With South Africa progressively becoming more and more 420-friendly, many of us are wondering about its current legality.

Cannabis in South Africa was initially classed as a Schedule 7 substance, which put it alongside other drugs such as heroin and mandrax, making it illegal to cultivate, analyse, possess, research, use, sell, or supply without authorisation from the Department of Health. However, in 2016, the Medicines Control Council (now known as SAHPRA) expressed interest in rescheduling it to a Schedule 6 drug during the Medical Innovation Bill in Parliament. This would allow the medical use of cannabis in South Africa.

On Tuesday, the 18th of September 2018, the South African Constitutional Court decriminalised the private use and cultivation of cannabis, giving the Government a 24-month time frame to update existing laws. Following this, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) rescheduled CBD to a Schedule 4 drug and THC to a Schedule 6 drug and Schedule 0 under certain circumstances.
No official information on quantities of cannabis a person was allowed to have for personal consumption was released until 2020 when the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill was put forward to Parliament for approval. This bill proposed limits for personal and private adult use as well as guidelines for the cultivation and sharing of cannabis without financial compensation; the bill was passed in 2023.

As of the 15th of November, the following laws apply to cannabis and its possession;
1. For dried cannabis flowers, no person is allowed to have more than 100g of cannabis on them and, no more than 600g for a single-person household, and 1200g for households with more than two adults.

2. For cannabis plants, the legal limit is four plants for a single-person household and eight plants for households of more than two adults.

3. Cannabis seeds possess no limit on how many a person can have at home with them; the same applies to seed lines (no taller than 15cm tall and wide, but the limit for public possession and sharing is 30.

4. Supplements and medicines for sale are allowed to contain no more than 600mg of CBD as a whole and with a daily dose of 20mg or under, which will allow them to be classed as a Schedule 0 product (unregulated and over-the-counter medication and supplements). There still seem to be some grey areas regarding THC, though.

The year 2023 saw somewhat of a "Green Rush" happen in South Africa, with cannabis shops opening up all over, operating on a growers club type of model, where members can safely obtain cannabis products for private use. The advocacy group Fields of Green for ALL has been offering support in becoming a private club and legal assistance to unfortunate victims of uninformed law enforcement officers with initiatives such as "Stop the Cops".

As 2024 gets rolling, we will see many more cannabis products for sale under the SAPHRA Section 21 licensing.

This allows license holders to manufacture and sell products containing cannabis for medicinal use and research purposes. That said, we can expect more changes to these laws as time passes.