In a leafy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, green leaves adorn the walls of a school where students learn how to grow cannabis—but smoking pot is banned.
The teaching aims to dispel the stigma around cannabis, says Linda Siboto, the co-founder of the institution, which styles itself as Africa's first cannabis academy. "It's important for us to professionalize this industry and basically showcase that we're not stoners with red eyes all the time talking about how great the weed is," he says.
The academy is hoping to ride a global re-think of cannabis regulations. From Spain to California, a growing number of governments are allowing people to light up.
In Africa, tiny Lesotho green-lighted cultivation of medicinal cannabis in 2017, paved the way for others like Zimbabwe, Malawi, and South Africa, which aspires to become a cannabis powerhouse.
Read more at forbesindia.com