Launch | Inclusive Development in the South African Cannabis Industry: Assessing the challenges.

On Friday, 24 February 2023, the IEJ launched its latest research report, Inclusive Development in the South African Cannabis Industry: Assessing the challenges.

A first of its kind in a sector with limited publicly available data, the report makes significant contributions to debates about policy reform and industrial strategies for the South African cannabis industry.

The report focuses on two key challenges: first, achieving forms of industrial growth and international competitiveness that create decent work; second, building an inclusive cannabis economy in which traditional cannabis growers and small enterprises can participate.

The launch of the report included a useful framing of the issues at stake by Tony Ehrenreich (COSATU) and an overview of the report and its findings from authors Andrew Bowman (University of Edinburgh) and Katrina Lehmann-Grube (a former researcher at the IEJ).

Discussants included Garth Strachan, a consultant to the Project Management Office in the Presidency, and Ayanda M Bam, the President and Co-Founder of Friends of Hemp SA.

Strachan called the report “exceptional” and added that it points to “key, pragmatic industrial policy instruments” that need to be deployed in the cannabis industry.

Watch the launch below: