South Africa's president has signed a bill to legalize cannabis possession and cultivation by adults. President Cyril Ramaphosa gave his approval to the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act (CfPPA) on Tuesday, just one day ahead of national elections. The National Assembly had passed the legislation last November, and the National Council of Provinces signed off in February.
The reform has been years in the making, with lawmakers well past a deadline following a Constitutional Court ruling in 2018 that deemed the prohibition on simple possession and cultivation of cannabis to be unlawful, mandating legislative change within two years.
The bill to codify legalization was finally introduced in 2020, but action had been delayed, even as South Africa's government has included cannabis in a list of sectors to prioritize in the interest of economic expansion.
"The consequent regulatory reform enabled by the CfPPA will, amongst others, entirely remove cannabis from the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act," the president's office said in a press release on Tuesday. "This will further enable amendment of the Schedules to the Medicines and Related Substances Act and provide for targeted regulatory reform of the Plant Breeders Rights Act and the Plant Improvement Act, as well as other pieces of legislation that require amendment to allow for the industrialization of the cannabis sector."
Read more at marijuanamoment.net