‘Hotboxing’ row engulfs South African dagga festival

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South Africa’s Cannabis Expo kicked off without one of its most popular attractions”: a so-called hotboxing machine that drenches revelers in cannabis smoke.

The once-daily feature of the Johannesburg event has run into opposition from the venue’s landlords, who will no longer allow the activity on their property, the organizers said in a statement. The organizers are petitioning the landlords and local authorities to allow hotboxing to proceed in a private usage area - “a right enshrined by the South African Constitutional Court in 2018,” they said.

The three-day expo, described as a marketplace for education and businesses serving the cannabis industry, got under way on Friday. It will feature more than 150 speakers and exhibitors, a cannabis food market, psilocybin or magic mushroom exhibit and performances by local bands and DJs.