Supply and Demand: The Rules Can Play Tricks With the Unwary Having the best product on the market means very little when no one wants it any more. Heroin, cocaine and ecstasy, to name a few commonly known drugs, have been a menace to governments worldwide. Billions are spent every year on the war on drugs and a greater portion of that is allocated to battling the supply end. But the problematic issue is really on the demand side, coming from those who buy and consume drugs. [continues 377 words]
FACT: Medical marijuana is a drug. Fact: Nearly all drug prescriptions are filled at pharmacies but not medical marijuana. Should that change? The news that one of the country's largest drug stores is quietly looking into teaming up with a medical-grade cannabis grower will feed reflection on what Canada's rules for selling both medical and recreational marijuana should one day look like. There's a good argument to be made for selling a psychoactive substance in a secure environment where people have advanced degrees in such matters. [continues 211 words]
THE fight to stop police from spraying Eastern Cape dagga plantations with poisonous glysophate stepped up a gear when lawyers representing the affected rural communities demanded proof it complied with environmental legislation. Port Elizabeth attorney Rick Stone, of Boqwana Burns, yesterday confirmed a second letter had been sent to police asking for proof the herbicide was environmentally compliant. Police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi yesterday said the product - Round-up - was approved for use in South Africa. [end]
MORE US adults are using marijuana now that some states have either decided to decriminalise the use of dagga or legalise the possession of it, a review published yesterday in the Journal of Addiction Medicine says. And data from the US National Survey of Drug Use and Health says marijuana use has increased significantly among US adults in the past decade. The trend seems to have begun before 2012, when Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalise marijuana. Teen use has not increased but researchers warn "young people's perceptions of the risks of using marijuana have decreased, suggesting they might be more likely to start using marijuana in future". [continues 118 words]
POLICE are going to use helicopters to spray dagga fields in the former Transkei with poisonous chemicals again this year despite widespread opposition. Eastern Cape police spokeswoman Col Sibongile Soci said yesterday the spraying of Round-up would take place in the remote "hills and valleys" along the Mzintshana River near Port St Johns. The decision has been slammed by environmental and dagga activists who claim glysophates in the poison "probably cause cancer", according to the World Health Organisation, and they seriously impact flora, fauna and people. They say it has been banned all over the world. [continues 77 words]
THE Medical Research Council (MRC) has published a policy brief acknowledging there was sufficient evidence that the medicinal use of dagga can relieve chronic pain and reduce spasticity in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis. The brief summarised the findings of Dr Penny Whiting, an American scientist who conducted a systemic review evaluating the medicinal use of dagga. The publication this week of the brief, prepared for South Africa by Professor Charles Parry, Nandi Siegfried and Bronwyn Meyers from the MRC, follows the introduction of the Medical Innovation Bill in parliament in February 2014. [continues 175 words]
A SMALL scientific company says it has a trump card in its quest to develop chewing-gum based on dagga to ease multiple sclerosis symptoms. Axim Biotechnologies says it will be able to price its gum cheaper than a major competitor after securing a significant discount on dagga made available by the Dutch government, which has a policy of promoting the drug for medicinal use. But New York-based Axim has a long way to go before its Medchew RX gum will be a viable alternative to an under-the-tongue spray developed by GW Pharmaceuticals in Britain. [continues 301 words]
THE article "Loads of dagga cleared near Lincoln Meade" (The Witness, December 17) refers. In the article, KZN police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni indicates she would have expected the community to inform officers about a plantation of cannabis in plain sight. It appears that our top brass have fallen out of touch with the needs of communities they have been mandated to serve. Communities are clearly more interested in reducing violent crime. Cannabis is considered non-toxic because it is physically impossible to consume enough to induce death. Yet a person can easily die of alcohol poisoning. We are hard-wired for cannabis and have receptors for cannabinoids. The body's endo-cannabinoid system provides a modulatory function and is responsible for eating, sleeping, relaxing, digestion and forgetting. Cannabinoids are even found in breast milk because it pacifies babies. [continues 59 words]
