South Africa: penalty tables, recreational/hemp/culture sections, products folded, 11 history entries

The president signed the law Parliament wrote in response to the 2018 court ruling. It removeswould let adults grow, hold and use cannabis fromin private and give it to each other without payment, take cannabis out of the drugs act, and provides forwipe old convictions for using or possessing it. Selling stays a crime with up to be expungedten years in prison. The Act starts only on a date the president proclaims, but it has not been brought into force:and regulations setting the limits arewere still in draft in 2026.

Government Gazette No. 50744, 3 June 2024 — Cannabis for Private Purposes Act, No. 7 of 2024 (PDF) Wikipedia — Cannabis in South Africa 1 unchanged

Signed but not brought into force; the 2018 ruling still sets what adults may do.

1992-07-15

easingother

The Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act did away withreplaced the mandatory minimum sentences of 1971 and left punishmentlaw. Using or possessing dagga could bring a fine, up to the courts15 years in prison, or both; dealing, which in law includes growing, up to 25 years. Possession stayedJudges kept the freedom to choose the sentence that a crime1986 amendment had given them, and anyone found with more than 115 g was still presumed to be dealing until the Constitutional Court struck that rule down in 1995.

possession 1 · cultivation 1 · enforcement 0 · sharing 1 · consumption 1 · access 0

Government Gazette No. 14143, 15 July 1992 — Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, No. 140 of 1992 (PDF) Wikipedia — Cannabis in South Africa

The Abuse of Dependence-producing Substances Act setFrom 1 December 1971 a minimum offirst conviction for possessing dagga meant at least two years in prison for a first possession offence and five forup to ten, and dealing at least five years and up to fifteen; repeat offenders faced longer minimums. Until then the maximum had been a fine of R1,000 or five years. The government called itminister said dagga led to stronger drugs; Helen Suzman moved to reject the toughest drug law inbill, objecting to the Western worldminimum sentences, the reversed burden of proof and detention for questioning. The law also created rehabilitation centres to which users could be committed.

Witwatersrand Local Division — S v Antwi, 19 November 2004 (2005 JDR 0102 (W)) House of Assembly debates, vol. 34, 6 May 1971 — Abuse of Dependence-producing Substances and Rehabilitation Centres Bill, second reading Wikipedia — Cannabis in South Africa

sentencing, treatment

The Interdepartmental Committee on the Abuse of Dagga published convictions for possession … t the plant is not native to southern Africa and is always cultivated, usually in secret. Following the report, police turned from arresting users towards targeting supply, and the amounts seized rose more than tenfold in the 1950s.

Historia 65(1) — Nkosi, Devey and Waetjen, Cannabis policing in mid-twentieth century South Africa (May 2020, PDF) 1 unchanged

tighteningenforcement

eradication, enforcement

The police confiscated and destroyed 2,515,563 pounds of dagga in 1954 and 2,757,965 pounds in 1955, most of the 1955 total in a single district, Nelspruit. Arrests for dagga peaked the same year at 23,289. By the end of the decade newspapers were warning that the habit, long regarded as confined to Africans and Coloured people, was spreading among young white people in Johannesburg.

Historia 65(1) — Nkosi, Devey and Waetjen, Cannabis policing in mid-twentieth century South Africa (May 2020, PDF) 1 unchanged

Adults 18+ may possess cannabis forin private purposesfor their own use, kept out of public view. The 2024 Act setswith no gram limit itself: the [Constitutional Court's 2018 ruling](/history/south-africa-constitutional-court-2018/) reads that exception into the drugs law.[@prince] Outside that protection, possession is still a crime under the 1992 Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, punishable by a fine, up to 15 years in prison, or both.[@dda] The [2024 Act](/history/south-africa-private-purposes-act-2024/) would also allow carrying cannabis in public, but it is not yet in force; draft.[@act] Draft regulations gazetted on 2 in [February 2026](/history/south-africa-draft-regulations-2026/) propose a cap of 750 g, at home or carried concealedout of sight in public. Until they are adopted, the right rests on the Constitutional Court's 2018 privacy ruling, with no fixed number.[@bd]

