RESEARCH is being done to establish whether dagga can be used to fight coronavirus.
This was revealed by Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Blade Nzimande during a virtual briefing yesterday.
However, he was quick to say the research did not involve smoking the drug.
“We are not saying people should be smoking dagga, but there is evidence that dagga could be used to treat a lot illnesses,” he said.
The minister said his department had repurposed a number of labs to help in testing for the virus. He said they were also looking at the use of African medicines to treat the disease.
“One of the herbs our team is working on is Artemisia afra (umhlonyana in Nguni languages). As the department, we have reassigned R15 million from existing indigenous knowledge projects to support coronavirus interventions,” said the minister.
“The department is also leading a research and innovation pillar of the cannabis industrialisation master plan. To this extent, our focus is to develop medicinal products for Covid-19, cancers, diabetes, TB and HIV/Aids and neurodegenerative diseases, among others.”
Nzimande also announced more students would be allowed to return to campus. He said many universities would be opening next week.
“All our universities have provided the dates for the planned return of students in line with their risk adjusted strategy linked to the situation in their localities.
“All universities continue to support their other students through remote multimodal teaching, learning and assessment strategies and plans.
“My department is monitoring the return to campuses and the implementation of the teaching and learning plans.
“Final year students requiring clinical training returned to their campuses over the period of 11 May to 20 June.”
Nzimande said the current academic year would be completed early next year.