Separate Court Actions Launched to Challenge SA's Ban on Use and Possession of the Weed Because We've Been Given Our Stay of Prosecution, the High Court Can't Say No THERE'S no time to space out in a daze for South Africa's leading pro-dagga activists - they have their hands full trying to get it legalised and to block the prosecution of offenders. Jeremy Acton, leader of the Dagga Party, and "the dagga couple" - Myrtle Clarke and Julian Stobbs, of the NGO Fields of Green for All - say they are contacted every day by people who have been arrested. [continues 461 words]
IT may seem like a simple spoonful of oil, but for epilepsy sufferer Sakubona Tshwela, 25, hemp seed extract - derived from the cannabis plant, but without psychoactive effects - has been a lifeline. "I have had epilepsy since 2001," he said. "I have been taking hemp seed oil for three months. I feel much better than before. I had a fit two weeks ago, but that was my first in three months. Before that, I was having a fit almost every day." [continues 201 words]
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]
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said drug trafficking is becoming more sophisticated on daily basis with the cultivation of Indian hemp gradually spreading to the northern part of the country. Head, Public Affairs of the agency Ofoyeju Mitchell stated this while speaking at a media roundtable in Abuja organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Ofoyeju said cannabis which is cultivated more in the South is gradually spreading to other parts of the country just as the agency has discovered the abuse of unconventional drugs particularly in the northern part of the country. He also said the growing concern over how organised crime undermine stability and prosperity in Africa and the way it is facilitated by a wide range of people places a demand on the reporter to be accurate, analytical and fearless noting there is need to carry out research on how drug cartels and organised criminal groups work. [continues 51 words]
THE Lusaka High Court has struck out a matter in which Green Party president Peter Sinkamba was sued by a non-governmental organisation for advocating the legalisation of marijuana in Zambia on the basis that it was illegal and criminal. And the case in which Road Transport and Safety Agency chief executive officer, Zindaba Soko and his brother Samuel are jointly charged with assault yesterday failed to take-off because the former did not show up. Lusaka High Court judge, Chalwe Mchenga, struck out the matter due to non- appearance of parties involved when it came up for hearing. [continues 205 words]
For decades Zambia has staked its economic fortunes on copper mining, but when voters go to the polls in January to elect a new president at least one candidate will be looking to send that tradition up in smoke. Today Peter Sinkamba is due to announce his candidacy on the Green party ticket to replace the late President Michael Sata, who died on 29 October from an undisclosed illness. Sinkamba, regarded as Zambia's leading environmentalist for his battles against the country's big copper mines, is running on an unlikely platform in this socially conservative nation: legalising marijuana. [continues 536 words]
KETTAMA, Morocco (AP) - Abdelkhalek Benabdallah strode among towering marijuana plants and checked the buds for the telltale spots of white, indicating they are ready for harvest. By September much of the crop has been picked and left to dry on the roofs of the stone-and-wood huts that dot the Rif Valley, the heart Morocco's pot-growing region. Benabdallah openly grows the crop, despite the risk: "We are regularly subject to blackmail by the gendarmes," he said as he scythed through stalks and wrapped them into a bundle. [continues 325 words]
DAGGA can be as addictive as heroin or alcohol, causes mental health problems and can lead to hard drug use, according to a new study. The research, conducted over 20 years by Professor Wayne Hall, an adviser to the World Health Organisation, links the use of dagga to a wide range of harmful side effects, from mental illness to lower academic attainment to impaired driving ability. Hall, a leading expert in addiction at King's College, London, also found that: One in six teenagers who regularly smoke dagga become dependent on it, as are one in 10 regular adult users; [continues 181 words]