prince, dda, act, bd

Adults may grow cannabis in a private place for their own useconsumption, with no licence or, registration or plant limit.[@prince] Growing for anyone else counts as dealing, which carries up to 25 years in prison.[@dda] A Cape Town court ruled in [2022](/history/south-africa-haze-club-ruling-2022/) that the right cannot be handed to a grow club.[@dm22] The February 2026 draft regulations would cap thisgrowing at five plants per adult, of any size or strain. That cap is not yet law; if adopted, this segment's score would fall.[@bd]

actprince, dda, dm22, bd

Private adult possession, use and cultivation are not punished. An[@prince] Since [August 2023](/history/south-africa-police-arrest-directive-2023/) a directive of the national police commissioner has told officers not to arrest adults on a presumption of dealing, because no law fixes how much an adult who uses or possesses cannabismay hold; in public canDecember 2024 the Human Rights Commission said it still face a criminal sanctionreceived complaints of such arrests, particularly of Rastafari.[@sahrc24] Public possession and dealing remains a crimeremain crimes.[@dda] On [29 September 2022](/history/south-africa-child-cannabis-2022/) the Constitutional Court confirmedruled that criminalising a child's use or possession of cannabis is invalid. It suspended that finding for 24 months and, during the suspension, ordered that no child may be arrested, prosecuted or diverted for that contravention. Ausing or possessing cannabis; a child who is apprehended may be referred to civil processes. The judgment says use or possession by a child is still not permitted, and that dealing, and an adult who uses a child to possess or use cannabis, are stays outside the order. The 2024 Act, which would set the response for a child, has not come into force.[@zacc2022]

zacc2022prince, actsahrc24, dda, zacc2022

Any exchange for paymentsale or supply of cannabis is dealing, punishable by up to 25 years in prison, and remains a crimecourt must impose prison.[@dda] Since [1997](/history/south-africa-minimum-sentences-1997/) dealing in drugs worth more than R50,000, or more than R10,000 by a syndicate, carries a minimum of 15 years for a first offender.[@claa] The 2024 Act would let anone adult, without payment, give cannabis to or receive it from another adult in a private placewithout payment and lower the maximum for dealing to ten years, but that Actit has not come into force.[@act] The 2018 ruling protects only possession, use and cultivationgrowing for oneself. An unpaid gift between adults is not settled by a holding read here.[@prince]

dda, claa, act, zacc2022prince

An adult's may use cannabis in a private place rests on the 2018 ruling. Public use can[@prince] Use elsewhere still be a crimefalls under the drugs law's offence of using an undesirable substance.[@dda] The 2024 Act would also forbidturn public use, use in the presencea vehicle on a public road and use in front of a child or a non-consenting adult into offences punished by a fine of up to R2,000, but that Actit has not come into force.[@act]

zacc2022prince, dda, act

There is no legal way to buy cannabis for adult use. The, and the 2024 Act would also exclude trade, and itnot create one.[@act] The health regulator has licensed no shop: retail outlets calling themselves dispensaries, sometimes displaying cultivation licences that do not come into forcecover sales, operate illegally.[@gray25,chats25] Private 'grow clubs' and dispensaries operate in remain open to prosecution.[@dm22] The only lawful route to THC is a legal grey zone and are periodically raideddoctor's application for an unregistered medicine.[@gray25]

