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The state has conducted cannabis eradication programs since the 1950s. Police initially uprooted dagga plantations and burned the crops but in 1980 switched to using herbicides, which they would dispense with hand-held pumps. By the end of the 1980s, helicopters replaced ground patrols, and helicopter patrols would release herbicides aerially to destroy entire crops in minutes.<ref name=":13" />
The state has conducted cannabis eradication programs since the 1950s. Police initially uprooted dagga plantations and burned the crops but in 1980 switched to using herbicides, which they would dispense with hand-held pumps. By the end of the 1980s, helicopters replaced ground patrols, and helicopter patrols would release herbicides aerially to destroy entire crops in minutes.<ref name=":13" />


In 1990, a coalition of civil society organisations successfully lobbied government in the former Natal province to ban the herbicide [[paraquat]] from use in aerial eradication programmes. The [[South African Police Service]] (SAPS) now uses a herbicide formulation which includes [[glyphosate]], and maintains that it is safe, posing "no threat to human, animal, or environmental health". However, a new coalition of the non-profit organisations Fields of Green For All, Transkei Animal Welfare Initiative, and the Amapondo Children’s Project prepared to launched legal proceedings in 2016 to stop the SAPS from performing aerial eradications, however no legal proceedings have taken place to date.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":14" />
In 1990, a coalition of civil society organisations successfully lobbied government in the former Natal province to ban the herbicide [[paraquat]] from use in aerial eradication programmes. The [[South African Police Service]] (SAPS) now uses a herbicide formulation which includes [[glyphosate]], and maintains that it is safe, posing "no threat to human, animal, or environmental health". However, a new coalition of the non-profit organisations Fields of Green For All, Transkei Animal Welfare Initiative, and the Amapondo Children’s Project launched legal proceedings in 2016 to stop the SAPS from performing aerial eradications.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":14" />


==Advocacy==
==Advocacy==
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=== Medicine Research Council ===
=== Medicine Research Council ===
In January 2016, following a systematic review of scientific studies on cannabis, the Medicine Research Council concluded that there was evidence that cannabinoids could be used to treat chronic pain and spasticity in multiple sclerosis.<ref name=":9" />
In January 2016, following a systematic review of scientific studies on cannabis, the Medicine Research Council concluded that there was evidence that cannabinoids could be used to treat chronic pain and spasticity in multiple sclerosis.<ref name=":9" />

== The (r)evolution of the dagga culture: From pothead to daggafarian ==
[[File:420 DDAY Jozi 2013.jpg|thumbnail|links|360px|Daggafarians celebrating 420 in the Maboneng precinct, Johannesburg]]
[[File:Cape Town Cannabis Walk 2017.png|thumbnail|Daggafarians attending the annual Cape Town Cannabis March.]]
=== Introduction ===
As a result of hundreds of years of stigma<ref>[http://www.huisgenoot.com/Nuus/daggakop-pa-steek-sy-dogtertjie-aan-die-brand-oor-sy-te-mooi-is-20170528 Pothead father sets daughter alight, [[Huisgenoot]], 28 Mei 2017]</ref>, racism<ref>[http://dagga.za.net/history History of dagga]</ref> and pseudo-scientific allegations<ref>[http://www.huisgenoot.com/Nuus/dagga-kan-jou-doodmaak-20170528 Dagga can kill you., [[Huisgenoot]], 28 Mei 2017]</ref> against dagga there aren't many words in the [[Afrikaans]] language that associates neutrally or positively with the cannabis culture. Still today the word pothead or ''"daggakop"'' is generally used to insult and break down a person's character rather than identify a person with the cannabis culture. Even the term "cannabis smoker" or ''"daggarooker"'' is generally accompanied by a negative association in retrospect to a person's use of cannabis.