The Medical Innovation Bill pursued through Parliament is not to legalise cannabis but rather to provide alternatives for cancer patients RECENTLY a debate has been revived on the Medical Innovation Bill introduced in Parliament by the late Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, an IFP MP and a close friend of mine. Dr Oriani-Ambrosini fought a long and courageous battle with terminal lung cancer, during which he ploughed all his energies into researching cancer and how it might be stopped. He rejected the conventional cancer treatments of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, for they offered no cure and would only prolong his life for a few months, while robbing him entirely of quality of life. [continues 1166 words]
THE late IFP MP Mario Ambrosini's private member's bill calling for the legalisation of dagga has been revived by Parliament, following his death last month. Ambrosini decided to end his life after battling stage-four lung cancer for more than a year, his family said soon after his death. Picking up where Ambrosini left off, the ANC moved a motion in the National Assembly yesterday to note the Medical Innovation Bill, which calls for the legalisation of dagga for medicinal purposes. [continues 399 words]
MOGADISHU, Somalia - "The president has arrived, the president has arrived," chant youths in Mogadishu's Beerta Khaatka market, as armed men in trucks mounted with machine guns escort lorries with horns blaring through the throng. The joking salutation is not for Somalia's president, but hails a national institution nonetheless: white sacks brimming with leafy sprouts of khat, the narcotic shrub chewed across the Horn of Africa and Yemen in a tradition dating back centuries. The ubiquitous sight of young men with rifles slung over their shoulders and green stalks of khat dangling from their mouths is emblematic of the Somalia of recent decades, where marauding Islamist rebels and warlords bent on carving out personal fiefdoms have fomented a culture of guns and violence. [continues 671 words]
IN MOGADISHU - "The president has arrived, the president has arrived," chant youths in Mogadishu's Beerta Khaatka market, as armed men in trucks mounted with machine guns escort lorries with horns blaring through the throng. The joking salutation is not for Somalia's president, but hails white sacks brimming with leafy sprouts of khat, the narcotic shrub chewed across the Horn of Africa and Yemen in a tradition dating back centuries, which has recently been banned in the UK. The sight of young men with rifles slung over their shoulders and green stalks of khat dangling from their mouths is emblematic of the Somalia of recent decades, where Islamist rebels and warlords have fomented a culture of guns and violence. [continues 216 words]
WEST Africa must openly confront its political and governance weaknesses to curb the growing drug trade in the region, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Wednesday. "West Africa is no longer only a transit zone of drugs but an attractive destination where pushers take advantage of the weak political system to perpetuate their trade," Obasanjo, who chairs the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD), said while presenting his report to Ghana's President John Mahama. "We believe that we should confront openly the political and governance weaknesses which the traffickers exploit," Obasanjo said. [continues 205 words]
THE DAYS when politicians can get away with confusing the drug war's tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant are coming to an end. If the goal of cannabis prohibition is to subsidise violent drug cartels, prohibition is a success. The drug war distorts supply and demand so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal is deterrence, cannabis prohibition is a clear failure. Consider the experience of the former land of the free and current record-holder in citizens incarcerated. [continues 90 words]
THE WAR on drugs has been a losing fight for 40 years. The response to unending failure has always been to demand more law enforcement and more prison cells. It is unclear why the mood should be changing just now. It isn't that consumers have suddenly got too numerous to ignore: rates of cannabis use, which had, throughout the late 20th century, seemed to be on an interminable upward trajectory, are now stable or even declining. But then the long century of criminalisation never had any more to do with evidence than America's disastrous interwar experiment with prohibiting the undoubtedly-dangerous demon drink. Then, as now, the practicalities of harm-reduction and the principle of not persecuting citizens who harm no one but themselves, point to legalisation. [continues 227 words]
