Cannabis community not shocked by new ban on infused food products

CAPE TOWN - Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi recently gazetted regulations banning the sale, importing and manufacturing of cannabis infused food products. 

Janet O’Donoghue, the co-founder of the South African Cannabis Community & Regulatory Association, has said that she is not shocked by the new ban. 

“We’ve been seeing this coming for a very long time because in fact it is aligned with current legislation around cannabis which hasn't actually changed much in the only way it has changed is actually to tighten up control of cannabis and of course acknowledge that personal use cannot be controlled although they have restricted it to a large degree", said O’Donoghue. 

She said under this schedule; the whole plant or parts of the plant are controlled and inaccessible to the public. 

She added: “So cannabis is not in the law except recently in personal use law, the plant was never mentioned in the law, it was only mentioned in the schedule of the drugs and drug trafficking act schedule and the medicines act schedule and in that it is defined as an undesirable dependent producing substance”.