'''Daggafari''' or '''Daggafarianism''' is a sub-culture of the cannabis culture that originated from the evolution and revolution of the dagga culture in contemporary South Africa as a result of the reformation of cannabis laws around the world in favor of the [[Cannabis|plant]]. In '''Daggafari''' anyone associated with the cannabis culture is known as a '''daggafarian''', '''cannafarian''' or '''hempfarian'''.<ref>[http://dagga.za.net/daggafarian Definition of the word Daggafarian]</ref>

The term '''Daggafarian''' is a compound word created from the words, [[Cannabis|dagga]] and [[Rastafarian|Rasta''farian'']], and was first used in 2013<ref>[http://facebook.com/hashtag/daggafarian #Daggafarian [[Facebook]] Hashtag]</ref> on a social media page.<ref>[http://facebook.com/DaggaMovement Dagga Movement]</ref> The term came into existence after a need arose for a colloquial term that identifies positively with the cannabis culture of South Africa regardless of a person's religion, race, language or social background, that still however emphasizes the word ''dagga'' without any negative connotations of its notorious history.

With the use of this internationally recognizable term, because of the direct use of the word ''dagga'' in South African, as well as international news<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/626743 Dagga a queer dope], The Register (Adelaid, SA : 1901 - 1929) Friday 30 September 1921 p 9</ref> and publications as well as the influence and popularity of cannabis use of the rasta culture, the South African cannabis culture showed a clear evolution in reaction to continual reformation of cannabis laws around the world.

=== Formation of the Dagga Party ===
In February of 2009 [[Jeremy David Acton]] forms the first constituent of the [[Dagga Party]] of South Africa, in Cape Town, to represent the dagga culture as a South African political party.

=== Coronation of the Dagga Couple ===
In August of 2010 the raid and arrest of the South African couple, [[Julian Stobbs]] and [[Myrtle Clarke]] for the possession of cannabis made headline news where they were then referred to, by the media, as the [[Dagga Couple]].

Following the arrest the couple appeared in the Magistrate's court where they applied to be heard in the Constitutional Court. In May of 2011 the couple's affidavit is handed in at the [[North Gauteng High Court]]. In August 2011 charges of possession and dealing are struck off the roll at Magistrate’s Court, pending the outcome of the constitutional challenge and a summons is served to the seven departments of Government. By November 2011 the State file their intention to defend the charges. By January 2012 the State replied to the founding affidavit and in July of 2012 Doctors For Life apply to the Pretoria high Court as defendant number 8 for the State in the case.<ref>[[Dagga Couple#Case Timeline| Dagga Couple's case timeline.]]</ref>

=== Rise of the cannabis movement ===
On 17 January of 2013 the Dagga Movement of South Africa appears on social media creating awareness regarding the injustice of cannabis laws in South Africa.

On 29 April 2013 the Dagga Movement created an online platform whereby participants could send a 21 day notice to various government departments including the President of South Africa in what was called the ''"Cannabis Awareness Drive: 21 Days Notice to Government"''.<ref>[http://dagga.za.net/2013/04/29/cannabis-awareness-drive-21-notice-to-government/ Cannabis Awareness Drive: 21 Days Notice to Government]</ref> A total of 91 persons participated in the drive.<ref>[http://dagga.za.net/drive/.archive Number of participants in the Cannabis Awareness Drive]</ref> The proclamation of dagga rights nor any other part of the notice was rebutted by government.<ref>[http://daggamagazine.com/2015/01/14/notice-government-regarding-cannabis-use-unchallenged Notice to Government Regarding Cannabis Use Unchallenged]</ref>

=== Unification of the dagga culture ===
On 3 May 2013 the Dagga Union of South Africa (DUSA) is formed by a Facebook group that would see their membership continue to grow past 20,265 members in August of 2017.

On 20 April 2013 the dagga culture of South Africa came together, for the first time, to celebrate 4/20 in the Maboneng precinct, Johannesburg. This celebration is locally known as D-Day (Dagga Day).<ref>[https://allevents.in/org/the-dagga-couple/748810 D-Dag 2013]</ref>

Three days after the D-Day celebration the Dagga Movement publishes guidelines for the use and description of the word '''Daggafarian''' on their website.

