Aside from having a comparatively lower cost of agricultural production due to advantageous environmental conditions and the cost of labour, South Africa has a track record of agricultural process innovation, medical innovation and stringent quality control requirements for medical cannabis licensing, making it an ideal destination to cater to the global medical cannabis market, the firm said.
Given the above, the CIS proposes that the state enable the finalisation of a common cannabis regulatory framework geared towards industrialisation for export, with a focus on the medicinal value chain, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr said.which both streamlines export-scale production and opens up domestic market access through clear, sensible regulation of medicinal cannabis coupled with investment mobilisation and enabling activity by the state.
With regard to the quality control aspect of medical cannabis manufacturing, South Africa is a member of the internationally renowned, Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme , which ensures that products are consistently produced and controlled to the quality standards appropriate for their intended use and as required by relevant international marketing authorisations or product specifications.
“Internationally, there is evidence of cannabis being cultivated in accordance with good agricultural practice and/or good agricultural collection practice standards, then processed in GMP facilities for sale as a GMP-certified product on the medicinal markets.