Hemporium has struggled against the odds to establish itself as the leading hemp retail chain in the country. The Cape-based company recently opened its flagship store in the Cape Town’s Hemp Hotel, offering the largest range of hemp products in Africa. Marketing Manager Shale Tinkler (pictured above) spoke to Cannabiz Africa publisher Brett Hilton-Barber about the trials and tribulations of pioneering hemp retail and what advice he has for entrepreneurs looking to enter this sector.

New Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen says “implementing the Cannabis Master Plan is a critical priority” but it is “being hindered by the lack of legislative alignment which needs urgent attention”. He says the Agriculture Dept is bears overall responsibility for the Plan, the DTIC will “oversee” it,

The legalization of cannabis across the US has left North Carolina behind. Here medical and recreational use remains prohibited, but that hasn’t stopped the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) to leverage their sovereignty to became the first indigenous tribe to launch a regulated cannabis market.

There has been a huge upsurge of Section 21 medical cannabis patients in the last year, with SAHPRA expressing concern that many ‘dispensaries’ offering this service are actually just a front for ‘recreational’ sales. Just what is the current legal landscape in terms of medical cannabis in South Africa? Bassani Medical Cannabis CEO Mike Stringer lays down the line.

‘Synthetic Cannabinoids’ (SC’s) are prevelant in the cannabis vapes sourced from the US being sold in the UK. A University of Bath study has revealed that vaping might not be such a ‘less harmful’ way of ingesting cannabis than previously believed.

The African Hemp Fund reports that industrial cannabis, or hemp, is experiencing “significant economic expansion” in Africa although the overall regulatory market remains constrained. Despite this analysts project that Africa’s industrial hemp industry possesses a market potential of US$2.4 billion – and this excludes CBD, which itself is a massive market.

In the last year there has been an explosion of private cannabis shops, clubs and dispensaries across South Africa’s metros. Most of the so-called “grey zone” consumer-orientated cannabis outlets are actually very much ‘black’, and against the law. Even though police appear to be turning a blind eye to this thriving ‘wild west’ sector, stakeholders have called for legal clarity on how commercial cannabis will be regulated.

Afriplex, a subsidiary of the investment group, Impilovest, has invested R150 million in upgrading its scientific technology capacity in the past four years and has entered a completely new space in the cannabis industry. It has invested in highly-specialized equipment that uses cannabinoids as building blocks to create new compounds and processes. These have nothing to do with traditional cannabis applications but have a wide range of industrial and other uses.

Industrial cannabis (hemp) is where all Government’s energy is going and this is clearly where the most entrepreneurial opportunities lie. Control over non-medical cannabis is being handed over to the Agriculture Department and the plant will soon be dropped from the Drugs Act. This changes in the regulatory framework are slowly coming into place.

There’s no doubt that despite the pain many cannabis companies have felt, the industry itself is burgeoning, creating new businesses and jobs, opening up fresh markets – and importantly, from a government perspective, adding big numbers to the fiscus. In the US, legal cannabis jurisdictions generated over US$4 billion in tax revenue in 2023.

A recent Cheeba Africa webinar on 'Hemp as Food', revealed the huge potential for industrial cannabis to be used as a healthy foodstuff. Although hemp is ideal for boosting young brains, the stigma surrounding cannabis is blocking health authorities from allowing hemp-based food products to be used in school feeding schemes.

On 19 November 2024 the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein will finally hear the case of The Haze Club (THC). This is almost two years after a Western Cape reserved judgement on the matter which has implications for the legal status of South Africa’s scores of private cannabis clubs