South Africa’s new CBD and THC regulations

The government has opened up the cannabinoid economy, a much awaited economic move by many. With this new scheduling we should see a surge of industry and foreign investment. You can download a copy of the new scheduling below for some background.

CBD

CBD is now a schedule 4 drug, this means it must be bought with a prescription. A prescription is only required when the package contains 600mg or less CBD, with a daily dosage of 20mg/day; products that fall under this criteria are seen as schedule 0.

When buying schedule 0 CBD, it will be a registered medicine, produced by a manufacturer of medicines that has been approved by the South African Health Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).

Schedule 7 Drug?

Cannabis, as in plant form, has now been completely removed from the schedule 7 list in the Medicine’s Act of 1965. Following this act, industrial hemp was also grouped with cannabis and has since then created headaches for industries trying to move towards this green solution to many problems.

The rescheduling of THC from schedule 7 to 6 will now open the doors for research and previously restricted access.

Industrial Hemp

Industrial hemp has now been removed as a regulated substance, but any product that is made using hemp must have less than 0.2% THC. These tight limits on THC might have a negative effect on industrial hemp manufacturers. Not a lot of hemp strains produce such low THC and the ones that do are harder to grow in our climate. Taking a look at Malawi who has set their limit to 1%, the government should reconsider.

The Narrow Line

We are grateful and excited to see how the new regulations change the economy, although we stress that smaller businesses and local suppliers of CBD are now being pushed into coming forward and working with South African Health Regulatory Authority to become registered producers of CBD medicine.

Thank you for making it this far and as always, thanks for the support.

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