Let’s get one thing straight: 

The SALE of any product containing THC, CBD (above the meagre 20mg per day dose limit), CBG, CBN, etc AND outside imported (there are no registered Cannabis medicines in SA), prescribed prescription Cannabis AND Hemp (below 2% THC) food products – has ALWAYS BEEN ILLEGAL.

The retraction of the proposed ban on “THC” edibles DOES NOT MAKE THEM LEGAL.

Here at Fields of Green for ALL we are very relieved that the Dept of Health has seen the error of their ways and we look forward to the public consultations. We sincerely hope that they will heed the advice of experts as civil society is frustrated and exhausted with the slow pace, endless promises and proliferation of misinformation out there. The only thing we need is evidence-based legal regulation. The Cannabis Community of South Africa knows what we want. Talk to us!

As the advocacy arm of SACHIDA – the South African Cannabis and Hemp Industry Development Association – Fields of Green for ALL supports this media statement.

***** – credit first aired on Cape Town TV 26 March 2025

On the 7th of March it seemed as if our South African government had learned nothing over the decades that civil society has been fighting for the legal regulation of Cannabis in South Africa and beyond.

In case you missed it, here is the announcement by our Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoeledi:

DOH Draft Regulations Foodstuff etc 070325

In a radio interview, a spokesperson for the Dept of Health, Penny Campbell tried to explain the move:

So, just to clarify, we have not banned any of the products. We have prohibited them being called foodstuffs purely because the Medicines Act has indicated that if these products fall outside of the schedule zero, where they’ve been sitting for quite a while, then they would need to be approved by the Department of Health under the Foodstuffs Act. So, that process must still unfold and so therefore it’s a challenge to indicate that products that have been to date being sold in health shops as health supplements to then automatically fall into being called a foodstuff.

So, we’re not stopping them from selling them in a health shop where SAPPRA has okayed it to happen. We are only indicating that for you to be a foodstuff, you need to comply with the rules of the Foodstuffs Act.

So, for example, hemp seed must be free from THC and CBD to then be processed into a food product. So, for that to happen, you need to de-hull the hemp seed and you need to make sure that your extraction process or cold pressing process does not bring in any contaminant from the husk of the seed which is where there’s likely to be THC. Some hemp plants will have some CBD in them and CBD is a scheduled substance under the Medicines Act.

SAPPRA historically had under the Medicines Act Schedule 7 cannabis. Then it was de-scheduled to 6 and 4.

The THC being Schedule 6 and the CBD being Schedule 4. And then they made exemptions under the CBD schedule to make a complementary medicine in a dosage form subject to certain levels, a Schedule 0 which means it can be sold in an open shop. And they then have a B which says anything for ingestion containing 75 ppm CBD.

So, if your product has CBD in it, it therefore implies that it can’t be a foodstuff. The preamble also to Schedule 0 indicates that there must be approval from the Department of Health. So, that’s the link to SAPPRA.

Penny Campbell, Department of Health

From this complicated explanation meant to be explanatory for the general public, we can see that our government has a public relations problem. Time and again, many experts, both local and international, have been offered up to guide the process but, time and again, various government departments demonstrate their ignorance around Cannabis in a stark and unsettling way.

Here at Fields of Green for ALL we are of the opinion that this ban is the result of media hype around children and Dagga cookies. Many in government (and specifically one senior person at the DTIC who said it during a webinar) believe that there are children who have died after eating Dagga cookies. This is simply false and the fact that they are confusing the issue with the 21 children who died of (suspected) methanol poisoning in the Eastern Cape in 2022 is very worrying. This also speaks to the enduring stigma around the Cannabis plant and the power of scare tactics in the media. Cannabis always makes headlines and if the article is about cookies & children, it is sure to garner the clicks!

The Cannabis community in South Africa is not above reproach, though. We hope that this is a wake up call for those selling Cannabis (illegally) without employing best practice – keep it private; strict age limits; accurate testing and labelling; trained staff. Contact us if you want to learn about best practice!

BE THE GOOD PERSON WHO DISOBEYS BAD LAWS.

 

For the record, here is Fields of Green for ALL’s reaction to the ban:

Cannabis and hemp edibles banned by Health Minister –  702 Interview with Lester Kiewit

Vienna 1st Response

Vienna 2nd Response

Cape Town TV