What the Cape Town High Court ruling means to you
A LEGAL precedent by the Cape Town High Court should have had potheads from all over South Africa jumping for joy as judges Dennis Davis, Nolwazi Boqwana and Vincent Saldhanha handed down a landmark judgement on March 31 stating dagga for home-use is permissible.
But, after only a moment in the spotlight, police quickly pointed out that the law, as written, still stands, and that they will be appealing the judgement as well as still making arrests for dagga possession irrespective of the court’s ruling.
Acting police commissioner Lieutenant-General Johannes Khomotso Phahlane issued a police memorandum stating: “The judgment, before it can become effective, must in any event still be considered and confirmed by the Constitutional Court.”
More on this story in this week’s Talk of the Town.
dagga is by no means a safe or soft drug or a medicine. and here again we have medical applications being used to support recreational use.
Firstly, there is no such thing as ‘medical dagga’. This is a phrase coined by pro-leglizationists in an effort to muster sympathetic support from the public.
Smoking ANY substance, whatever it may be is harmful to the human body. FULL STOP. other methods of ingestion also introduce chemicals in dagga that are not beneficial to the body. This is accepted medically worldwide.
Let’s consider medical applications. however we have a major problem in the fact that people are claiming that they smoke dagga for medical reasons which for the reason stated above is impossible.
If chemicals in the cannabis plant are isolated tested and made into medications proven safe for public consumption, then perhaps. and this must be done through the traditional processes.
Some groups (such as yours i believe) of people are pushing for legalization under the medical banner have even stated that their aim in doing so is to eventually have dagga legalized for recreational use.
And many who want dagga legalized for medical applications are attempting to bypass traditional channels altogether! Any potential medications must pass through scientific testing, the Medicines Control Council and so forth.
If the matter is handled responsibly, recreational use is separated completely from the issue (which of course it won’t be as that’s what you guys are actually pushing for) and traditional routes for new medications are adhered to and decisions based on science and medicine and not opinion, emotion and anecdotal evidence then perhaps.
So you see the problem in all of this. in fact, those legitimately looking for help in the form of these potential medications are being harmed by the very people pushing their campaign!
There is no such thing as ‘medical dagga’ in of itself. This is just a phrase coined by pro legalizationists to give the impression that the whole dagga plant, which they in fact want to smoke to get high, can be used as medicine which is completely false.
they are trying to push through the smoking of dagga recreationally on the back of potential medical applications.
So no, dagga is not medicine at all. Can some chemicals in dagga be used to make medicines, perhaps. But this is a matter of science and should be handled through traditional channels and is not a matter of opinion, emotion or personal belief.