Cannabis glossary

The vocabulary of this sector does a lot of quiet work. Where a word carries an argument, we say so.

B

Bast fibre

The long fibres in the outer layer of the cannabis stalk. They go into textiles, rope, canvas, paper, composites and geotextiles, and are separated from the woody core by decortication.

C

Cannabis for Private Purposes Act

The 2024 Act passed to give effect to the Prince judgment. Signed in May 2024, it has not commenced. It regulates private use and provides for expungement, and creates no commercial route.

CBD (cannabidiol)

A non-intoxicating cannabinoid. In South Africa it sits in Schedule 4 of the Medicines Act, with Schedule 0 exceptions for low-dose complementary medicines and for processed ingestible products at 0.0075% CBD or less.

D

Dagga

The common South African name for cannabis, from the Khoe word dachab. We use it as the word most South Africans actually use, not as a lesser term.

Dagga Private Club

A collective, usually a non-profit company, where adults pool resources to cultivate cannabis for their own use. Formalised from April 2019, in the space between lawful private cultivation and unlawful trade. Its legal status has not been settled by a court.

DALRRD

The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. It administers hemp cultivation permits under the Plant Improvement Act and convened the 2023 Cannabis and Hemp Phakisa.

Decortication

Separating the cannabis stalk into bast fibre and hurd. It is the first industrial step for fibre, and South Africa has no industrial-scale decortication capacity, which is the main physical bottleneck in the hemp value chain.

Drugs Act

The Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act 140 of 1992. Cannabis remains listed in it, so anything outside the private-use, medical and hemp regimes is a criminal offence.

dtic

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. It has led the National Cannabis Master Plan since September 2024 and chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Hemp and Cannabis. Written lower case, as the department styles itself.

E

Expungement

Clearing a criminal record of a conviction. The Cannabis for Private Purposes Act provides for the expungement of cannabis convictions, but the process is not yet operating.

F

FECO

Full Extract Cannabis Oil, a whole-plant concentrate made by extracting the flower. It is the highest-value product a landrace grower could produce, and the basis of the roughly R6bn figure estimated for Mpondoland's harvest.

G

GAP, GACP and GMP

Good Agricultural Practice and Good Agricultural and Collection Practice at cultivation; Good Manufacturing Practice at processing. GMP certification is what allows a product to be used as an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient. These standards, not the quality of the plant, are what decide who can sell into the medical market.

H

Hemp

A legal category, not a species. It describes cannabis grown for industrial purposes below a set THC ceiling, which in South Africa has been 2% since 1 December 2025, raised from 0.2%. We prefer the term industrial cannabis.

Hurd (shiv)

The woody core of the cannabis stalk, left after the bast fibre is removed. It goes into building materials including hempcrete, insulation, animal bedding, mulch and paper.

I

Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS)

Knowledge held and transmitted within a community over generations, including the cultivation and medicinal use of cannabis. Recognised in South African policy, and the basis for the proposed sandbox with traditional growing communities.

Industrial cannabis

Cannabis grown for industrial purposes, defined by what it is used for rather than by its THC content. We use this term rather than hemp, because a THC ceiling excludes South African landrace, which the UN conventions never required.

L

Landrace

A cannabis population naturalised over generations in a particular place, in South Africa principally Mpondoland, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. Drought tolerant, grown without irrigation or bought inputs, and testing at roughly 5 to 10% THC, which places it outside the hemp definition.

N

Nagoya Protocol

An international agreement on access to genetic resources and the fair sharing of benefits from their use. It is the instrument through which landrace genetics and the communities that hold them could be protected from appropriation.

National Cannabis Master Plan

South Africa's sector plan for hemp and cannabis, first tabled in draft in 2021 and now led by the dtic. Its action table expired in 2023 and it is under review.

P

Phakisa

Sesotho for “hurry up”. Operation Phakisa is government's delivery method, adopted in 2014, which locks stakeholders together to produce costed, time-bound commitments. The Cannabis and Hemp Phakisa Action Lab reported in June 2023.

Plant Improvement Act

The agricultural statute under which hemp is declared a plant and cultivation permits are issued. Hemp was brought under it in October 2021, and the current Act came into force on 1 December 2025.

Point of processing

Where we argue regulation should sit: at the processor's gate, where the crop's end use is determined, rather than in the field, where it is tested against a THC number. This places the compliance burden on the facility, not on the farmer.

Prince judgment

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development v Prince, decided by the Constitutional Court on 18 September 2018. It decriminalised the cultivation, possession and use of cannabis by adults in private, left trade unlawful, and ordered Parliament to rewrite the law.

R

Regulatory sandbox

A bounded area where an activity can be carried on lawfully, under supervision, before the law is settled nationally. One with traditional growing communities was agreed at the 2023 Phakisa. We know of none that has been activated.

Retting

Letting moisture and microbes loosen the bond between bast fibre and hurd before decortication. Like decortication, South Africa lacks the infrastructure to do it at industrial scale.

S

SAHPRA

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority. It licenses cannabis cultivation and manufacture for medical purposes under section 22C of the Medicines Act, and authorises patient access to unregistered medicines under section 21.

Section 21

The provision of the Medicines Act under which SAHPRA may authorise a patient's access to an unregistered medicine, on a doctor's application. It is the route through which most medical cannabis is lawfully obtained in South Africa.

Section 22C

The provision of the Medicines Act under which SAHPRA issues licences to cultivate, manufacture, import, export or distribute. It is the licence a medical cannabis producer needs, and its requirements are what exclude smallholders.

T

THC

Tetrahydrocannabinol, the principal intoxicating cannabinoid in cannabis. Legal categories in many countries are built on its percentage, which is an administrative line rather than a botanical one.

W

Whole plant

An approach that regulates cannabis as one crop with many uses, rather than splitting it into separate legal regimes by THC content or by product. “Whole plant, all purposes” was one of the commitments of the 2023 Phakisa.

Checked October 2026. Definitions are ours, written for people meeting these terms for the first time. Where a definition reflects our position rather than settled law, the wording says so.

• The law explained

  Four regulatory regimes, and who falls through all of them.

  Read the explainer

• Questions and answers

  Twenty-six plain answers on cannabis in South Africa.

  Read the answers

• The Master Plan

  Where the sector plan stands, and what it needs.

  Read the assessment