adamsact, idpcgray25, chats25, dm22

Private cultivationCannabis may be grown commercially only for an adult’s own use is protected bymedicine and export, under a licence from the 2018 ruling. Commercial medical cultivation requires health -regulator licensing. From 1 December; just over a hundred such licences had been issued by late 2025, the separate agricultural hemp framework covers crops whose leaves and flowering heads contain no more than 2% delta-9 THC, replacing 0none allows sales to the public.[@gray25] Hemp under the 2%; production and propagation activities require the relevant Registrar THC line is a separate agricultural crop with its own permits.[@hemp2025,hempregs2025] Commercial adult-use sales remain illegal, and the 2024 Act would not change that.[@sahpra,act,hemp2025,hempregs2025] The trade department planned a commercialisation policy for Cabinet by April 2026 and an overarching cannabis bill by mid-2027; none of this had been adopted.[@gray25] In September 2026 the small-business department [sought legal options for recognising indigenous growers’ recognition and participation](/history/south-africa-indigenous-growers-legal-options-2026/); its notice commissions policy work while existing licensing rules continue.[@growers2026]

sahpragray25, act, hemp2025, hempregs2025, act, growers2026

Private personal cultivation is protected; adult-use sales remain prohibited. Low-dose CBD products are available over the counter; THC products are not legally sold outside the medical route.

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Medical access is possible but narrow:A patient who needs THC must find a doctor mustwilling to apply to the regulator[South African Health Products Regulatory Authority](https://www.sahpra.org.za/) for permission to prescribe an unregistered cannabis medicine for athat named patient; by December 2025 no THC-containing medicine had been registered, and the regulator does not publish how many such permits it grants.[@gray25] CBD above the over-the-counter limits is a prescription-only medicine.[@sahpra_cbd] The regulator had issued a little over a hundred licences to grow and export cannabis for medical use by late 2025, but these cover raw material, not sales to patients.[@gray25] The 2024 Act would let a responsible adult give a child cannabis prescribed by a doctor, and that Actit has not come into force.[@act]

sahpragray25, sahpra_cbd, act

A conviction for dagga stays on the criminal record, and many South Africans carry one from decades of mass arrests.[@historia] The 2024 Act would expunge convictions for using or possessing cannabis under the 1971 and 1992 drug laws and the laws of the former homelands, some automatically, but it has not come into force.[@act] Since the [2022 judgment lets](/history/south-africa-child-cannabis-2022/) a child's conviction for cannabis use or possession can be expunged on application. The 2024 Act provides for a wider expungement of old possession and use convictions, and that Act has not come into force.[@zacc2022] Workplace testing and dismissal for a positive test remain contested in the courts, and driving under the influence is an offence.[@adams,sacq19]

zacc2022historia, act, zacc2022, adams, sacq19

Nothing in the law names seeds or cuttings for private growers: the 2018 ruling protects an adult's own cultivation in private, and selling cannabis for adult use remains dealing.[@prince] The Cannabis for Private Purposes Act defines cannabis as the flowering or fruiting tops and leaves out the seed and the seedling. It, and would let an adult, without payment, give cannabis to or receive it from another adult in a private place. The Act comes into operation only on a date the President proclaims, and; it has not come into force. The 2018 ruling protects an adult's own cultivation in private. Sale of adult-use cannabis remains dealing. The separate agricultural[@act] For hemp framework, effectivethe agricultural framework in effect since 1 December 2025, uses a 2% delta-9 THC crop limit and permit rulesrequires permits for cultivation and propagation material.[@hemp2025,hempregs2025]

prince, act, hemp2025, hempregs2025

After the 2018 ruling allowed private growing, many 'grow clubs' appeared: members supply seed, the club grows the plants and hands back the harvest, charging for the gardening and not for the cannabis.[@dm22] Police raided one, The Haze Club, in October 2020.[@dm22] In [August 2022](/history/south-africa-haze-club-ruling-2022/) the Western Cape Town High Court refused to declare the model lawful, holding that the right to grow for private use cannot be outsourced and that an unregulated club could in practice legalise dealing.[@dm22,sdl22] Until the law provides for them, clubs risk prosecution under the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act.[@sdl22]

