Page 24 - Daggabay Magazine Issue 10

Why do you think it is taking so long
for the full commercialisation of
cannabis in South Africa? The
cannabis master plan? Do we have an
estimated time period for all of this? –
I think it is for a number of reasons and
one can only speculate. But certainly
government has its eye on the market
value and is profits their main focus.
Also why there is little planned in the
master plan to stop the arrest of small
scale cannabis dealers just trying to
make a living in rural areas.
Government still sees cannabis as a
dangerous drug and not another healthy
plant from my point of view. Don’t get
me wrong, the cannabis master plan is a
step in the right direction with timelines
for implementation ranging from 2021 to
2024. However, people remain sceptical
since they also didn’t meet the deadline
ordered by the Constitutional Court in
2018 when government had 24 months
to amend legislation to be in line with
the constitution.
Anything you want to say to the cannabis
community?” – Let’s grow together! While a
lot of business ideas are currently being
hindered, there are legal ways to enter into
the market. As for the private users, we
keep on fighting cases where cannabis users
have been treated unfairly and are making
great progress in the labour law space to try
and protect cannabis users in
workplace. If you feel you have been treated
unfairly in respect of cannabis use, reach
out, and let our team of experts give you
some peace of mind.
How do you feel about the black
farmers association of South-Africa
that held a protest in Pretoria?
They called out the government’s agency
that regulates cannabis for blocking
indigenous farmers from participating in
the country’s budding legal weed industry.
– I think this comes back to my statement
about cannabis still being seen as a
dangerous drug and consequently you
need a section 22C medicinal license just
to handle or grow it. Medical licenses
require medical grade equipment and
administration which is very expensive. I
support the initiative that indigenous
farmers are being excluded to participate
in the legal weed industry but don’t think
it is because SAHPRA are maliciously
denying them their applications. It could
well be that they just don’t have the funds
required to set up a Good Manufacturing
Practices (GMP) compliant facility that
would pass a medical grade facility
inspection. I think the black farmers
association should rather have marched
on parliament demanding that they can
grow cannabis commercially without
requiring a medical license at all. SAHPRA
has standards that need to be met before a
medical license can be issued, regardless
of your nationality, race, political
association or any other form of
discrimination that one might suspect.
The true test would thus be if those
claiming to be excluded did indeed meet
all the requirements of a section 22C
license and SAHPRA still denied the
license.
the