=== Relinquishing of Dagga Law Bill ===
On 24 April 2014 the first revision of the Relinquish Dagga Law Bill Rev. 1a is written by the fouding member of the Dagga Movement and Dagga Union of South Africa and is presented to the dagga culture as well as members of the Dagga Union of South Africa.<ref>[http://dagga.za.net/bill Relinquish Dagga Law Bill Rev. 1d and Dagga Regulation Bill Rev. 1b]</ref> By 24 September 2014 the bill is revised for the fourth time, resulting in two separate documents titled Relinquish Dagga Law Bill Rev. 1d<ref>[http://www.dagga.za.net/wiki/Dagga_Regulation_Bill Dagga Regulation Bill Rev 1b]</ref> and Dagga Regulation Bill Rev. 1b<ref>[http://www.dagga.za.net/wiki/Dagga_Regulation_Bill Dagga Regulation Bill Rev 1b]</ref> respectively. The bills were presented to [[Julius Sello Malema]] in a tweet with the hopes that it would be tabled in parliament, although this endeavor proved mostly unsuccessful it did result in Malema retweeting the Bill to his followers.<ref>[https://twitter.com/Julius_S_Malema/status/547673441932173312 Julius Malema retweets Relinquish Dagga Law Bill]</ref>

=== Dagga Ops ===
On 7 May 2015 the Dagga Magazine published the Dagga Ops [[Environmental Impact Assessment|Environmental Impact Assessment]] as received from the [[South African Police Service]] after filing a [[Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000|PAIA]] request to get access to the documents that give the [[South African Police Service#Air Wing|SAPS Air Wing]] their mandate<ref>[http://daggamagazine.com/2015/05/07/daggaops-eia Dagga Ops Environmental Impact Assessment]</ref> to aerial spray dagga crops with [[glyphosate]] in South Africa and the [[Transkei]].<ref>[http://www.groundup.org.za/article/battle-stop-dagga-spraying/ Battle to stop dagga spraying, GroundUp]</ref>

=== The ''Trial of the Plant'' ===
On 29 July 2017 the Constitutional challenge to legalise dagga started in Pretoria High Court. After a delayed start and nearly 3 weeks of expert testimony the case is postponed to 2018 to allow the plaintiffs time to study the 4000 pages of late evidence introduced by Doctors for Life.<ref>[[Dagga Couple#Case Timeline| Dagga Couple's case timeline.]]</ref>

== The history of dagga law and racism ==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Dagga a queer dope.jpg|thumb| Clipping from The Register, an Australian newspaper, describing the effects of smoking dagga on a South African native.]] -->

==== Between 1887 to 1949 ====
The first documented discussion of dagga in South Africa is found in the Natal Indian Immigrants Commission Report (RIIC)<ref>Report of the Indian Immigrants Commission, 1885–1887 (Pietermaritzburg, 1887), pp. 7 – 8</ref> published in 1887, in which it is claimed that dagga is responsible for causing insanity amongst Indians. In this report Indians are referred to as "coolies": <blockquote>prohibiting the smoking, use, or possession by, and the sale, barter or gift to, any coolies whatsoever, of any portion of the hemp plant (cannabis sativa), and authorising the destruction thereof, if found in such use or possession, and imposing penalties upon coolies using, cultivating or possessing such plant for the purpose of smoking the same.<ref>RIIC (1887), p. 6</ref></blockquote>

The findings of the Indian Immigrant Commission Report framed the future debates on cannabis in South Africa. By 1891 cannabis is prohibited under Act 34 of 1891 in the Cape Colony.<ref>Bourhill, The Smoking of Dagga (1912), p. 20</ref><ref name="Paterson">{{cite web|last1=Paterson|first1=Craig|title=Prohibition & Resistance: A Socio-Political Exploration of the Changing Dynamics of the Southern African Cannabis Trade, c. 1850 – the present|url=http://dagga.za.net/2013/07/18/true-history-of-dagga-prohibition/|website=Dagga Union of South Africa|accessdate=6 September 2017|date=December 2009}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> The
South African Native Affairs Commission Report (SANAC)<ref>Report of the South African Native Affairs Commission, 1903–1905 (Pretoria, 1905)</ref> of 1905 includes native South Africans in the dagga debate and by 1908 the "Black-Peril" campaign is used to support the call for a ban on cannabis which succeeded in 1922 with the national prohibition on the cultivation, possession and use of cannabis. The law was briefly changed to exempt mine-workers, allowing them to cultivate, possess or use cannabis, but this exemption was eventually revoked to destabilize the National Union of Mine-workers. Before the national ban of 1922 it was legal for whites to cultivate, possess and use cannabis.

In 1921 the Council of the League of Nations had called for an “Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Opium and Dangerous Drugs,” and it was in 1923 that South Africa wrote to this committee. The letter read as follows:<ref name="Paterson"/>
<blockquote>"Pretoria November 28th 1923
With reference to your letter no. 12/A/22951/17217 dated September 6th 1922, on the above subject and to my letter no. 29/8/85 dated December last, forwarding copies of the Regulations promulgated under Proclamation no. 181 of 1922, I have the honour to inform you that, from the point of view of the Union of South Africa, the most important of all the habit-forming drugs is Indian Hemp<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/646282]</ref> or ‘Dagga’ and this drug is not included in the International List. It is suggested that the various Governments being parties to the International Opium Convention should be asked to include in their lists of habit-forming drugs the following:
Indian hemp: including the whole or any portion of the plants cannabis indica or cannabis sativa.
Signed, J.C. Van Tyen, for Secretary to the Prime Minister."<ref>Cited in Mills “Colonial Africa and the international politics of cannabis” (2007), p. 166</ref></blockquote>
This was accepted at the Second Opium Conference of 1924, and came into international law in 1925.<ref name="Paterson"/><ref>Cited in Mills “Colonial Africa and the international politics of cannabis” (2007), p. 166 – 168</ref>

==== Other notable historic events regarding dagga and racism ====
===== Son of Rhodesian Prime Minster arrested for dagga =====
On 20 December 1971 [[Alec Smith]], the son of the Prime Minster of [[Rhodesia]], [[Ian Smith]], is arrested for the possession of 200 grams of dagga at the Mozambique border, after returning from vacation. Due to his conviction for dagga he was expelled from [[Rhodes University]] at the end of his first year in 1971.<ref>[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/102204660 RHODESIA PM's son had drug], The Canberra Times (ACT), Wednesday 22 March 1972 p 5</ref>

===== David Carradine, dagga, racism and the Apartheid State =====
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:David Carradine arrested for dagga in South Africa.jpeg|thumb|Clippings of David Carradine's dagga saga.]] -->
In 1980, while in South Africa filming ''[[Safari 3000]]'' (also known as ''Rally''), Carradine was arrested for possession of marijuana.<ref>"South Africans Arrest Carradine," ''Tuscaloosa News'' (September 21, 1980) p. 19</ref> He was convicted and given a suspended sentence.<ref>"Carradine Guilty in Pot Case," ''Sarasota Times'' (November 13, 1980) p. 12</ref> He claimed that he was framed by the [[apartheid]] government as he had been seen dancing with [[Tina Turner]].<ref>Carradine, David (1995). Endless Highway. Journey.</ref> However after he became an established actor and had changed his name to David, he was arrested, in 1967, for possession of marijuana.<ref>Sease, Glean (August 29, 1967). "People." ''The Pittsburgh Press''</ref>



==References==
==References==

Revision as of 15:27, 17 September 2017

Garden escape seedling, Somerset West, South Africa

Cannabis in South Africa is illegal for recreational or medical use. Some advocates have pressured the government to modify its laws, which first restricted cannabis in 1922, to allow exemptions for medical use, religious practices, and other purposes. The regional term dagga[needs IPA] is commonly used for cannabis; it derives from the Khoikhoi word dacha, which was used by the early European colonial settlers in the Western Cape.[1]

Cannabis is thought to have been introduced to Africa by early Arab or Indian Hindu travelers, which Bantu settlers subsequently introduced to southern Africa when they migrated southward.[1] It was already in popular use in South Africa by the indigenous[2] Khoisan and Bantu peoples prior to European settlement in the Cape in 1652, and was traditionally used by Basotho to ease childbirth.[3] According to author Hazel Crampton, old Afrikaner recipes for teas and foods exist which make use of the plant.[4] Use of the plant was associated with traditional African populations and a lower economic status.[1][5]

Longitudinal research studies by the Medical Research Council (MRC) report that the number of cannabis users in South Africa was 2.2 million in 2004, and 3.2 million in 2008.[6] In 2003, Interpol rated South Africa as the fourth-largest cannabis producer in the world, and the Institute for Security Studies reported that most cannabis seized in the UK and a third globally had South African origins.[7]

