CALL TO ACTION: SIGN OUR LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT AND RELEVANT MINISTERS:

https://forms.gle/oFt3W1Jenr5xscPb8

(Deadline: Wednesday 11 November at midnight)

Link to PDF: GP SAPS Directive October 2026

Is this what the government want? Fear, panic, uncertainty, misinformation and outrage? The “Gauteng Directive” emanating out of the Office of the Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service, landed on our desks on Tuesday 27 October. We have waited for the dust to settle before commenting, although it hasn’t, really.

The main questions we have heard most often in the last 10 days are:

  • Is it real?
  • What prompted this?
  • Why is it only Gauteng?
  • Are the cops going to shut down every store / club / “dispensary”?
  • What can we do now?

The directive came hot on the heels of the discovery that SAHPRA (the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority) has stopped issuing Section 21 permits for access to unregistered medicine. We are not sure but we suspect that this has something to do with it. SAHPRA and the SAPS have a long history of working together.

Whether it is real or not is also in question. News24 describes the document as a “leaked police memo shared by Gauteng police commissioner Tommy Mthombeni”. In the wording of the document, it says that the “directive was prompted by the uncertainty brought about by the proliferation of individuals and shops…” No, the uncertainty is NOT caused by the “shops”, it is caused by the government dragging their heels for eight years, despite our South African Cannabis communities doing everything possible to engage in constructive dialogue in order to move the process of enacting our Constitutional Rights forward.

We can speculate as to why the facts of the “directive” are so inaccurate, why it is so badly written and what will happen now. However, the fact remains that this is an insult to each and every one of us who has worked so hard over the last two decades. What is this “space cookies” nonsense? Nobody calls them that anymore! This just shows how out of touch the government and the police are. As we have said so many times, they still think we smoke the leaves.

“Drug War” rhetoric is alive and well in our media. This fuels law enforcement’s obsession with locking us up in cages. It also fuels fear and outrage on every single channel of communication. It highlights the cowboy operators who have been hiding behind fake Section 21s since 2019. You know who you are. These nefarious rich okes need to offer an apology to the patients, REAL patients, who can no longer access medication which has proved to be effective for their chronic illness. But we doubt that you care very much beyond your bank account.

Fields of Green for ALL’s advice throughout has been: PRIVACY, PRIVACY, PRIVACY – That is all we have. 

  • SECURE YOUR ESTABLISHMENT – access control is essential, the cops can’t just walk in.
  • TRAIN YOUR STAFF – do your bud tenders know what to do if the cops rock up? Do they know what a search warrant looks like?
  • KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
  • KNOW YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
  • YOUR CAR IS YOUR PRIVATE SPACE
  • YOUR BAG IS YOUR PRIVATE SPACE
  • THERE IS NO LEGAL WAY TO TRADE IN CANNABIS

Please do NOT bribe the cops. This is the worst thing to do, for all of us.

Enough said. Contact us if you are still confused.

Add Your Voice. Demand Action.

The Coalition’s open letter is an opportunity to demonstrate the breadth of South African society affected by failed Cannabis policy.

Sign the letter. Share it with your networks. Encourage your organisation, colleagues and community to participate.

After decades of advocacy, court victories, consultations and promises, South Africa deserves more than another round of government silence.

We will be sharing a recording of the webinar as soon as our technical glitches have been edited. Watch this space!

The time for coordinated action is NOW.

SIGN THE CCC OPEN LETTER HERE – https://forms.gle/QqgTprjPQXdcw6fY7