ESWATINI DAGGA MEDICAL TESTS OUT

MBABANE – Will the speculation on whether the local cannabis can be used for medicine or not be put to bed as laboratory results of the local herb have been released?

Eswatini Cannabis Association’s (ECA) Communications Officer Trevor Shongwe furnished this publication with laboratory results the association was in possession of.

“The landrace Swazi cannabis strains were tested in Johannesburg, South Africa. The tests were done on seeds that were obtained in 2012 and the analysis I am sending you is the same we got from Fields of Green for All,” he said in an interview.

Fields of Green for All is a non-governmental organisation that deals with all obstacles surrounding legalisation of the use of cannabis in South Africa. Fields of Green for All analysed the laboratory results and broke them down for this reporter and used colour codes.

The report explained that the yellowish/green on the image was terpenes (hydrocarbons), which are the aromatic oils that colours cannabis with its distinctive flavours like citrus, berry, mint and pine. According to the report, terpenes are found in many plants such as black pepper, lavender and hops, which all have medicinal qualities.

The compounds shaded blue are the plant’s essential oils; an example of which is naptha, oil used in cosmetics, soaps and detergents and also gives mothballs their smell.

The pink elements are all the active cannabinoids, which make up over 86 per cent of the sample and is known as medicine.
“The really high levels of CBC (Cannabichromene, a non-psychoactive compound) are an indication of anti-cancer and anti-arthritis qualities. The high levels of CBG (Cannabigerol) are unusual as most strains have around one per cent, so over six per cent is significant. Promising CBG research shows that it could heal glycoma, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Colon/Bowel cancers,” the report expanded. 

CBG is an active compound in cannabis that is mostly known for its anti-bacterial and relaxation effects.
Chairperson of the Health Portfolio Committee in Parliament Mduduzi ‘Small Joe’ Dlamini, said he had not known the ECA had taken steps to have strains tested but he said everyone would get an opportunity to present their case in time.

“The issue is still in Parliament and the procedure we follow is the one that the august House dictates. We are still deliberating and once the floor is open for discussions, people can come in and present their research,” he explained.
He said stakeholders who wanted to make submissions would get the opportunity to do so once Parliament published a notice through the media houses in due time.

The research comes after the Deputy Director-Pharmaceutical Services in the Ministry of Health, Fortunate Bhembe, said the delta- tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive agent, in dagga from the kingdom, was too high and thus made it inappropriate to use for medicinal and research purposes.

Bhembe had been approached by the office of the director of Public Prosecutions and requested her advice in connection with the position of cannabis in the country.

Though she said dagga remained illegal in the country as per the Pharmacy Act No. 38 of 1929 (and the Opium and Habit Forming Drugs Act No. 91 of 1922), she added that one of the benefits of dagga was its high pain suppressant properties.

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