Controls now sought to ‘get rid of cannabis oil cowboys’

The Natural Health Alliance has called on the SA government to introduce quality controls for cannabis oil products.

“We want to get rid of the cowboys,” the alliance’s Anthony Rees said, explaining that some cannabis oil contains heavy metals and pesticides.

In May, the department of health placed a year-long moratorium on scheduling necessary for cannabidiol or CBD products – making a lot of products available as health supplements.

Rees said this was a result of the Natural Health Alliance instituting legal action against the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).

He said while CBD oil was the most researched and safest component of the dagga plant, products containing the oil were regulated in the same way as high-dose painkillers, due to the Drug Trafficking Act.

He said currently CBD oil products could be distributed and sold as general health supplements.

Should the product make any claims of treating symptoms or curing disease, it should be prescribed by a doctor and dispensed by a pharmacist, he said.

“The reason is simple – we don’t want to peddle false hope. A doctor should monitor the symptoms of an ill patient taking these products.”

He said CBD oil was widely used for pain relief and anxiety.

The new exemptions mean many CBD oil products will become available over the counter or as health supplements.

These products have a 20mg CBD oil upper daily limit and products containing more would still be scheduled, he said.

There is also a limit to the amount of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) – which causes a “high” when using cannabis.

Rees said there was an international trend allowing CBD to be sold as a health supplement and as an approved food ingredient.

“Recently the World Health Organisation and World AntiDoping Organisation recognised and acknowledged that CBD is a non-addictive, non habit-forming and safe substance in appropriate daily up cate per dosage limits, and have recommended the substance not be scheduled by medicines regulatory authorities, or be listed as a banned substance in competitive sports.”

Michelle Petrelis, who founded and runs Black Cat Organic Health Products, said she had taken the risk of starting to make CBD products even before it was legal.

“Now I cannot keep up with demand.”

She imported equipment to extract the purest oil possible and uses organic coconut oil as a carrier oil.

“People are searching for alternatives,” she said.

Petrelis, who is based in St Francis Bay, said she too has encountered CBD products that contain anything from alcohol to benzene.

“People can ask for a certificate that shows what is in the oil,” she said.

While many of her clients take CBD oil because they are already ill, it can also be used to enhance wellness and vitality.

At the end of May the health minister published a notice in the Government Gazette announcing a moratorium on the scheduling of CBD products, making it possible for the public to access CBD products without a prescription.

“This is a significant victory for all South Africans, who can now gain free access to CBD and CBD-containing products for the first time since all cannabis-related products were banned decades ago,” Rees said.

He said no CBD products were currently registered as medicine in SA and the only way to access them had been through a legal exemption applied for by a doctor.

“The new exemptions now open up legal access.”

CBD products were first scheduled as Schedule 6 and then as Schedule 4 by SAHPRA, meaning patients needed a prescription from a doctor to access them.

“We believe that the higher schedules for this non-psychoactive, non habit-forming and low-risk substance did not have the same comparative risk profile of other high-risk medications,” Rees said.

He said legal action had been instituted against the ministry of health as CBD products were continuously seized by the Port Health Authority.

He said the port health embargo on CBD imports had now been lifted.

“The public will now have the benefit of having free access to good-quality CBD products in South Africa, for the first time legally.”