South Africa: government approves cannabis legalization bill

The South African government has approved the cannabis legalization bill and sent the text to Parliament for reading.

More than three years ago, the High Court of Cape Town ruled that the ban on private use of cannabis was unconstitutional, a decision confirmed in 2018 by the country's Constitutional Court.

The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, said at a press briefing on Thursday that the bill would codify the Constitutional Court's ruling that parts of the Drug Trafficking Act and the Drug and Related Substances Control Act were unconstitutional.

The ruling was suspended for two years to allow legislators to correct the affected sections of the laws, he said in his remarks.

Details of the proposal have not yet been published. They require parliamentary scrutiny and a public consultation process before becoming law.

All we know is that «this bill regulates the consumption and possession of cannabis and the cultivation of cannabis plants by an adult for personal use. It sets a limit on the amount of cannabis an adult can possess, and criminalizes the use of cannabis in public places,» according to a declaration by Ronald Lamola.

In the meantime, the’South Africa has begun to develop its medical cannabis industry and open access to hemp cultivation for CBD purposes.