THE "high hope for dope" headline was horrific! As the mother of a son who developed schizophrenia from smoking dagga, this news is devastating. Visit any psychiatric hospital and you will find that many of the patients suffer from psychosis brought on by cannabis use. If the state decides to open the gates of mayhem and suffering for the sake of the economy, this country is doomed to further degradation. What should be of paramount importance is the preservation of a healthy, well-balanced, stable and productive human being. The psychiatric hospitals will not be able to cope with the dire consequences and fallout. J. Shirley, Western Cape [end]
THE decision whether or not "holy herb" users in South Africa will be allowed to indulge in and use dagga for health reasons, will be decided in March next year. The presiding Western Cape High Court judge, Dennis Davis, yesterday postponed the matter between marijuana advocate Ras Gareth Prince and respondents who consist of authorities from the trade, justice and health cluster to the second week of January when he will finalise the dates for the matter. Prince, with the support of various other pro-cannabis organisations is seeking the legitimisation of all dagga smokers as well as the right to use cannabis for religious, spiritual and recreational medicinal purposes. Additional plaintiffs are also challenging the constitutionality of the criminal prohibition of marijuana saying that the legislative prohibition is irrational and violating their constitutional rights. [continues 117 words]
Legalisation of Dagga Claimed to Be the Economic Boost South Africa Sorely Needs THE flagging economy would get a multibillion-rand boost if dagga use were legalised, say proponents of such a move. The activists believe that taxing dagga would strengthen the economy and attract more tourists. But what they call "unnecessary legal red tape" is denying the country these benefits. Eighteen activists applied to the Cape Town High Court yesterday to have dagga use legalised. Montagu pig farmer Jeremy Acton, leader of the Dagga Party, is among the applicants. He wants sections of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, and of the Medicines and Related Substances Act, declared unconstitutional. [continues 740 words]
AN APPLICATION to legalise dagga was postponed in the Western Cape High Court yesterday to allow medical and legal experts to testify about the pros and cons of the issue. Judge Dennis Davis said the social consequences of legalising dagga needed to be argued in court. The matter could be settled after expert opinions had been gathered. In the run-up to the next appearance, Judge Davis said he would "meet various institutions for expert opinions for admissible evidence. There is medicinal use and drug culture to consider here". [continues 357 words]
Medicinal: Claims herb reduces pain, nausea Court bid to decriminalise use of cannabis and allow recreational use. A Boksburg man has been granted leave to join a Johannesburg couple's constitutional challenge aimed at legalising dagga in South Africa. The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria last week granted permission to Clifford Thorp to join the legal battle of Julian Stobbs and his partner, Myrtle Clarke, which is expected to be heard in March next year. Thorp, who has numerous health problems, wants the use and possession of dagga for medicinal purposes legalised. [continues 286 words]
Couple Hope Court Will Agree All Have Freedom of Choice on Smoking Pot THE laws haven't changed, so Myrtle Clark and Julian Stobbs are "very discreet". "We are cannabis users," say the pair, who are open about supporting the legalisation of dagga. "But we're not like a lot of other users. We don't have jobs to lose. We don't have to fight child custody battles." They're sitting around a table surrounded by exotica at The Jazzfarm, the small, happy retreat business they run near Lanseria Airport. This is the spot where police infamously raided them in August 2010, accusing them of running a drug lab, and instead found a couple of ordinary people with not a hothouse in sight. [continues 914 words]
With About 1,000 Daily Busts, It's Untrue That Cops Turn Blind Eye to It THE LAWS haven't changed, so Myrtle Clark and Julian Stobbs say they are "very discreet". "We are cannabis users," they say, open about their support of the legalisation of dagga. "But we're not like a lot of other users. We don't have jobs to lose. We don't have to fight child custody battles." They're sitting around a table surrounded by exotica at The Jazzfarm, the small, happy retreat business they operate near Lanseria Airport. [continues 1044 words]
Making Substances Illegal 'Cedes Control to the Drug Dealers' SOUTH Africans growing dagga in their gardens would help destroy the illegal market and the cartels that control it. This is what Durban chef Christian Baker told the High Court in Pietermaritzburg this week in a bid to have his prosecution on a drug-related charge stayed. He intends challenging the constitutionality of provisions in the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act. The court granted a postponement of the trial and ordered Baker to institute his case within 60 days or have the criminal charge reinstated. [continues 293 words]
SA Researcher Sets World Abuzz With Bardish Dagga Discovery A SOUTH African scientist has caused an international buzz with new evidence that Shakespeare's literary work was taken to greater heights with the help of dagga. Headlines around the world reported on University of the Witwatersrand Professor Francis Thackeray's study, which was published in the South African Journal of Science last month. In it, he describes how he borrowed the Bard's pipes from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford upon Avon and did a chemical analysis on them in Pretoria at the police narcotics unit. [continues 515 words]
Forensic technology from South Africa has been used to get to the bottom of what was smoked in tobacco pipes in William Shakespeare's garden in the English town of Stratford-upon-Avon. Britain's Independent newspaper reported that residue from clay tobacco pipes more than 400 years old, found in his garden, was analysed in Pretoria using a technique called gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Chemicals from the pipe bowls and stems showed that, although many people in the 17th century smoked coca leaves the raw material of cocaine those in Shakespeare's garden weren't used to smoke these. However, four of the pipes were used to smoke dagga. [continues 58 words]
