CAMs & HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS
New cannabis rules announced The legal classification of cannabis, or THC, has shifted significantly. Neil Kirby, director: healthcare and life sciences law at Werksmans Attorneys, takes a closer look at the amendments to the Medicines Act published on 22 May 2020.
C
annabidiol is a Schedule 4 substance. However, cannabidiol is a Schedule 0 substance when the following criteria
are met: • it’s contained a complementary medicine as that term is legally defined in the General Regulations to the Medicines Act (GNR 859, dated 25 August 2017) • the complementary medicine contains no more than 600mg cannabidiol
‘per sales pack’, providing a maximum daily dose of 20mg of cannabidiol • making a general ‘health enhancement, health maintenance or relief of minor symptoms (i.e. low-risk) claim’, none of which is defined in the amendment or the Medicines Act • processed products made from ‘cannabis raw plant material’ for ingestion containing 0.0075% or less cannabidiol ‘where only naturally occurring quantity of cannabinoids found in the source material are contained in the product’.
THC DOWN-SCHEDULED Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is now a Schedule 6 substance having been moved from Schedule 7 by the amendments. However, the classification does not apply to the following products and circumstances: • in raw plant material and processed products when intended for industrial purposes and not
"There remains much to do in addressing complementary medicines and their registration“ 10
CANNABIS GROW TH // WWW.PHARMACOS.CO.ZA
