Hemp production could soon be legal

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has formally requested the Department of Health and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to consider the necessary legislative amendments to allow for the commercialisation of hemp in South Africa.

Hemp production could soon be legal
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The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has formally requested the Department of Health and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to consider the necessary legislative amendments to allow for the commercialisation of hemp in South Africa.

In response to a question posed to the Minister of Agriculture Senzeni Zokwana, in Parliament by IFP MP, Narend Singh, Zokwana explained that hemp production was currently regulated in terms of the Medicines and Related Substances Act of 1965 and the Drugs and Drugs Trafficking Act of 1992.

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According to the ARC’s website, while hemp is a variety of the Cannabis sativa plant species from which marijuana is derived, hemp’s “delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content is very low” and “it cannot be used as a drug”.

“The [hemp] plant has been used for a wide variety of purposes [elsewhere in the world]. It is used to make over 25 000 consumer products, from hemp apparel and accessories to housewares and hempseed oil cosmetics. Some of the products made from hemp are: clothing, shoes, diapers, rope, canvas, cellophane, paints, fuels, chain lubricants, biodegradable plastics, paper, fibreboard, cement blocks, food, cosmetics, and soap.”

Zokwana explained that DAFF was leading the inter-departmental team developing a new regulatory framework for hemp.

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Meanwhile, it was reported earlier today that the Constitutional Court upheld a previous Western Cape High Court ruling that the private use of dagga is legal.

“The court has thus decriminalised the use and possession of dagga in private by an adult. It also gives Parliament 24 months to change Section 4b of the Medicine Controls Act,” a news report stated.

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Lloyd Phillips joined Farmer’s Weekly in January 2003 and is now a Senior Journalist with the publication. He spent most of his childhood on a Zululand sugarcane farm where he learned to speak fluent Zulu. After matriculating in 1993, Lloyd dreamed of working as a nature conservationist. Life’s vagaries, however, had different plans for him and Lloyd ended up sampling various jobs in South African agriculture before becoming a proud member of the Farmer’s Weekly team.