AGRICULTURAL NEWS - The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has formally requested the Department of Health and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to consider the necessary legislative amendments to allow for the commercialisation of hemp in South Africa.
In response to a question posed to the Minister of Agriculture Senzeni Zokwana, in Parliament by IFP MP, Narend Singh, Zokwana explained that hemp production was currently regulated in terms of the Medicines and Related Substances Act of 1965 and the Drugs and Drugs Trafficking Act of 1992.
According to the ARC’s website, while hemp is a variety of the Cannabis sativa plant species from which marijuana is derived, hemp’s “delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content is very low” and “it cannot be used as a drug”.
“The [hemp] plant has been used for a wide variety of purposes [elsewhere in the world]. It is used to make over 25 000 consumer products, from hemp apparel and accessories to housewares and hempseed oil cosmetics. Some of the products made from hemp are: clothing, shoes, diapers, rope, canvas, cellophane, paints, fuels, chain lubricants, biodegradable plastics, paper, fibreboard, cement blocks, food, cosmetics, and soap.”
