A Conversation With the Creative Minds at Beyond Buds and the Rise of Medicinal Cannabis in South Africa
Medicinal cannabis usage continues to soar throughout the world, including the rolling grasslands of South Africa. Current statistics estimate that the industry will generate over $55 million by the end of 2024, with long-term growth projected to climb 1.46% by 2029. As for the catalyst for this change, much of it has to do with changing regulations.
However, for the creative minds behind Beyond Buds, their call to action was much more personal.
Inspired by Real Life Health Experiences
Like many businesses around the world, there comes a time when thought leaders decide to make a shift. For Beyond Buds, this was when two of their founders were diagnosed with cancer and Multiple Sclerosis.
According to current statistics, cancer affects more than 110,000 South African residents per year and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) affects an estimated 1 in 7. Anyone who has been personally diagnosed or knows someone who has understands that these diseases develop a new meaning. Suddenly, the importance of natural plant-based medical regimes comes into focus and it’s through that realization that Beyond Buds has helped shift South Africa’s pharmaceutical landscape.
Navigating the Legal Landscape
Of course, to shift the pharmaceutical landscape, one has to first understand it - and navigating the legal landscape in South Africa has its challenges. Why? Because, as one of the founders points out, cannabis has been largely unlegislated.
Since 2017, there have been evolving changes to the regulation of cannabis. First, it was ruled that any prohibition of private adult cannabis use and cultivation was unconstitutional. A year later, in 2018, the ruling was confirmed by the Constitutional Court. As of 2024, the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act was signed and became law. This act serves as a guideline in terms of personal private usage and expungement for those previously convicted of possession, but it also plans to address the next step for cannabis commercialization.
These changes, however, have just been regarding the decriminalization of cannabis cultivation and usage. Regarding licensing, including export, both the Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GP) guidelines have made significant strides that have paved the way for Beyond Buds and many other medicinal cannabis cultivators throughout the country.
Whereas the GACP ensures quality cultivation and harvesting of medicinal plants, including cannabis, the GMP provides guidelines for the manufacturing process, with an emphasis on safety up until the packaging and storage processes are complete. Beyond Buds’ growing facility possesses these certifications, ensuring medicinal users across the Rainbow Nation have nothing but the highest quality.
Strategies for Growing Quality Flowers
Following the guidelines set forth by the GACP and GMP, Beyond Buds has been successful in cultivating quality flowers for medicinal use. Their first strategy was conducting research into the top three cannabis strains.
These strains served different purposes, but all yielded success in providing relief to those dealing with pain and sleep difficulties. Wake, for example, is a Sativa-dominant strain, that doesn’t just produce a high, but helps reduce feelings of daytime anxiety. Sleep, an Indica-dominant strain available on their website in delicious terpenes like Gooseberry Pie and Kelsie Valley Cheese, serves as a relaxant and appetite stimulate - useful in combatting loss of appetite common in cancer treatment. This strain, along with hybrids, is useful in treating nausea and pain.
Recommendations for these flowers come from their personal experience. Though they are strict about not making medical claims that have not been thoroughly researched, the creative minds at Beyond Buds stick to what they know - and it’s through this simple view that they have found immense success. “We have learned that when your product is exceptional, your clients and partners’ loyalty is already firmly in place,” says one of the founders. “When you add to that a traditional, kind, happy environment, you have a winning formula.”
This winning formula also led to their second business strategy: creating an indoor facility that fosters an ideal growing environment.
Located in the Montagu mountains, Beyond Buds has a state-of-the-art hybrid indoor facility that includes a solar farm with exposure to natural sunlight, filtered natural spring water, controlled air quality, and 6,000 square meters of space that has allowed them to triple their capacity!
The decision to expand the growing facility, according to Beyond Buds’ founder, was an easy one. After securing an international export to Australia and selling every gram of cannabis they grew early in their career, it was only natural to raise additional financing and make upgrades to their facility.
Moving Forward
It would be easy to claim that, as a medicinal cannabis farming company, Beyond Buds would view other South African farmers as their competition, but according to their founders, that’s not true.
“What I have found the most challenging, is dealing with the fallout from other African, more specifically, South African cultivators who have rushed out the gate and offered potential buyers the world without being able to deliver on any of their promises,” says one of the founders. “This automatically casts other South African farmers in a bad light, and instead of talking about our business, we need to start with damage control and convince the buyer that not all SA farmers are alike.”
So we end this conversation by doing just that and addressing what sets the team at Beyond Buds apart: “We are a tight group of very different people who have all come together with the sole purpose of growing and supplying the best plant medicine we possibly can.”
From hand-selecting staff to conducting thorough research into the best medicinal cannabis strains, to understanding the client’s need from a personal perspective and maintaining tight relationships with buyers, domestically and internally, Beyond Buds has lived up to their name….that their mission goes beyond cannabis, but rather offering a quality experience from start to finish, and most importantly, delivering on that promise.
As for where they go from here, their licensing with the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) allows them to continue exporting their quality cultivated flowers. Time will tell what changes will be made in the future regarding legislation, but the team at Beyond Buds remains steadfast in creating products with flavonoids and terpenes that “cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world.”
Browse Beyond Buds Cultivars Today!
Beyond Buds carries a wide selection of cultivars, all of which are the result of years of breeding and top-rated lab research to ensure quality. Browse their cultivars here to experience the Best of Breed Medicinal Cannabis.
