WORLD NEWS DECEMBER 13, 2018 / 11:21 AM / UPDATED 25 MINUTES AGO

In an African first, a cannabis expo...without cannabis

Joe Bavier
3 MIN READ

PRETORIA (Reuters) - Andre Kruger’s stand at Africa’s first ever cannabis exposition displayed an indoor growing tent, complete with state-of-the-art lighting imported from the United States and fittings for a high-tech hydroponic irrigation system.

What it didn’t have, however, was a cannabis plant.

The four-day expo, which opened in South Africa’s capital Pretoria on Thursday, was a stark illustration of the legal grey area the nascent industry occupies in the continent’s most developed economy.

In September, the Constitutional Court decriminalised the use and cultivation of cannabis in private space. But the decision did not legalize its trade or distribution. Even displaying cannabis in public remains legally dubious.

So exhibitors at the expo got creative. Kruger, whose company Sombrero Hydroponics has seen a spike in customer inquiries since September, used two artificial poinsettias as stand-ins.

-snip-