AN Alicedale man allegedly caught in the act of burning a pile of dagga packages on Tuesday has appeared in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court.
Rudolph van Rooyen, 49, appeared briefly in court yesterday and the case has been postponed to June 21 for a formal bail application. Van Rooyen remains in custody.
Alicedale police acted on a tip-off they received. Alicedale station commander Captain Simpiwe Magula and his operational team went to an address at Slessor Street, Alicedale, and allegedly found Van Rooyen standing in front of the gate inside the yard.
The gate was locked and the SAPS team introduced themselves to Van Rooyen and asked him to open the gate. He went into the house and fetched keys and opened the gate.
“As the team got into the yard, the acrid smell of dagga greeted them,” police spokeswoman Captain Mali Govender said.
“During a search of the property, they discovered a heap of dagga that was being burnt.”
Dagga worth over R200 000, some loose, others packed in bags was seized. Van Rooyen was arrested and faces a charge of possession of dagga.
“The SAPS welcome and respond to information on crime and criminal activity on a daily basis,” Govender said.
No justifying the billions wasted on the war on drugs/dagga/people. Money better spent fighting the spiraling violent crime in SA.
Science informs that dagga is a therapeutic plant. We don’t need protection from that. We need protection from this bad law that hurts people when enforced by someone ‘just doing their job’.
Dagga is healthcare for those who can’t afford medical aid.
References here: fieldsofgreenforall (dot) org (dot) za/expert-witnesses/
Read the 369a-and-b-notice’s to better inform yourself regarding dagga.
your argument on wasted resources is also false. the police, courts and other bodies in the criminal justice system are maintained and funded for dealing with ALL crime, including those who break the laws surrounding dagga. the opposite has in fact been proven. where ‘small’ crime is not policed effectively, ‘big’ crime increases. where ‘small’ offenses are clamped down on, major crime is reduced in the process.
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.
We have seen with our very own eyes that dagga harms people, it’s witnessed in this country every day. Those who’s children and family members smoke dagga, who live in communities where dagga use is rife, or who have family members who’s minds have been destroyed through their use of dagga. We all know the truth about dagga.
There is no need to look any further when it s already quite plain to see.
Yet those in favour of legalization keep throwing nonsense arguments into the mix, in the desperate hope that something they say may actually be taken seriously and advance their agenda of having dagga legalized in this country.
90% of what is said by those in favour of having dagga legalized could only be believed and taken seriously by someone who themselves is high most of the time (wait a minute, they are, so then it makes sense). The rest of the population who are sober, rational and who have first hand knowledge of the truth about dagga, will not fall for any of this nonsense.
This person is unfortunately a repeat offender. He has been busy with illegal dealings for many years now. It is awesome that he has finally been brought to justice.