Cannabis trading still illegal, warns SAPS

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has warned that the establishment of illegal dispensaries/outlets, online sites and social media platforms for marketing and selling cannabis and related products to the public remains illegal, Northglen News reports.

This excludes instances permitted by the Medicines and Related Substances Act.

The warning comes after the SAPS established that the illegal substances, sold by businesses operating legally in terms of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act, are also being sold to the public as franchises authorised to deal in cannabis and cannabis-related products.

In terms of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act, “traditional medicine” is an object or substance used in traditional health practice for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of physical or mental illness for any curative or therapeutic purpose.

This includes the maintenance or restoration of physical or mental health or well-being in human beings but does not include a dependence-producing or dangerous substance or drug.

The SAPS and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) made the warning in a statement issued on Tuesday.

“Only an adult person may use, possess or cultivate cannabis in private for his or her consumption. The use, including smoking, of cannabis in public or the presence of children or the presence of non-consenting adult persons, is not allowed,” they said in the joint statement.

“The use or possession of cannabis in private other than by an adult for his or her consumption is also not permitted.”

Dealing in cannabis, the state organisation said, remains a serious criminal offence in terms of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act.

“Cannabis and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are currently listed as Schedule 7 substances in terms of the Medicines and Related Substances Act, except when present in processed hemp fibre and products containing not more than 0.1 per cent of THC in a form not suitable for ingestion, smoking or inhaling purposes; or when present in processed products made from cannabis seed containing not more than 0.001 per cent of THC; or when used for medicinal purposes,” read the statement.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is listed as a Schedule 4 substance. Certain CBD-containing preparations have been excluded from the operation of the Schedules by the Minister of Health for a time-limited period.