First Medical Cannabis Dispensary in Africa Opens Doors

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]A[/dropcap]ccording to Al Jazeera, the first dispensary in Africa opened doors on May 16 in Durban, South Africa. While medical cannabis is still illegal in South Africa, personal cannabis consumption is now non-punishable by law.

The Holistic Relief Wellness and Pain Management Centre is the African continent’s first legal dispensary. Currently, the dispensary is only selling products without THC. Watch the local news coverage of the dispensary here.

Co-founder Krithi Thaver explained that the dispensary has a traditional South African healer on-site, but will also have a chiropractor and physician. Traditional South African healers have recently called for legalization in South Africa. “[We want to] break the stigma on cannabis, to showcase that cannabis can be used effectively to treat a number of conditions and to integrate medical professionals as well as traditional healers to allow the whole of South Africa a holistic approach to health care,” Thaver told Aj Jazeera. Thaver is also chair of the KwaZulu-Natal branch of the Cannabis Development Council of South Africa.

The dispensary has also attracted members of the Rastafari faith, which is popular in parts of South Africa.

According to TimesLIVE, a South African news platform, Dr Kyle Deutsch, who is also a musician, is the in-house chiropractor. “I am a strong believer in progress of medicine and the holistic treatment of the body so I thought it was a great idea for me to take a room here in terms of my health business going forward‚” he told TimesLIVE. Deutsch is known in South Africa after being a contestant on Idols SA, the South African version of American Idol.

Shortly after the news of the dispensary went viral in South Africa, police visited the dispensary expecting to find dagga, what South Africans call cannabis, but only found cannabis products without THC.

Last March, the Western Cape High Court ruled that cannabis laws in South Africa are unconstitutional. Following the ruling, Judge Dennis Davis gave the South African Parliament 24 months to make changes to the country’s cannabis laws.