IN ONE of several multimillion-rand drug busts in the country last week, a mandrax laboratory in the Ekurhuleni town of Nigel illustrates the magnitude of the drug problem we face. Police, responding to an arson complaint at a disused church building on a smallholding, found the chemicals used to manufacture the drug. Three suspects were arrested and chemicals worth up to R30 million were confiscated. It is a fact that drugs are a major driver of our soaring crime rate, particularly among the poor and unemployed. [continues 276 words]
Despite intense lobbying, the jury is out on if medicinal cannabis should be allowed WHICHEVER way you look at it, dagga is medicine. Even if you smoke it just to get "high", it doesn't only alter your consciousness and cognitive functional - it has other pharmacologic effects on body and mind. There is intense lobbying for the legalisation of the common South African weed and equally vehement groups that want its possession and use to remain a criminal offence. The "dagga couple", as the media have dubbed Lanseria activists Julian Stobbs and Myrtle Clark, have been joined by doctors, psychologists, lawyers and other interested parties campaigning for the legalisation of dagga for medical and recreational use. [continues 1272 words]
RUGS destroy lives. Drug addiction not only impacts on the person who is addicted, it breaks up families, turns people into criminals, causes misery, hopelessness and ultimately, in many cases, leads to death. More often than not, it's our children who are targeted. Their innocence, lack of experience and knowledge are manipulated and taken advantage of by ruthless drug dealers whose only motive is making money at any cost, leaving a trail of destruction and misery in their wake. It's a worldwide scourge and a battle that the global community is losing. It seems that no matter how many drug busts there are, how many drug lords are arrested and convicted, how many drug dens are exposed and destroyed, there are always more to take their place - it's a lucrative business, easy money for people who have no scruples. [continues 224 words]
It Slowly Destroys Your Ability to Think Clearly and Is the Primary Gateway Drug to Full-Blown Narcotic Dependence BLANKETED by the still, dark hours of early morning, the radiance of the rising sun gifts me, at that precise moment, something so considerably beautiful that I find myself stunned momentarily, with frozen gaze, at the splendour of God's creation. My orientation to time dwells neither on the past nor distresses about the future. Instead, I am anchored in the here and now, completely at ease with the present. There are no distractions, no excuses, only reality. This is the most honest part of the day, where at the precise moment that the sun peaks above the horizon, I experience an opportunity to express my thoughts with absolute lucidity. Ironically, when I was in active addiction, this was the worst part of the day - dawn brought with it an intense fear and anxiety, clouded and obscured by the sickening hum of morning traffic and the nasty chatter of birds. Being present was exactly where I did not want to be. [continues 792 words]
VILLAGERS in Mpulungu are living in fear for their lives from a group of young men terrorising them after smoking marijuana. Northern Province minister Freedom Sikazwe disclosed in an interview with the Sunday Mail that a group of young men in Mpulungu meets every morning to smoke the highly potent drug before terrorising innocent villagers. The minister has attributed the increase of murder cases and lawlessness in the district and other parts of the province to drug abuse, particularly of marijuana by youths. [continues 223 words]
THE BATTLE to legalise the use of dagga could reach the Constitutional Court if a Howick farmer has his way. John Lawrence Strydom, 44, yesterday launched a Pietermaritzburg High Court application against the minister of justice and the office of the director of public prosecutions. Strydom wants criminal proceedings against him for the possession and cultivation of dagga to be stayed. This was in order for him to approach the Constitutional Court to have certain parts of the Illicit Drugs and Trafficking Act of 1992 and the Medicines and Related Substances Controlled Act of 1965, relating to the use, possession of and dealing in dagga, declared to be in violation of the Bill of Rights. [continues 254 words]
Prohibition of cannabis 'violates SA Bill of Rights' A HOWICK man wants the Constitutional Court to uphold the rights of all South Africans to use dagga. John Lawrence Strydom (44) - against whom criminal charges of illegally possessing and cultivating dagga were recently provisionally withdrawn - said in an affidavit before the high court yesterday he wants to "destigmatise" the word dagga and "give the dagga plant its original name and rightful place in society" for the benefit of all the country's citizens. [continues 354 words]
Prohibition of Cannabis 'Violates SA Bill of Rights' A HOWICK man wants the Constitutional Court to uphold the rights of all South Africans to use dagga. John Lawrence Strydom (44) - against whom criminal charges of illegally possessing and cultivating dagga were recently provisionally withdrawn - said in an affidavit before the high court yesterday he wants to "destigmatise" the word dagga and "give the dagga plant its original name and rightful place in society" for the benefit of all the country's citizens. [continues 355 words]
THE battle to legalise the use of dagga could reach the Constitutional Court if a Howick farmer has his way. John Lawrence Strydom, 44, yesterday launched a Pietermaritzburg High Court application against the minister of justice and the office of the director of public prosecutions. Strydom wants criminal proceedings against him for the possession and cultivation of dagga to be stayed. This was in order for him to approach the Constitutional Court to have certain parts of the Illicit Drugs and Trafficking Act of 1992 and the Medicines and Related Substances Controlled Act of 1965, relating to the use, possession of and dealing in dagga, declared to be in violation of the Bill of Rights. [continues 431 words]
IF SOUTH Africans are not asking President Jacob Zuma to resign, they are calling for dagga to be legalised. These requests made up the majority of the recommendations made to Zuma on social networking sites following an invitation by the Presidency for people to send suggestions for the president's State of the Nation Address. A thread of people on Twitter repeated: "@PresidencyZA: Why not legalise cannabis to increase revenue & save tax rands by freeing up crowded prisons & courts? #DaggaDebate #SONA2015." [continues 483 words]
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