The 5th of November 2014 marked the 3rd day of public hearings, held at the National Assembly, regarding new legislation that seek to replace the Medicines Control Council with a new authority on medicines and related substances.
The Medicines & Related Substances Amendment Bill [B6-2014] will establish a new regulatory body, called the South African Health Product Regulatory Authority, that will oversee medicines, medical devices and food stuffs.
The bill is now in a secondary stage of being processed. Public hearings are being held at the National Assembly level. It has yet to go through a third stage overseen by the national council of provinces before it can be signed into law by the president.
At this stage we do not have enough information available to say whether the new regulatory body will introduce medical dagga into South Africa.
One thing is certain amendments will need to be made to the Drug & Trafficking Act, and other acts of law, to enable the new authority to venture into the business of alternative dagga medication and marijuana health products such as medicated edibles.
Amendments made to the Drug & Trafficking Act earlier in 2014 have made all cannabinoids illegal effectively making dagga extracts illegal on a biological level.
The Medical Innovation Bill, set in motion by late Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, may pave a way for a single dagga license to be issued to a sole corporate body for the purpose of producing legal commercialised dagga for medical and industrial applications.
While we drown in the red tape and bad legislation, South African medical dagga patients are in despair as they are facing a national medical dagga crisis.
Special shout-out to @ZARKA_THC who made us aware of the Bill.