Pubdate: Wed, 20 Apr 2016 Source: Witness, The (South Africa) Copyright: 2016 The Witness. Contact: http://www.witness.co.za/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2960 Author: Byron Burnard Byron ' Angil' Burnard is an activist with the KZN Cannabis Coalition and a member of the Dagga Party of S A. AMBRIOSINI'S LAST WISH REALISED IN THE U.S. BUT NOT YET IN KZN THE United Nations is ho sting a special three day session on the global drug problem that ends tomorrow, and cannabis users around the world are hoping their favourite plant will finally be rescheduled as a controlled substance. Are scheduling would make it easier for researchers to study the plant and for doctors to prescribe it as a medicine. This includes KwaZulu Natal, where the excellent quality of cannabis cultivated in the ideal climate of places such as the Midlands and Zulu land can be given to people who suffer from painful diseases, such as cancer and lupus, or to help the many police officers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Apart from these diseases, cannabis also offers proven health benefits for over 700 afflictions, relieving pain and lessening symptoms of conditions ranging from autism to menstrual cramps and glaucoma. And of course, anecdotal claims of healing by the plant areas old as humanity itself. Before the late IFP MP Dr Mario Oriani Ambriosini die do flung cancer in August he pleaded with Parliament to make these benefits available to all South Africans by legalising at least the medicinal use of cannabis. Twenty months later, the Medical Innovations Bill he proposed is all but forgotten and South Africa still has the farcical situation where police arrest people for possessing high protein cannabis seeds, which Nature' s Choice legally sells to over 550 health shops in southern Africa, including the DisChem Pharmacy in the Midlands Mall. William Shakespeare, who probably smoked cannabis too, according to a 2015 analysis of fragments of the Bard's pipes by South African anthropologist Francis Thakaray, would have seen the funny side. The sad irony is, if Ambriosini had smoked dagga instead of cigarettes, he would have had a slightly reduced risk of contracting cancer despite inhaling carcinogenic smoke, according to at least one study. For illegal cannabis is benign to the human system, as opposed to legal nicotine, which is a deadly toxin. In fact, all of the hemp plant is good for the human body, from the warmth provided by the soft cloth made from its very long fibres; to all the nutrition crammed into the seeds; to the therapeutic effects that its delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol has on the nervous system; to the archival quality of the paper made from then on yellowing fibres; and the production of organic bio fuel and biodegradable plastics from the leaves. These societal benefits are ignored in the pseudo war police forces around the world wage on the small percentage of people who smoke the plant. Yet in terms of the latest trends, their arrest snow fall in a legal area as grey as the smoke their victimised users exhale. For in the U.S ., Ambriosini's last wish has been realised, with all 50 states now allowing cannabis for medicinal use. In the European Union, several countries have "relegalised" cannabis, making hemp growing as legal as it was in the years when all Dutch colonists, which included those in New York, Go a and Cape Town, had to grow hemp for the Dutch navy by royal decree. As far as can be ascertained, this decree has never been cancelled. In stark contrast to these developments, several organisations in the Brics countries are lobbying for stricter legislation. Leader of Iqela Lentsango: The Dagga Party of South Africa, Jeremy Act on believes it is not necessarily the pharmaceutical giants and foresters who fear the fast growing hemp' s abilities, but the cannabis growers themselves who are lobbying for tougher anti-cannabis laws. For if anyone may grow cannabis, the bottom of the lucrative dagga market will fall out overnight and street sellers will no longer be able to palm off their dubious quality "chronic" at premium prices. Meanwhile, South African judges in two high courts prefer not to think about the outdated laws versus current social issues surrounding cannabis. A number of cases challenging the constitutionality of prohibiting cannabis have been awaiting a verdict for years. In the Western Cape High Court, judges Dennis Davis, Nolwazi Boqwana and Ashton Skippers have postponed a trial against five accused, awaiting an expert report from the UCT's Criminology Department on the status of legalising cannabis. And the Pretoria high court has postponed the case against Gauteng's "Dagga Couple ", Myrtle Clarke and Joules Stobbs, who were arrested five years ago for possession, until September 2016, if all the parties are trial ready. In KwaZulu Natal, this writer is preparing his own high court motions after being arrested for eating from a packet of Nature' s Choice Hemp Seeds, bought at the DisChem Pharmacy in the Midlands Mall. These cases will clear the way to grow and use cannabis freely. Changing any law however takes years. In the interim, all users can but hope that commander sat police stations around South Africa will cease filling their arrest quotas by ordering officers to round up people who choose to blow smoke rings from a smouldering cannabis flower instead of a tobacco leaf. For times are changing and as Bob Marley sang, "legalise it , don 't criticise it". - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom