CANNABIS BILL: NCOP COMMITTEE CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

CANNABIS BILL: NCOP COMMITTEE CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

• 30 November 2023
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

The NCOP Committee on Security & Justice has called for written submissions by 19 January 2024 on the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill. This is in anticipation of a final round of public hearings.

Tabled in 2020, the Bill’s original purpose was to give effect to a 2018 Constitutional Court ruling on an adult person’s right – for private purposes only – to possess cannabis plant cultivation material; cultivate a prescribed number of cannabis plants; possess a prescribed quantity of cannabis; and to smoke and consume it in private. The tabled Bill also provided for the expungement of criminal records of persons convicted of the possession or use of cannabis in certain circumstances.

In addition, the ‘B’ version now before the NCOP takes account of the best interests of children found in possession of cannabis and facing prosecution. This after the National Assembly’s Justice & Correctional Services Committee approached the House for permission to extend the scope of the Bill to that end and was authorised to do so.

Earlier requests to extend the Bill’s scope to address other issues were also granted and submissions sought on what was proposed at the time. These issues included:

• the cultivation, possession and supply of cannabis plants and cannabis by organisations for religious and cultural purposes on behalf of their members
• the right to privacy of an adult person using cannabis for palliation or medication, and
• hemp cultivation for commercial purposes.

It is not immediately apparent from the contents of the Bill’s ‘B’ version to what extent these matters are addressed.

Please click the links below for more information:

• Bill’s ‘B’ version
• committee notice 
• 22 September 2023 SA Legal Academy report

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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