Grass (read marijuana) is nature’s way of saying ‘high’, as the tongue-in-cheek adage goes.

Before putting this column to pasture, however, you might be interested to know that on February 18, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) extended an invitation to, by March 04, comment, on a request it had received from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) pharmaceutical and medical devices desk for the creation of a separate tariff subheading for cannabis. Why did they not refer to it by its proudly South African name – dagga?

The word ‘dagga’ dates back to the 1660s, having been derived from the Khoekhoe word ‘dacha’. The Khoekhoe is a traditionally nomadic pastoralist Indigenous population, who use the word to describe both the grass and the sensation of intoxication.

But I digress. The request is for the creation of a South African and South African Customs Union (SACU) tariff subheading 3004.90.97 ‘Medicaments for retail sale, containing cannabis or cannabinoids.’

In case you were wondering, although ‘cannabis’ and ‘marijuana’ are used interchangeably, they do not mean exactly the same thing. The word ‘cannabis’ in fact refers to all products that are derived from the Cannabis Sativa plant. The cannabis plant contains in the order of 540 chemical substances, of which about 70 are cannabinoids. Chemical substances are defined as any material with a definite chemical composition, and as for ‘cannabinoids’ these are a group of substances found in the cannabis sativa plant. It is interesting to note that in comparison to the 540 chemical substances, a typical government-approved medication contain only one or two chemical substances. As a consequence, the number of active chemicals in cannabis is one of the reasons why treatments using ​cannabis are so difficult to classify and study.

According to the most prominent search engine cannabinoid-containing products can be inhaled by smoking cigarettes, pipes, water pipes, and emptied cigars and also inhaled when vaporised, dabbed, and nebulised. Then, orally, cannabinoids can be administered by a capsule, oil, solution, or tincture, or it could also be mixed into foods.

In the instance of ‘medicaments’, the international requirement for classification as a ‘Cannabis-Based Product for Medicinal use’ is that (i) The product is or contains cannabis, cannabis resin, cannabinol or a cannabinol derivative; (ii) It is produced for medicinal use in humans; and (iii) It is a product that is regulated as a medicinal product, or an ingredient of a medicinal product.

Returning to the request, the basis for the request centres on the framework being developed to commercialise cannabis and its products. As part of the strategy to develop and sustain the pharmaceutical industry, detailed market information is required to identify opportunities as well as threats for this sector. The ability to access detailed information about the procurement and import of products will provide insight into development appropriate strategies to increase the domestic market capacity to enable greater procurement of locally manufactured products.

The separate South Africa and SACU eight-digit tariff subheading will enable the dtic to collect trade data, monitor levels of capacity locally and ascertain if any other opportunities on other product categories exists.

The eight-digit tariff subheading 3004.90.97 is a ‘other’, with ‘other’, accounting for the ‘90’, and ‘97’, which is significant. It is significant as this is not a specific international tariff subheading nor is it a South Africa and SACU tariff subheading. As a consequence it is open for interpretation. In considering the classification, it is found in Section VI “Products of the Chemical or Allied Industries”, in Chapter 30 “Pharmaceutical Products”, in Tariff Heading 30.04 “Medicaments (. . .) consisting of mixed or unmixed products for therapeutic or prophylactic uses, put up in measured doses (including those in the form of transdermal administration systems) or in forms or packings for retail sale:”, in Tariff Subheading 3004.90 “- Other:”, in Tariff Subheading 3004.90.9 “- - Other:”, and in Tariff Subheading “3004.90.97 ‘Medicaments for retail sale, containing cannabis or cannabinoids.”

Let us see whether this request will go up in smoke. Speaking of ‘smoke, ‘World No Tobacco Day 2022’ is on May 31.