Is Cannabis / THC legal in South Africa?

Also known as: weed, marijuana

Legal status

Controlled as an undesirable dependence-producing substance under Schedule 2 Part III of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act 140 of 1992, but the use or possession of cannabis by an adult in private for that adult's own consumption in private is not a criminal offence.

Consequences if caught

The schedule entry still stands and reads "Cannabis (dagga), the whole plant or any portion or product thereof, except dronabinol [(-)-transdelta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol]." What has changed is not the schedule but section 4 (b). In Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and Others v Prince; National Director of Public Prosecutions and Others v Rubin; National Director of Public Prosecutions and Others v Acton and Others [2018] ZACC 30, handed down on 18 September 2018, section 4 (b) read with Part III of Schedule 2 was declared invalid to the extent that it makes the use or possession of cannabis in private by an adult for that adult's own consumption in private a criminal offence, and the Court read a further exception into section 4 (b): "(vii), in the case of an adult, the substance is cannabis and he or she uses it or is in possession thereof in private for his or her personal consumption in private." The same order read words into the definition of deal in, so that cultivation by an adult in a private place for personal consumption in private falls outside dealing. Everything else remains an offence. Possession outside a private place, supply to another person and every other limb of deal in are untouched. Section 4 (b) forbids the use or possession of any dangerous dependence-producing substance or undesirable dependence-producing substance. Section 13 (d) makes that an offence and section 17 (d) fixes the penalty at such fine as the court may deem fit to impose, or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 years, or both. Dealing is section 5 (b), made an offence by section 13 (f) and punished under section 17 (e) by imprisonment for a period not exceeding 25 years, or by both that imprisonment and such fine as the court may deem fit to impose. The reader should note how wide dealing is: section 1 defines deal in to include transhipment, importation, cultivation, collection, manufacture, supply, prescription, administration, sale, transmission and exportation. A second judgment matters to a family: in Centre for Child Law v Director of Public Prosecutions, Johannesburg, 29 September 2022, section 4 was declared invalid to the extent that it criminalises the use or possession of cannabis by a child, and during the suspension no child may be arrested, prosecuted or diverted for it. Capital exposure: none, and life exposure: none. Section 17 sets out the whole penalty scale of this Act and its highest figure is 25 years for dealing; no provision of the Act carries a death sentence or a sentence of life imprisonment.

If prescribed or medical

Cannabis is not available to a traveller as a prescribed medicine on the strength of anything in this Act. The Part II entry "Dronabinol [(-)-transdelta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol]." is the one cannabinoid this Act treats as a medicine substance, and it sits on the heavier of the two scales rather than the lighter one. The Act's own lawful route is the set of exceptions in section 4, paragraphs (i) to (vi). A patient falls outside section 4 only where the substance was acquired from a medical practitioner, dentist or practitioner acting in a professional capacity and in accordance with the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act 101 of 1965, or from a pharmacist on that person's oral instruction or written prescription, and is used for medicinal purposes under that person's care or treatment. Section 2 states that this Act applies in addition to, and not in substitution for, the Medicines Act. The Medicines Act schedules themselves are not held in this repository and were not read for this cell, so no medicine schedule number is stated here.

Documentation

Search record and the currency question, which is the hard part of this row. The terms searched were cannabis, dagga, marijuana, hemp, dronabinol and tetrahydrocannabinol. The Part III entry is quoted above and Part III also prints "Tetrahydrocannabinol." separately. Three items in the schedule carry a note that they have been deleted by section 7 of the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act 7 of 2024, "a provision which will be put into operation by proclamation": the cannabis item, the dronabinol item and the tetrahydrocannabinol item. What this cell relied on, said plainly. [Certain] from the Act itself, which carries the Prince order verbatim in its own footnotes to section 1 and section 4, that the reading-in above is the law and that the schedule entry is unamended. [Likely] that the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act 7 of 2024 is still not in operation as at 22 September 2026: the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development published draft regulations for comment on 2 February 2026 with comment closing on 5 March 2026, and its media statement of 3 February 2026 says "Since the judgement, the use or possession of cannabis by an adult for private purposes has not constituted a criminal offence", which is the judgment and not the Act doing the work. No commencement proclamation was found. So the schedule entry above is the operative text and the deletion has not taken effect. The text read for this cell is the Juta consolidation of the Act downloaded on 29 May 2025, taken from the Department of Justice copy at justice.gov.za whose sha256 begins bc1216a3. It carries the substitution of Schedules 1 and 2 by section 2 of Act 14 of 2022 with effect from 14 December 2022, and it marks section 7 of the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act 7 of 2024, the provision that would amend Schedule 2 again, as not yet put into operation by proclamation. The schedules are stated as at that consolidation and this does not rule out a later amendment made or commenced since. The Schedule and the Part named in this cell are read from the Act itself at the lines quoted; they are nowhere printed in the verbatim quotation supplied for this row.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with South Africa’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.