dm22, sdl22

Adult-use cannabis sales remain illegal, but the market has changed shape since the Constitutional Court allowed private growing in 2018.[@gu24] The traditional source, Mpondoland in the Eastern Cape, where villages have grown dagga for more than a century and police never managed to stop the trade, has been collapsing: growers.[@gu19,gu24] Growers reported in 2024 that a 20-litre bucket that once fetched 1,500 to 2,000 rand now sold for 500, and some burned harvest they could not sell.[@gu24] A researcher puts this down to the rise of home growing, to imported high-potency strains … n often illicit but largely unpoliced city trade of businesses he calls a "cowboy" sector. Medical commercial cultivation requires a[@gu24] In 2025 the health -regulator licence; private personal growing and permitted agricultural hemp have separate lawful routeswarned that so-called dispensaries were displaying its licences, which do not authorise them to sell.[@chats25]

gu24, gu19, hemp2025, actchats25

There is no THC limit for drivers.[@sacq19] The road traffic law prohibits driving under the influence of alcohol or of a drug having a narcotic effect, so a prosecution depends on showing impairment.[@sacq19] A 2019 review in the South African Crime Quarterly found that testing drivers for substances other than alcohol is rarely done, and called for a statutory definition and detailed testing provisions.[@sacq19] The 2024 Act would add a fine of up to R2,000 for using cannabis in a vehicle on a public road, once it comes into force.[@act]

sacq19, act

No current national count of cannabis arrests was found.[@sahrc24] The last long series is historical: police reported [5,762 dagga arrests in 1932](/history/south-africa-dagga-arrests-count-1932/), 23,289 at the 1955 peak and [over 30,000 a year](/history/south-africa-dagga-arrests-1968/) in 1967 and 1968.[@historia] Since 23 August 2023 a directive of the national police commissionerdirective has told officers that adults may not be arrested on a presumption of selling, because no law fixes the quantity an adult may hold or grow.[@sahrc24] In December 2024 the Human Rights Commission said it was still receiving complaints of cannabis users being arrested, especially from the Rastafari community, and urged the government to bring the 2024 Act into force.[@sahrc24]

sahrc24, historia

Nobody can buy cannabis legally, visitor or resident.[@gray25] The 2018 ruling protects an adult's own possession, growing and use in a private place, and it does not separate residents from visitors.[@prince] The 2024 Act is not in force. Draft, and draft regulations published in February 2026 would cap possession at 750 g and growing at five plants.[@bd] A visitor therefore has no legal source, and public use or possession in public can still be a crimeprosecuted under the drugs law.[@dda]

adamsgray25, prince, bd, dda

The local landrace of Mpondoland is low in THC, 2.5 to 8% by one researcher's account, and is losing ground to imported high-potency strains.[@gu24] A [September 2026 report](/history/south-africa-landrace-return-report-2026/) describes the African Cultural Heritage Trust, Druids Garden and farmer partners’' plans to characterise landrace genetics and return verified cultivars through community nurseries.[@landrace2026] Druids Garden’'s chief executive said a seed bank collected in Southern Africa in 1948–1972 was donated in 2024.[@landrace2026] The broader research partnership dates to 2019; community nurseries, shared ownership and royalties are described as programme objectives.[@landrace2026]

gu24, landrace2026

Constitutional Court — Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development v Prince [2018] ZACC 30, 18 September 2018 (PDF) Government Gazette No. 14143, 15 July 1992 — Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, No. 140 of 1992 (PDF) Government Gazette — Criminal Law Amendment Act, No. 105 of 1997 (PDF) SAHPRA — THC and CBD information Spotlight via AllAfrica — Andy Gray, Where are we on the road to more coherent cannabis regulation? (3 December 2025) IOL The Post — Community leaders call for action against illegal cannabis stores in Chatsworth (July 2025) Parliamentary Monitoring Group — Question NW1552 to the Minister of Agriculture: hemp permits (2025) International Journal of Drug Policy 125 — Mutai et al., Trends and factors associated with illicit drug use in South Africa, 2002–2017 (2024) Daily Maverick — Take me to your dealer: grow club model dealt a blow as growing pot for others is still deemed criminal (31 August 2022) Historia 65(1) — Nkosi, Devey and Waetjen, Cannabis policing in mid-twentieth century South Africa (May 2020, PDF) The African Roots of Marijuana Points — Thembisa Waetjen, How cannabis became a 'drug' in South Africa (10 July 2018) John Mitchell Watt — Dagga in South Africa, UN Bulletin on Narcotics, 1961, issue 3 South African Human Rights Commission — Reminds law enforcement to adhere to the moratorium on cannabis-related arrests (23 December 2024) Cape Town Etc — SAHRC encourages law enforcement not to make cannabis-related arrests (25 December 2024) IDPC — South African president assents to the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill SAHPRA — South African Health Products Regulatory Authority 12 unchanged