Prohibition

The first written record of the plant in South Africa is by Jan van Riebeeck, who ordered officers of the Voorman to purchase "daccha" in Natal for trade with the Khoikhoi. The Dutch East India Company attempted to establish a monopoly on its sale, and to that end prohibited cultivation of the plant by Cape settlers from 1680. However, the ready availability of cannabis in the wild and through trade with indigenous peoples meant that there was little profit to be made. Consequently, the prohibition was lifted in 1700.[8]

Provincial laws

Beginning in 1860, the Natal Colony began to import Indian workers (called "coolies" at the time) to supplement their labour force. These Indians brought with them the habit of consuming cannabis and hashish, which blended with local, extant African traditions. The European authorities were concerned by this practice, believing it sapped the vitality of their workers;[9] consequently, in 1870, Natal's Coolie Law Consolidation prohibited "the smoking, use, or possession by and the sale, barter, or gift to, any Coolies whatsoever, of any portion of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa)..."[5]

Both the Cape and Transvaal colonies restricted the growth of the plant, which they considered a "noxious weed";[10] in 1891, the Cape Colony prohibited cannabis under Act 34, and the Free State outlawed dealing in cannabis in 1903.[11] In 1908, Natal began to regulate the sale of cannabis.[8]

In the Transvaal, dagga was sold "openly and normally" by storekeepers to miners.[10]

Although white farmers did cultivate cannabis in the 18th century and early 19th century, consumption by the farmers themselves was rare. However, even cultivation fell out of favour later in the 19th century.[8] In 1921, "serious signs of a moral panic focusing around dagga" appeared, centred on the Western Cape. A concern developed about the "'camaraderie' which led some to lay aside race and other prejudices with regard to fellow" drug users.[2]

National laws

In 1922, regulations were issued under an amended Customs and Excises Duty Act which criminalised the possession and use of "habit forming drugs", including dagga. Under regulation 14, the cultivation, possession, sale, and use of the plant were prohibited. The burden of proof for any defence against a charge lay with the accused; legal scholar Professor Chanock contrasted this with laws regulating alcohol at the time, which laws placed the burden of proof on the accuser; he reasoned that the cannabis regulations were applied differently because they were intended to target black people.[10]

Following the Fifth Session of the League of Nations Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs, it was at South Africa's wish, expressed by Secretary to the Prime Minister J. C. Van Tyen in 1923,[12] that dagga was included in a list of prohibited narcotics, which list had hitherto been almost entirely concerned with opium and its derivatives.[10] Cannabis was subsequently outlawed internationally in 1925.[8]

Cannabis was wholly criminalised in South Africa in 1928 under the Medical, Dental, and Pharmacy Act, for political and moral reasons.[2][13]

In 1937, the government of South Africa introduced the Weeds Act, which made the occupant or owner of a property accountable for preventing the growth of cannabis, or any other plant classified as a "weed", on the property.[8]

Concern about the extent of dagga use in South Africa continued to grow, resulting eventually in the enactment, in 1971, of the Abuse of Dependence-producing Substances and Rehabilitation Centres Act.[11]

Under the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act of 1992, people found in possession of more than 115 grams of dagga were presumed to be guilty of dealing. However, following the adoption of the interim constitution of South Africa, courts found that this unjustifiably infringed the constitutionally enshrined presumption of innocence, and consequently invalidated those parts of the Act.[14]

Partial decriminalisation

On 31 March 2017, in a case brought by Gareth Prince, Jeremy Acton, and Jonathan Ruben before the Western Cape High Court, presiding Judge Dennis Davis ruled that any law disallowing the use and cultivation of cannabis by an adult in a private dwelling was unconstitutional and therefore invalid, on the grounds that such infringement of the constitutional right to privacy could not be justified.[15]

This decision must still be confirmed by the Constitutional Court before taking effect, and will then be suspended for 24 months in order to allow Parliament to enact legislation in accordance with the ruling, failing which the invalidity automatically takes effect.[16] The court also ruled that, in the interim, prosecutions related to the transgression of the laws in question should be stayed. The judge further ordered that “it will be deemed to be a defence that the use, possession, purchase or cultivation of cannabis in a private dwelling is for the personal consumption of the adult accused”.[17][18]

The limited decriminalisation of cannabis will affect sections of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act, the Drugs Act, and the Medicines and Related Substances Act.[17]

