‘Scrap new Bill for cannabis’ – movement

The new Bill for using cannabis privately should be scrapped as it ignores the needs of rural farmers, Rastafarians and traditional healers, says the Global Cannabis March Movement (GCMM).

“President Cyril Ramaphosa promised last year to look at the rules for these stakeholders, but it didn’t happen,” said Dave Sewell of GCMM. But the Bill has benefits, he said.

ALSO READ: Cosatu welcomes Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill

The legalisation and commercialisation of cannabis can contribute to eliminating unemployment and contribute to the country’s economy.

“This can create hundreds of thousands of jobs and bring in tax revenue for the government.”

Trenton Birch, CEO of Cheeba Cannabis Academy, said commercialisation would drive employment and bolster the economy.

“We have the land, the climate and the manpower to become a serious largescale cultivator, especially for hemp, which requires large tracts of land to be used and needs a trained workforce to deliver.”

But South Africa is moving “unacceptably slowly” towards this commercial market, Birch said.

“We have the opportunity to play a leading role globally in the cultivation and export of cannabis and hemp but we need a competitive strategy and time is running out as more developing countries bring cannabis online and can compete with us on price.”

ALSO READ: Dagga bill a stepping stone ‘to bigger issues’

The decriminalisation of cannabis was a small victory, said Moleboheng Semela, a cannabis farmer with a 200 hectare farm just outside Bloemfontein.

Her business includes cannabis-based products and “planting of cannabis and industrial hemp for research purposes in conjunction with the University of Free State”.

The Bill does not address policies and red tape in issuing permits, she said.

“We are fighting it because it talks about use, but it does not talk about where people buy the products. We want to have business people who are doing this legally,” Semela said.

Birch said growing medical cannabis according to international standards is expensive. “Small farmers are excluded due to the lack of legislation.”