PRO medical dagga activist Sheldon Cramer (aka Bobby Hashgreen) from Richards Bay is calling for a review of the laws prohibiting the use of dagga. This comes after Cramer was arrested for smoking dagga in public during the Global Cannabis March in Durban last month. He was charged with possession of dagga and appeared at the Durban Magistrate's Court last week. During his arrest, Cramer commented that if it was not for people standing up for what they believe in, South Africa would still be in the apartheid era. [continues 341 words]
IN A bid to clamp down on criminal activities in schools, a joint operation between the SAPS, Neighbourhood Safety Watch, K9 Unit and metro police was carried out at a Mitchells Plain High School last week. The school was raided on Friday after the principal requested help from authorities. A number of dangerous weapons including knives and a sword were seized while dagga, cigarettes and liquor where also found in pupils' possession. "More and more school principals are requesting our assistance in carrying out searches at schools to ensure the safety of students. [continues 225 words]
AS THE disinformational efforts to legalise marijuana for recreational usage light up ("Scientists support legalising marijuana", Cape Argus, June 6) one can expect sound logic and common sense to be the first casualties of the pro-pot war. A case in point is the quote in Friday's article by JP van Niekerk of the SA Medical Journal, who claims: "There is good evidence that decriminalisation of the use of drugs reduces the harm of drugs=C2=85 generates revenue for the government. A good case can be made for its legalisation." Next, I expect Van Niekerk to break out in a rendition of Timothy Leary's old motto - "turn on, tune in, and drop out". [continues 481 words]
It will generate income and reduce drug ills, say boffins MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini's impassioned plea in Parliament to have dagga legalised for medical use has received support from scientists, with one Cape Town researcher suggesting decriminalising it could reduce drug ills and generate income for the government. JP van Niekerk, consulting editor of the SA Medical Journal, wrote in this month's issue that dagga was much less harmful than two legalised drugs: alcohol and tobacco. He described Oriani-Ambrosini's plea as a wake-up call, but said it was probably wiser to go beyond legalising marijuana for medical purposes. [continues 450 words]
CAPE TOWN - Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) politician Mario OrianiAmbrosini has credited the use of alternative treatments, including the administration of cannabis oils as a suppository, for clearing his lung cancer. "The cannabis has cleared the lung cancer. It is gone. But the cancer in mesothelioma (cancer of the pleura) is still there," he said yesterday, after being sworn in as an MP. Mr Oriani-Ambrosini has become a standard-bearer for cancer treatment since he made an impassioned plea in the National Assembly two months ago for regulation of what are regarded as alternative methods to combat the disease. [continues 441 words]
MAYBE the man who was busted with R1-million worth of dagga wanted to use it for medical reasons. The 48-year-old from Hamburg, Roodepoort, in the West Rand, transformed his garage into a greenhouse (a glass building where plants are protected from the cold) fully-equipped with lights, electric fans and and all other necessary objects to grow his stash. "JMPD officers responded to a tip-off, and discovered the dagga which had a street value of approximately R1-million," Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Wayne Minnaar said. [continues 232 words]
I'VE never taken any leisure drugs. I never will - well, maybe to end some unbearable terminal disease, but otherwise, no. But there are many people who do take drugs for pleasure, and there always will be. I don't support the use of drugs, but the current laws and their enforcement haven't fixed the problem, in fact, they may have made things worse. The war on drugs has actually been a failure many ways with many unintended consequences and lots of collateral damage. [continues 826 words]
(AP) - Tunisia's prime minister has backed a reform of the country's harsh penalties for cannabis possession, calling it "out of sync" with current times. In a press conference late Wednesday, Mehdi Jomaa promised to "amend the law to adapt it to the new reality" in society. The current law gives prison sentences of up to five years for possession of cannabis. Jomaa was responding to a question over the situation of prominent blogger Aziz Hamami, arrested Monday for cannabis use. Hamami's outspoken blog gained widespread attention during the 2011 revolution against Tunisia's former dictator. Activists accuse the police of using harsh drug laws to target those they disagree with. Supporters for Hamami demonstrated for his release on Tuesday. [end]
Inside Africa
