South Africa: details of plans to legalize cannabis

The bill to legalize cannabis in South Africa has been published prior to its submission to Parliament. In particular, it sets the limits for what will be considered too much dagga to be considered for personal use.

The text defines cannabis as any substance containing THC. The legal limits for personal use at home are thus set at:

• unlimited for seeds and seedlings
• 4 flowering plants for people living alone, or 8 for households with two or more adults
• 600 grams of dried cannabis for people living alone, or 1.2 kg for households with two or more adults.

In public places, the limit for possession is set at 100 grams of cannabis or one flowering plant.

For exchanges between individuals, and provided that absolutely no payment is involved, the limits are set at:

• 30 seeds or seedlings, or a mix of both
• a flowering plant
• 100 grams of dried cannabis

The bill establishes a conversion system in which two growing cannabis plants are equivalent to one flowering plant, and 5 grams of fresh cannabis are equivalent to 1 gram of dried product. South Africans will thus be able to exchange up to 0.5 kg of fresh cannabis in public, or give each other two growing plants.

The bill also sets a maximum prison sentence of 15 years for anyone who sells cannabis or supplies it to a child. Anyone who consumes cannabis in public, or too close to a window, or «in the immediate presence of any non-consenting adult» may be imprisoned for up to 2 years. Smoking dagga However, doing so in the presence of children can result in up to four years in prison.

While the bill introduces a number of new offenses, it also contains specific provisions for individuals who have been convicted of cannabis-related offenses in the past. The criminal record of these individuals, which includes the conviction and sentence in question, must therefore be automatically expunged by the South African Police Service’s Criminal Records Centre.