label Adult, in private, for own use · treatment legal · note No gram limit set; 750 g proposed in the 2026 draft regulations, label Possession outside that protection, such as in public · treatment criminal · term Use or possession of an undesirable dependence-producing substance · prison 15 years · note Prison or a fine, or both; the fine has no set maximum

label Adult, private place, for own consumption · treatment legal · note No plant limit set; five plants proposed in the 2026 draft regulations, label Growing for others or for sale · treatment criminal · term Dealing (the law counts cultivation as dealing) · prison 25 years · note Prison must be imposed; a fine may be added

label Dealing (selling, supplying or growing for others) · treatment criminal · term Dealing in an undesirable dependence-producing substance · prison 25 years · note Prison must be imposed; a fine may be added, label Dealing in drugs worth more than R50,000 · treatment criminal · term Dealing under the minimum-sentence law · prison min 15 years · prison 25 years · note Also over R10,000 by a group or syndicate; 20 and 25 years minimum for later offences

A South African adult can lawfully grow and smoke dagga at home but cannot lawfully buy it, so most cannabis is grown at home, shared, or bought from the illicit trade.[@prince,act] Recent (past three months) cannabis use among people aged 15 and over rose from 1.5% in 2002 to 7.8% in 2017, according to five national household surveys.[@mutai] Since 2018 the supply has shifted from the old outdoor dagga of Mpondoland in the Eastern Cape towards home grows and imported high-potency strains, and Mpondoland growers reported in 2024 that a 20-litre bucket had fallen to 500 rand.[@gu24] In towns, cannabis shops, smoking lounges and "private clubs" have spread; in Durban's Chatsworth in 2025 residents said they were opening in every area, and police said they would act against both sellers and buyers.[@chats25] Low-dose CBD is sold legally over the counter (see Hemp and CBD).[@sahpra_cbd]

prince, act, mutai, gu24, chats25, sahpra_cbd

high

Hemp is a farm crop under the agriculture department, and since [1 December 2025](/history/south-africa-hemp-two-percent-2025/) a plant counts as hemp if its leaves and flowering heads hold no more than 2% delta-9 THC, up from 0.2%.[@hemp2025] Growing, breeding and selling propagation material need permits under the plant improvement rules.[@hempregs2025] By April 2025 the department had issued 1,400 hemp cultivation permits and registered 24 businesses to grow and sell hemp seed and seedlings.[@hempq25] Since [2019](/history/south-africa-cbd-over-the-counter-2019/) low-dose CBD can be sold without a prescription: a product with no more than 600 mg per pack and 20 mg a day, making only a low-risk health claim, is a complementary medicine.[@sahpra_cbd] Processed products with no more than 0.001% THC are also exempt from the medicine schedules.[@sahpra_cbd]

