It's been just over seven years since South Africa's Constitutional Court, in the landmark judgment of Prince, confirmed an order of constitutional invalidity made by the Western Cape High Court, which declared legislation criminalising the use, possession, purchase and cultivation of cannabis unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Court suspended the order for a period of 24 months to allow Parliament to remedy various provisions of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act and the Medicines and Related Substances Act.
Parliament fell short of the deadline; however, after multiple extensions of the order of invalidity, the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act (the Act) was finally passed and signed into law on 28 May 2024. The Act, however, is not in full effect yet pending the finalisation of certain regulations thereto.
On the 3 February 2026, The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development published the first set of draft regulations and called for public comments thereto by 5 March 2026. What follows is a brief, high-level summary of these draft regulations.
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