South Africa has become the first in Africa to give legal backing to the cultivation, possession and personal use of cannabis, part of efforts to reform the plant.
With the recent signing of Cannabis for Private Purposes Act, President Cyril Ramaphosa removes cannabis from the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act.
This therefore creates room for the amendments to the Medicines and Related Substances Act, the Plant Breeders Rights Act, and the Plant Improvement Act to support the industrialization of the country’s cannabis sector.
The bill also regulates the medical administration of cannabis to children, protects them from undue exposure, and provides alternatives for addressing prohibited use and possession by children, according to the President’s press release.
However, the sale of cannabis and the creation of a legal market remain prohibited.
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The new legislation regulates the possession, cultivation, and use of cannabis for personal purposes by adults while respecting privacy rights and protecting public health, particularly that of children.
Under the legislation, anyone 18 years or older can use cannabis at any place where the public doesn’t have access as of right.
Adults may possess unlimited seeds of a cannabis plant and seedlings; up to four flowering cannabis plants per person or eight per household (if two or more adults live there) in a private place; up to 100 grams of dried cannabis in a public place; and up to 600 grams of dried cannabis per person or 1,200 grams per household in a private place.
Adults may smoke and consume cannabis in private places and gift, without remuneration, up to 30 seeds or seedlings, one flowering plant, or 100 grams of dried cannabis.
However, the law establishes various offenses for exceeding cultivation and possession limits, failing to ensure cannabis plants are inaccessible to children, or not complying with cultivation standards.
Smoking or consuming cannabis in public places is prohibited but allowed in private spaces as long as it doesn’t endanger others, particularly minors.
