Cannabis Master Plan: The search for the pot of gold

First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

A lot of rolling papers – Rizla being a standard brand – are sold in South Africa. Loose tobacco, a legal product, is also sold fairly widely. There is no data on this that this correspondent is aware of, but one suspects that there is a disconnect between the number of rolling papers sold and the amount of loose tobacco that is sold.

By this I mean that the number of papers sold could surely roll far more cigarettes than the amount of loose tobacco that is traded would suggest. That might indicate that rolling papers are being hoarded, but we all know the reason behind this discrepancy. It’s because most Rizlas sold in South Africa are used to roll cannabis joints. Decades of prohibition on this front have been an utter failure.

The reality of this state of affairs has slowly dawned on South African policy makers, whose hand on the issue was forced – as is often the case – by the courts, in this instance the Constitutional Court. It ruled in September 2018 that South Africans had the right to consume cannabis in the privacy of their own homes. This effectively decriminalised the private use of dagga.

The court gave Parliament 24 months to change the legislation to align with the ruling. It has not, but the drive towards legalisation and the unlocking of the economic potential it could bring has plodded along. One result was the unveiling this week of the Cannabis Master Plan at the gabfest that is the National Economic Development and Labour Council, or Nedlac.

To wit, the suggestions and timelines laid out in the Master Plan provide some hope that a sensible cannabis policy can be crafted – one that taps into the sector’s budding economic potential while recognising that adults should be treated as such. That goes against the grain of a government with a deep streak of social conservatism, as the various episodes of prohibition during the pandemic have shown. But it is also a government that is desperate to kick-start economic growth even as many of its own policies have throttled it.

Among other things, the Master Plan calls for the “Amendment of schedules of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act”, which means bringing some kind of regulated legality to the proceedings.

The Master Plan makes the obvious point that: “The biggest legal challenge is that there is no law in the RSA that allows for commercialisation of cannabis.” So change the law. The timeline here is 2021/22.

Another “intervention” it lays out is: “Signing of the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill into law” by 2022/23. That is a bit tardy according to the Constitutional Court’s instructions on the matter but it gets things hopefully rolling.

The “development of a new policy and legislation for commercialisation of cannabis” is another intervention, which the Master Plan says should be in the hands of the control freaks at the Department of Trade and Industry. Expect all kinds of red tape to be wrapped around this one.

“Establishment and implementation of registration system for all companies and organisations involved in breeding, multiplication and sale of cannabis seed” is another intervention, which will be in the hands of the Department of Agriculture.

It also says that certification schemes and import and export protocols need to be developed and that sort of thing. That is quite sensible.

Economic development and job creation are the driving forces behind the Master Plan. “The purpose of the master plan is to provide a broad framework for the development and growth of the South African cannabis industry in order to contribute to economic development, job creation, inclusive participation, rural development and poverty alleviation,” it says.

Its key objectives are as follows:

• Establish an inclusive, sustainable and globally competitive cannabis industry in South Africa.


• Increase the volumes and variety of cannabis products destined for both local and export markets.


• Establish and increase the capacity of South African farmers to produce dagga and hemp.


• Create opportunities for creation of small and medium-sized enterprises across the cannabis value chain.


• Increase investments in research and technology development to support the increased production, productivity and competitiveness of the cannabis industry.


• Establish and increase the manufacturing capacity of the South African cannabis industry.


• Designate cannabis and hemp products with the designated local content legislative framework.