Response

Although the Central Drug Authority (CDA) endorses of decriminalisation, chairperson David Bayever nevertheless recommended that the Department of Social Development appeal the ruling. He cited concerns about the possibility of an increase in road accidents, and the difficulty in limiting children's exposure to the drug.[19][20]

Cultivation

Cannabis grows well in South Africa's climate,[21] especially in the "dagga belt", an area including the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces[8] where, per the 2011 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, it is a traditional crop. According to GroundUp, cannabis is "an important cash crop" that "sustains entire communities in the rural Eastern Cape", which otherwise survive in a subsistence economy.[22][23]

Rural farmers are typically poor and produce low quality local product that is consumed domestically by the lower class, while middle class growers produce product for the rest of the national and international marijuana market.[23] Most of the national product is consumed domestically or regionally, but increasing amounts are seized in Europe.[24]

In 1996, the Department of Land and Agriculture, the Tobacco and Cotton Research Institute, and the Southern African Hemp Company conducted agricultural research on the viability of farming non-psychoactive hemp strains of the plant in the North West province.[21]

Eradication programs

The state has conducted cannabis eradication programs since the 1950s. Police initially uprooted dagga plantations and burned the crops but in 1980 switched to using herbicides, which they would dispense with hand-held pumps. By the end of the 1980s, helicopters replaced ground patrols, and helicopter patrols would release herbicides aerially to destroy entire crops in minutes.[22]

In 1990, a coalition of civil society organisations successfully lobbied government in the former Natal province to ban the herbicide paraquat from use in aerial eradication programmes. The South African Police Service (SAPS) now uses a herbicide formulation which includes glyphosate, and maintains that it is safe, posing "no threat to human, animal, or environmental health". However, a new coalition of the non-profit organisations Fields of Green For All, Transkei Animal Welfare Initiative, and the Amapondo Children’s Project launched legal proceedings in 2016 to stop the SAPS from performing aerial eradications.[22][23]

Advocacy

Against the backdrop of Cape Town's Lion's Head and Signal Hill landmarks, pro-legalisation activists at the 2017 Cannabis Walk hold up a placard.
Pro-legalisation activists at the 2017 Cannabis Walk in Cape Town

In 2014, a report by the Anti-Drug Alliance of South Africa argued that the criminalisation of cannabis had "created victims rather than solutions", and recommended legalisation.[3]

Cape Town marches

Since 2000, as part of the Global Marijuana March initiative, Cape Town has hosted an annual pro-legalisation Cannabis Walk on the first Saturday of May.[25]

About 400 people took part in 2012,[26] a crowd of 500 in 2013,[27] and "a few hundred" people marched in 2015.[28] The participants increased to 3,000 in 2016,[29] and to 6,000 in 2017.[30]

Dagga Couple

Main article: Dagga Couple

Julian Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke are known as the "Dagga Couple" in South African media.[31] In August 2010, their property was raided and they were arrested on charges of possessing and dealing in dagga. In February 2011, they argued before a magistrate's court that they had a "human right to ingest anything" they chose, provided that it did not harm them, and applied for leave to make their case before the Constitutional Court.[32][33] Their case was struck from the court roll, pending the result of their constitutional challenge of the legality of cannabis prohibition.[34][35]

Politics

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union have since 2009 recommended that dagga be legalised. They argue this would free up the police for other work, and would allow the South African government to benefit from cannabis by taxing sales of it.[3][36][37]

The Dagga Party (Iqela Lentsango) is registered with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in the Western Cape. It was founded in February, 2009 by Jeremy Acton, who remains the party's leader.[38]

In February 2014, the Inkatha Freedom Party's Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini introduced the Medical Innovations Bill, which would legalise cannabis for medical treatment and industrial use. Under the proposed bill, with the patient's informed consent, doctors can administer unproven but harmless cancer treatments such as cannabis if other treatments are not efficacious; informed consent will shield doctors from common law liability and the requirements of their medical profession in such circumstances. Dr Oriani-Ombrosini was diagnosed with lung cancer, and had been on cannabinoid treatment in the last months leading to his death.[39][40][41]

Governmental authorities

Central Drug Authority

The official position of the CDA is that dagga should be decriminalised, reasoning that criminalisation has been shown to have little effect on the prevalence of drug use, and that decriminalisation could improve public health.[42] However, the CDA does not currently support commercialisation of the plant.[43]

