Medicinal Cannabis: This Is No Weed!

Since the legalisation of cannabis for private use in South Africa, various industries have been gearing up to produce medicinal cannabis on a large scale. However, misinformation abounds about the level of intricacy in growing the plant and extracting the oil. Lindi Botha spoke to a medicinal cannabis farmer to learn more.

- Lindi Botha

It is ironic that, while many farmers spend money on weed eradication, the cannabis plant, which is classified as a weed, does not flourish and produce high-quality material when left to grow wild. Medicinal cannabis producers have similar input costs to any sophisticated tunnel farmer, with the added burden of having to wait 18 months for a licence to grow the plant, if they receive one at all.

According to Jason Law, managing director of the Cannabis Development Council of the Eastern Cape (CDCEC), labelling a product ‘medicinal’ invites considerable scrutiny, and this is one reason so few licences are granted.

“Because we’re dealing with a plant, it makes it even more difficult to regulate, as plants differ from one to the next depending on their growing conditions,” he says.

The CDCEC has chosen an alternative approach, focusing on supporting traditional healers to distribute medicinal cannabis legally.

“Traditional medicine is less controlled by pharmaceutical companies, and any licensed traditional healer can prescribe and sell cannabis legally. We’re therefore working to develop this part of the industry so that it benefits the 80 000 traditional healers in South Africa, the patients who desperately need it, and the many rural farmers who rely on cannabis for an income. There are farmers who’ve been growing South African landrace cannabis for decades, and they need to be protected.”

HIGH-QUALITY PRODUCTION

A medicinal cannabis grower from Mpumalanga, Bob*, says he started producing the plant after using high-quality cannabidiol (CBD) oil himself in an attempt to treat stage 4 lymphoma cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 2017. He believes the CBD oil helped cure him, and he now produces it for other people at no profit, charging only as much as he needs to cover his input costs.