South Africa

South Africa became the first country in Africa to legalize cannabis for personal use last week under a bill signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa just days before the president’s party lost its majority in Congress.

The South African province of KwaZulu-Natal recently granted 664 licenses to cultivate, store, and transport industrial hemp plants containing up to 0.2% THC content.

South African lawmakers on Tuesday approved a bill to legalize the personal use of cannabis. The measure does not legalize cannabis sales, meaning if individuals want to consume it legally, they have to grow it.

South Africa Cabinet officials have advanced a bill legalizing the adult use of cannabis; the measure comes three years after a High Court ruling declared that cannabis prohibition was unconstitutional.