In 2015, the Department of Social Development commissioned the CDA to conduct research into the feasibility of partially legalising dagga. That research is yet to be completed.[19]

Medicines Control Council

The South African regulatory body for drugs, the Medicines Control Council, classifies dagga as a Schedule 7 substance, which means that it has no medicinal value and "is illegal to cultivate, analyse, possess, research, use, sell or supply without authorisation from the Department of Health."[44][45] In 2016, it published regulations providing for the use of dagga for medical reasons, and expressed a desire to reclassify "cannabinoid medication" as a Schedule 6 substance, which would make it available for medicinal use.[17][46] However, the Dagga Couple point out that partial decriminalisation in 2017 has reduced the significance of the proposed change in scheduling, and have called for a more drastic reclassification of the drug.[31]

Medicine Research Council

In January 2016, following a systematic review of scientific studies on cannabis, the Medicine Research Council concluded that there was evidence that cannabinoids could be used to treat chronic pain and spasticity in multiple sclerosis.[43]

References

  1. ^ a b c Watt, John Mitchell (1961-01-01). "UNODC - Bulletin on Narcotics - 1961 Issue 3 - 002". United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Retrieved 2017-05-02. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  2. ^ a b c de Vos, Pierre (2017-05-04). "Dagga judgment: there are less drastic ways to deal with its harmful effects". Constitutionally Speaking. Retrieved 2017-05-05. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  3. ^ a b c Kings, Sipho (2014-02-28). "The war on dagga sobers up". The M&G Online. Retrieved 2017-05-02. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  4. ^ King, Caroline (2011-05-10). "Cannabis: SA's hidden history". Grocott's Mail. Retrieved 2017-05-02. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  5. ^ a b Brian M. Du Toit (1991). Cannabis, alcohol, and the South African student: adolescent drug use, 1974-1985. Ohio University Center for International Studies. ISBN 978-0-89680-166-0.
  6. ^ "Snap-shot Survey Report on Substance Abuse in the Nine Provinces in South Africa" (PDF). Health Systems Trust. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  7. ^ Thompson, Tony; correspondent, crime (2003-11-01). "'Dagga' brings riches to new drug barons". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-05-02. {{cite news}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ a b c d e f Paterson, Craig (2009). Prohibition & Resistance: A Socio-Political Exploration of the Changing Dynamics of the Southern African Cannabis Trade, c. 1850 – the present (PDF). South Africa: Rhodes University.
  9. ^ "The Weed Edition" News24 23/04/2017.
  10. ^ a b c d Chanock, Martin (2001). The Making of South African Legal Culture 1902-1936: Fear, Favour and Prejudice. Cambridge University Press. pp. 92–94. ISBN 9780521791564.
  11. ^ a b Burchell, Jonathan M. (2013). Principles of Criminal Law. South Africa: Juta and Company Ltd. p. 798. ISBN 9781485100805.
  12. ^ James H. Mills (11 September 2003). Cannabis Britannica: Empire, Trade, and Prohibition 1800-1928. OUP Oxford. pp. 160–1. ISBN 978-0-19-155465-0.
  13. ^ Vera Rubin (1 January 1975). Cannabis and Culture. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 107–. ISBN 978-3-11-081206-0.
  14. ^ Burchell, Jonathan M. (2013). Principles of Criminal Law. Juta and Company Ltd. p. 20. ISBN 9781485100805.
  15. ^ Evans, Jenni (2017-03-31). "How the Western Cape High Court dagga judgment applies to you". News24. Retrieved 2017-04-27. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  16. ^ "The Weed Edition" News24 23/04/2017.
  17. ^ a b c Abdool Karim, Safura (2017-04-02). "Understanding Judge Davis's dope judgment". Ground Up. Retrieved 2017-05-02. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  18. ^ Wolhuter, Bernadette (2017-04-03). "Dagga use can still land you in jail". IOL. Retrieved 2017-05-02. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  19. ^ a b Whittles, Govan (2017-04-06). "Drug authority: SA doesn't have the necessary discipline to allow dagga judgment". The M&G Online. Retrieved 2017-05-03. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
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  27. ^ Macleod, Roderick (2013-05-04). "Gallery: Cape weed rally almost goes up in smoke". eNCA. Retrieved 2017-05-02. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
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