Middle-aged moms use them as a sleep aid. Gen Zs sometimes prefer them to alcohol. People with chronic pain say they are life-changing. Hundreds of shops have sprung up around South Africa dedicated to selling them freely — but now, the government is cracking down.
South Africa’s embrace of weed gummies and other edible cannabis products over the last few years has been enthusiastic. But the fun stopped on Friday, 7 March when a notification published in the Government Gazette and signed by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced a “prohibition on the sale, importation and manufacture of foodstuffs containing any part of the plant or component derived from the genus Cannabis Sativa L, hemp, hemp seed oil or hemp seed flour”.
advertisement
Don’t want to see this?
There was no further word from the Department of Health providing any context as to how or why the decision was made.
Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mohale said the “prohibitions relates to foods containing cannabis only not cosmetics or other industrials uses of cannabis.”
He said there were a number of concerns with the use of cannabis in foods from a safety perspective.
“Global best practice is to assess such products and authorise them for sale. So in the interest of public health safety of South Africans we want these products to be assessed by SAHPRA before being authorised for sale. Where these products exceed limits or make health claims then these products will be reviewed by SAHPRA.
“The Medicines Act allows for the sale of cannabis (in edibles) where the product makes a health claim or exceeds limits for active ingredients provided that the applicant is approved by SAHPRA.”
There appeared to be no explanation, however, for two of the most perplexing elements: the apparent lack of any kind of meaningful consultation and the inclusion of hemp — which, as activists have pointed out, flies in the face of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Adress pledge in February to position South Africa as “leading in the commercial production of hemp”.
Were they ever legal?
The legal position of cannabis and related products in South Africa has been murky and loophole-filled since the groundbreaking 2018 Constitutional Court “Prince” judgment decriminalised the use of marijuana by adults — but kept its sale illegal.
The 2024 Cannabis for Private Purposes Act regulated some aspects of possession and provided for the expungement of criminal records related to marijuana, but made no mention of edible products or hemp.
Paul-Michael Keichel, an attorney at Cullinan & Associates, is one of the few lawyers in SA specialising in cannabis legislation.
Keichel told Daily Maverick last year that there were widespread misunderstandings about the legality of the sale of cannabis products.
“Just because something flies under the radar, or isn’t enforced, does not mean that it is legal,” said Keichel.
Any cannabis-related products, he said, had to be licensed by Sahpra.
“Most of what is openly sold does not comply with any of this and, so, is technically illegal,” said Keichel, adding that anyone selling cannabis products without a Sahpra licence could be arrested for contravening the Drugs and Drugs Trafficking Act and the Medicines Act.
Contacted this week by Daily Maverick for comment on the newly-gazetted regulations regarding edibles, Keichel said they were effectively redundant, “because there’s nothing that rendered their sale legal prior to these regulations”.
advertisement
Don’t want to see this?
He said the regulations pertaining to hemp were far more controversial, since these products “are not psychoactive and have been sold — without adverse consequences — in the likes of Dis-Chem for decades”.
Keichel also questioned the fact that Motsoaledi had bypassed public participation requirements.
Under normal circumstances, the proposed regulations should have been gazetted and the public given three months to make submissions.
Motsoaledi evaded this by invoking section 15 (7) (b) of the 1972 Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, which allows the public participation phase to be skipped if “public interest requires [the regulations] to be made without delay”.
“What was the rush?” asked Keichel.
Weed businesses under threat
As news of the ban filtered through the industry last week, the mood at small businesses built around selling cannabis products was sombre.
Rubin, an employee at a cannabis shop in Woodstock, expressed his concerns.
“At the moment, we’ve been told we can’t sell edibles. Everything has been put on hold until further notice… We’re relatively new, but it’s going to affect our sales because a lot of new customers prefer edibles, drinks or milkshakes,” he said.
He said there was talk in the industry of possible legal challenges to the new regulations.
advertisement
Don’t want to see this?
An employee at a cannabis shop on Long Street in Cape Town, who wished to remain anonymous, told Daily Maverick: “I worked as a waiter at a sushi restaurant which had a minimum wage, but at least I broke even working here. If [this] company closes, that would put out, like, 12 employees.”
At another such shop in Long Street — a hub for cannabis-related businesses — an employee said: “Before, [customers] had to buy stuff from the streets and they did not know what they were getting. With us, they have a place that they know and trust.”
He said the shop had a number of older clients who used cannabis products for pain relief.
“There will be a lot of people who can’t smoke; other people have asthma, and that is the only way that they can actually have cannabis.” DM
The Department of Health’s sudden gazetting of a prohibition on edible cannabis products has caused an outcry — but a lawyer says the vast majority of these products have been illegal all along. Read More