hemp2025, hempregs2025, hempq25, sahpra_cbd

South Africa's word for cannabis, [dagga](/culture/language/dagga/), came from a Khoisan language of the Western Cape and had entered Cape Town speech [by 1658](/history/south-africa-dagga-word-record-1658/).[@duvall] Men across the region smoked it through horn water pipes and [earth pipes](/culture/traditions/the-earth-pipe/), with pastimes such as the [spit-bubble game](/culture/traditions/the-spit-bubble-game/) and the [smoker's cough](/culture/traditions/the-smokers-cough/).[@duvall] When the [1922 ban](/history/south-africa-national-ban-1922/) was debated, Natal officials said older men who smoked by custom should not be made criminals by a stroke of the pen, and the health department promised police discretion; the atlas tells this as the [elder's morning pipe](/culture/traditions/the-morning-pipe/).[@waetjen18] The ban fell hardest on Black and Coloured South Africans: in 1948 almost all possession convictions were of Africans and Coloured people.[@watt61] Gareth Prince, who had lost a [2002 case](/history/south-africa-prince-law-society-2002/) to be admitted as an attorney despite his Rastafarian use of cannabis, was the lead applicant, with Jeremy Acton of the [Dagga Party](/history/south-africa-dagga-party-2009/), in the [2018 ruling](/history/south-africa-constitutional-court-2018/).[@prince] Rastafari remain among those most often arrested, the Human Rights Commission said in 2024.[@sahrc24] Since 2018 grow clubs modelled loosely on [cannabis social clubs](/culture/traditions/cannabis-social-clubs/) have spread, without legal footing.[@dm22]

duvall, waetjen18, watt61, prince, sahrc24, dm22

Legal to grow, illegal to buy

South Africa was one of the first countries to ban cannabis and the one that asked the wo … session offence, and the government called it the toughest drug law in the Western world. TheAn [amendment in 1986](/history/south-africa-sentencing-discretion-1986/) removed the minimums, and the [1992 law](/history/south-africa-drugs-act-1992/) removed the minimums but kept possession a crime. ## Three applicants The challenge was brought by three men. Gar … d enforcement from 2 to 6 for [South Africa](/country/za/). Access rose only from 0 to 1.

The Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, No. 140 of 1992, was assented to on 2 July 1992 and p … ubstances Act of [1971](/history/south-africa-mandatory-minimums-1971/) and its amendments, and with them the.[@1] That law's mandatory minimum prison sentences of a law its own governmentterms had called the toughestalready been [abolished in the Western world1986](/history/south-africa-sentencing-discretion-1986/).[@2] ## How dagga is classed The Act sorts drugs into three groups: dependence-producing subst … ck. There is a ceiling and no floor. Under the 1971 Act a first conviction for possession had meant at least two years, until a 1986 amendment did away with the minimums and for dealing at least fivemade fines possible. From[@2] The 1992 Act kept that freedom: a magistrate could still fine.[@1] ## The presumptions The Act made the prosecutor's work easier in other ways. A person was … anager; - they were conveying a drug, or in charge of the vehicle in which it was found. The 115-gram rule did not last. In [November 1995](/history/south-africa-bhulwana-presumption-1995/) the new Constitutional Court struck it down: the state could not explain the figure, unchanged since it was set as four ounces in [1954](/history/south-africa-dealing-presumption-1954/), and a regular user might hold that much.[@3] ## The same law, two eras The Act was written under one constitution and applied under an … d not be applied to an adult's private use, possession and cultivation. ## Why the index moveddid not move The index movedscores for [South Africa](/country/za/) from 7 to 11 withstay where the [1992 Act1986 amendment](/history/south-africa-drugssentencing-actdiscretion-19921986/) left them. Only enforcement changedThat change, not the 1992 Act, raised enforcement from 0 to 2: with the by ending mandatory minimums gone, a fine became possible for possessionprison. Possession, cultivation, sharing and consumption stay at 1, since each was still a crime with a long maximum sentence.[@1,2]

Transvaal Provincial Division — S v Kekana 1989 (3) SA 513 (T), 19 January 1989 (headnote) Constitutional Court — S v Bhulwana; S v Gwadiso [1995] ZACC 11, 29 November 1995 (PDF) Wikipedia — Cannabis in South Africa 1 unchanged