The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has again issued a warning that it is illegal to sell cannabis and that the Traditional Healers Act is being misused to justify trading in cannabis.
In an (undated) media release late last year, SAHPRA says that SAPS has issued a ‘stern warning’ to the cannabis outlets that have mushroomed across the country that the sale of cannabis is prohibited under current laws, unless it is specifically to medical cannabis patients registered under Section 21 of the Medicines Act.
“Some of these illegal businesses, purporting to be operating legally in terms of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act (No. 22 of 2007), are also being sold to members of the public as franchises authorised to deal in cannabis and cannabis-related products” says SAHPRA.
“In terms of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act, the definition of “traditional medicine” means an object or substance used in traditional health practice for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of a physical or mental illness or any curative or therapeutic purpose, including the maintenance or restoration of physical or mental health or well-being in human beings but does not include a dependence-producing or dangerous substance or drug””.
“As a result, the Traditional Health Practitioners Act does not create a mechanism to sell cannabis and cannabis- related products that are not exempted in terms of the Medicines Act”.
The main proponent of the ‘Traditional Healers Licences’ is the Marijuana Board of South Africa (MBOSA). MBOSA co-founder, Thabo Simon Makwetla, told a Project Indlela webinar on 11 October 2025, that the organization believed it was on firm legal ground in issuing such licenses to its members. MBOSA has been on a provincial recruitment drive, signing up organizations representing traditional healers and legacy cannabis communities, mainly in the Western and Eastern Cape and Gauteng.
Read the full report at https://www.cannabiz-africa.com/blog/sahpra-warns-traditional-healers-cannabis-licenses-are-illegal
Sean Hocking
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