Medicinal dagga regulations ready soon, MPs told

Potential growers of cannabis for medicinal purposes could apply for licences before the year is out, it emerged in Parliament last week, says a report in The Citizen. Briefing the Heath Committee, the Medicines Control Council’s Griffiths Molewa said they would approve regulations in the next few weeks. Proposed guidelines for growing cannabis for medicinal purposes were published for comment in March. Hundreds of comments were received, including 175 from members of the public, 221 from associations and NGOs, four from industry associations and two from government departments. The regulations were established to change the scheduling of cannabis from a banned substance to a prescribed substance for medical use. ‘The MCC is meeting next week to approve these (regulations and application forms) and once they have approved them they are for use by the public,’ health DG Precious Matsoso said.