The DA has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to scrap Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s surprise ban on cannabis-containing foodstuffs, saying it will stifle the hemp industry.

A Business Day report notes Motsoaledi published regulations to the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics & Disinfectants Act on 7 March imposing a blanket ban on all cannabis-containing foodstuffs, including those with ingredients derived from hemp.

The regulations were published without first seeking public input and thus came into immediate effect.

They prohibit the sale, importation and manufacture of foodstuffs containing ingredients derived from cannabis, hemp, hemp seed oil or hemp seed flour.

DA Health spokesperson Michéle Clark said the global hempseed market, valued at more than $5bn in 2023, was expected to double by 2032, with the food and beverage sector driving much of the growth.

She said Motsoaledi’s ‘ill-considered’ move threatened over 1 400 licensed businesses and 400 small, medium and micro enterprises. She added the DA was concerned by the process that led to the ban, as the Health Minister had bypassed public consultation.

‘Instead of imposing restrictions, the government should support the hemp industry, which has the potential to boost jobs, improve public health and drive sustainable economic development,’ Clark said.

GOOD party secretary-general Brett Herron said the Health Minister was ‘smoking his socks’.

‘It borders on lunacy for the President to trumpet the future of an industry (hemp), only for one of his Ministers to ban its products, which have been sold in mainstream stores for years,’ he said.

Herron urged the President to overturn Motsoaledi’s ban and speed up work on the cannabis master plan to ensure the sector was appropriately regulated.

Full Business Day report