement allows for naturally occurring THC levels that may exceed 10%? Pressure must aim 2approve these levels.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 12. in ZA

South Africa South Africa Latest News, South Africa South Africa Headlines