Gauteng wants the lion’s share of dagga economy
Gauteng has since identified the West Rand and the Vaal Triangle as potential special economic zones for 'incubation hubs'.
Gauteng wants the lion’s share of dagga economy.
Gauteng is pushing to become the country’s cannabis hub.
The province’s agricultural MEC Parks Tau said the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act needed to be amended, scrapped or rewritten as arrests for cannabis possession and dealing are ongoing.
Just last month, two men were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal for possession of marijuana with an estimated street value of R3 million.
Tau said the government’s hopes to develop a broad-based cannabis economy would be stillborn if the current laws around cannabis possession were not addressed urgently.
Gauteng wants the lions share of cannabis economy
Tau’s ambitious game plan for the herb includes incubation hubs, special economic zones and industrial-scale export of cannabis.
But before any of this, he wants the local market legalised as part of a strategy to develop township economies and create black industrialists.
One of the sore points of legalising marijuana usage is that it still largely excludes poorer, black communities from the industry – and the profits.
Presently, the South African unregulated cannabis industry carries an estimated value of R28 billion. Additionally, some believe that South Africa could be the fourth-largest cannabis producer in the world.
ALSO READ: Dagga laws choke good of the drug
Vaal set on becoming the Green Triangle
Gauteng has since identified the West Rand and the Vaal Triangle as potential special economic zones for “incubation hubs”.
There are already some developments underway in the Vaal.
Entrepreneur Benny de Beer’s has kicked off a “revolutionary medical cannabis project.” His company, CBD Full Spectrum Manufacturers International, is working to develop a local medicinal marijuana market.
De Beer is also offering support for local doctors applying for section 21 medicinal cannabis licences at the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra).
He uses a Sahpra-approved template to make it easier for doctors to prescribe cannabis medication to their patients.
As a licensed producer, De Beer can supply Sahpra-registered doctors with cannabis products for medically registered patients.
But he has described the process as onerous.
“Each of the four doctors I am assisting in getting Sahpra accredited have to submit 20 peer reviews and a volume of other paperwork,” said De Beer.
He is hoping that Sahpra will soon streamline the process.
Hemp permits applications begin in October
Hemp producers are anxiously waiting for the permit process to be opened next month.
This comes after some government backtracking on the matter.
In May, Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza initially said hemp permits would be issued by October. But the department then backtracked, saying the application for hemp permits would open on 1 October.
One man who’s anxiously waiting for the hemp permit go-ahead is Sizwe Nkukwana, CEO of Quattro.
Nkukwana has pledged R75 million for the rights to HempTrain technology and has lined up small-scale growers to be part of a hemp scheme in the Eastern Cape.
Nkukwana told Cannabiz Africa earlier this week he was the hopeful government would still come to the party in time for this year’s planting season and that the hemp permit application process would be open soon.
ALSO READ: The poor must be included in SA’s cannabis industry boom, says Cosatu
Celebrate cannabis heritage by creating a national seed bank
There are growing calls to establish a national cannabis seed bank so that indigenous landraces can be registered and protected against biopiracy.
Limpopo, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape long established themselves as the heartland of cannabis growing well over 300 years ago.
Their legacy is that South Africa now produces some of the finest cannabis in the world, naturally high in THC, versatile and drought-resistant.
There are over 900,000 cannabis farmers in South Africa keeping the cultivation culture alive despite prohibition.
Seed prices are also skyrocketing as the country moves to create a cannabis industry.
As it stands, some online sellers have pushed up the cost of female seeds. One popular online shop currently sells 10 female seeds for R800.
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