The biggest news to date in the complementary medicines and health supplements market is that CBD oil is now officially a SO product in South Africa.

This is because the legal classification of cannabis, or Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has shifted significantly.

Within days of the announcement by SAHPRA on the down-scheduling of CBD, a host of new cannabis consumables and CBD-based health supplements were launched by South African pharma manufacturers. This development has sparked the start of the cannabis industry boom in our country, bringing good news to the CBD trade, cannabis growers and hemp farmers, as well as consumers of this once illicit product.

In the P&C Review July cannabis supplement, we explore the specifics of SAHPRA’s announcement, looking closely at the amendments to the Medicines Act published on 22 May 2020. We also reveal the promising potential of cannabinoids that have been discovered by Sanobiotec; showcase Cannapure, Symrise’s synthetic and GMP-approved alternative to CBD; and we share the story of Grow Indoors, which utilised short-run digital labelling to effectively label its CBD and THC detection kits.